POLITICAL GOSSIP.

Taranaki Daily News, 30 July 1915, Page 5

POLITICAL GOSSIP.

"I'' >\I'IDEXTIAL I\!'( IKMATIOX."y 'rrli-firaph.-Vrial U, Daily News. .... Wclhnßton, Last Night. Hi.' conhdenlia! information" whisJi .II"' -MiniHt.T ot 1ief,,,,, (the Hon. J. Allen) place, before a .l..,,„tation the |"'"• '. l: '.v. «!'•■» «.«kr(l ,vl, y \p W Zea- •""' did n»t send udditioiml troops to < ."' front, was mentioned in the House "I Kcprcsciilatives to-day. Mr A Walker (Duncdin Xorth) said that ic'■»idnr<r to a newspapc- report the Minister Rave (|,.. tJfj.utjitit.iii •confidential icasons why it was not advisable for X"w Zealand to dispatch extra forces ',' ''l'.' I''''-'' l «»»••• "I want to ask ""• Almislcr, said Mr. Walker, "if irresponsible members of the community arc '■" titled to take precedence over mem- '";'•> <>l J ai-liuiiicnt in being furnished "'Hi information on matters of national moment?"

' <li'\ «ot consider the members of the '.''P'lta ion irresponsible," said Mr. Allen, "■pl.V- "1 considered them yery r-> sponsible people, dealing wit], a yery iui|iortaiit subject." LKIiTAfXLXt; TO COALITION. When the correspondence between tm ,v leaders was made public at mid- ".'*•"' t yesterday, tI IP Coalition discusIs!. S, Ti ,Wl „ t " h T r " Ud, " (l ll lle «" !te 1 e he Prime Minister, it appeared, iide us last 011-er. The Op'position ' " 1 "' ( ' rt 'J''<'t«'«l 't for reasons given, ami Mr Massey had replied with oxprese ',-t 1 at t,lc fllih,ra " f ™ l"t, but within twelve hours the situation was. changed by the introduction «i . i new factor A communication front (■ow'rnment House reached each of I'm patty leaders, probably i„ the form „r a personal npjionl from his Kxcellency the .ovcrnor. ollieial information is available on the subject up to the time ofwntimr, but Mr. Massey mentioned in tlie House of Itepresentatives (his af',.,-. noon that a "very important conference" was expected to be held -on the follow"|R day and one may assume that the. Party leaders, possibly supported by ".mo of their followers, are going to meet agam at the suggestion of Lord Liverpool. The outcome can' hardly he P'"d.e ed The letters that have bX the other hand the (Jovernor will be i,i a position to brinp a Rood deal of pre.v ■snre, of an unofficial character, to bear ««"! it w possible that he will discover •' Ii"' 1 of agreement for the parties. One can but wait and see.

Your correspondent learned to-night hat. the conference will not take piano to-morrow. ' * THE BUDGET. -f want to ask the Prime Minister if he expects to bring down the Budget tomorrow night," said Sir Joseph Ward m the House to-day. "I)„n S ne int( , lU , t" take any important business t>morrow n.ght? Some members are anxious to know for private reasons» The 1 nme Minister replied that it was not intended to deliver the Financial Statement until Tuesday evening. The Seer-t Defence Committee would sit on Friday morning to consider the. proposed n»\v clauses of the Military Pensions Bill, and i its work was completed in time thBill would be before the House in the afternoon and evenin". A little later the Prime Minister stated that an impression seemed to exist in some quarters that the House had not'" been doing much work during the portion of the session that had elapsed. As a matter of fact the volume of business transacted was exceptionally large unprctMcntly so, and the public should know the truth. Mr. Isitt (Christchurch North): "We deserve recognition for that." Mr. Massey: "Certainly." SIR JOSEPH SCORES.

Sir Joseph Ward: "I want to endorse what the Prime Minister says about thevolume of work cempleted. It.ahowg the advantage of having an amiable Opposition. I want to compliment tho members of the Opposition, and also the members on the Government side, upon the marvellous restraint they have put upon their well-known debating powers. The session has been a unique ;one. We on this aide of the House have recognised that it was our duty to help the Government to get its war Bills through as quickly as possible. If the Prime Minister will now bring down his Budget, the War Taxes Bill, the Railways Statement, and the Public Works Statement, we will give them our best attention. I do not say that they can go through quite as fast as the war Bills have done, because there arc private members who have responsibilities to discharge, but we are anxious to do all that ia possible to nssist the Government to deal effectively with the work of the session."

PRIME MINISTER'S PROMISES. Mr. Massey said he appreciated tha tact that during the session there ha 4 been nothing in the nature of obstruction from the other side of the House. As soon as the Financial Statement ha 4 been dealt with the Bills providing for the war taxes would be introduced, ani he hoped that they would be handled in the same way, and in the same spirit a a the other war Bills had been discussed Sir Joseph Ward said that he hoped the Government was not going to bring forward its important legislation piecemeal. The House should have the war taxation proposals at the same time as the Financial statement. Taxation proposals would be embodied in the Budget, in the ordinary course, and the members of the House should not be asked to do their work blindfold by accepting the Budget before they knew what the taxation was going to be. They should have all possible information before jhem. Mr. Massey said the House would have the taxation proposals at the earliest possible moment. It had been impossible, up to the present, to get the Bills readv, as other matters had demanded attention, lie felt sure that when the members of the Opposition saw the Budget they would approve of everything that it contained. Then the Government would be free to consider the details of the other Bills.