EARLY SESSION

Wairarapa Times-Age, 10 February 1939, Page 6

EARLY SESSION

SOUGHT BY OPPOSITION HON. A. HAMILTON’S LETTER TO PREMIER. FINANCIAL & ECONOMIC CRISIS. (By Telegraph—Press Association.) WELLINGTON, This Day. A request for an immediate meeting of Parliament to enable consideration io be given the present financial and economic situation is contained in a motion carried at a caucus in Wellington yesterday of Parliamentary members of the National Party. A copy of the resolution was dispatched last evening to the Prime Minister, the Rt. Hon. M. J. Savage, by the Leader of the Opposition, the Hon. A. Hamilton. In a letter to the Prime Minister, Mr Hamilton said that in view of the urgency of the situation members of the Opposition Were holding themselves in readiness to assemble in Parliament at short notice. Mr Hamilton’s letter is as follows:— “I have to convey to you a decision arrived at by the Parliamentary members of the National Party at a caucus meeting held in Wellington today: the decision was as follows: — “That in view of the state of emergency now existing in the country s affairs, this caucus of his Majesty's loyal Opposition requests that the Government immediately call Parliament together to give the people’s elected representatives their traditional light to consider the present financial and economic crisis, and of applying lawful remedies thereto, and of considei - ing such other matters of urgent, national importance as, for example, the national defence of New Zealand. “That the Government’s refusal to disclose to the people during the general election campaign the alarming facts which have since been made public, constitutes a grave betrayal of public confidence.” “In view of the importance and urgency of the present situation, the members of the Opposition hold themselves in readiness to assemble in Parliament at short notice so that no time will be lost in'dealing with these questions before the situation di ifts any further. „ . , “I trust that you will give favourable consideration to this request, and . I shall be pleased to .receive an early reply.” PREMIER’S REPLY MEETING OF PARLIAMENT AT USUAL TIME. SUGGESTIONS DISCOUNTED. * (By Telegraph—Press Association.) WELLINGTON, This Day. The Prime Minister (the Rt Hon M. J. Savage) has replied to Mr Hamilton: “I am in receipt of your letter of the ninth instant, a copy of which appeared in the morning Press before it reached.me. I thing I should say right away that unless special circumstances should warrant it, which is certainly not the case at present, there is no intention of calling Parliament together before the usual time. The matters referred to in the second paragraph of your letter are being fully covered by the Government’s activities, while the suggestion made in the third paragraph is too indefinite and ridiculous to justify serious attention. Finally, you may accept my assurance that there is no drift, but a Dominion-wide attempt to build on modern lines.”