The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News, The Echo and The Sun. TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 9, 1937. PARLIAMENT'S TIME.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVIII, Issue 266, 9 November 1937, Page 6

The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News, The Echo and The Sun.

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 9, 1937. PARLIAMENT'S TIME.

For the cause that iaclcs aasietanee, For the wrong that need* reitiatantm, For the future in the distance, And the good that we can do.

About this titno of the year the Prime Minister of tlu , tiny nmy be expected to remark that the Parliamentary pace must be quickened in ordor that essential business may be completed before Christmas. The public then knows what to expect. Time, which in the previous months of the Parliamentary session has been spent with a prodigal hand, suddenly becomes valuable, and little of it can be devoted to any one measure. Soon it is evident, or seems to be evident, that there is to little time left that some of the contemplated work must be postponed. Then a date is fixed for the end of the session, and there follows a helter-skelter rush, a slaughter of the legislative innocents, an all-night sitting or two, and Parliament rises, tired but triumphant, proud of the work that it has done in the final few days. The public has come to think that the performance ought to be unnecessary, that it could be avoided by a more intelligent arrangement of Parliament's business, and that it is time for members of all parties, but particularly the Government Party, to make an effort to conduct the country's business in ways that will earn the people's respect.

The current session of Parliament opened on September 9, and present hopes are that it will be adjourned about December 9 until after Christmas. How has the two months' period which has passed been spent t It has been spent, principally, on a long, tedious and often empty discussion on the Budget. Before the Budget debate there were the Address-in-Reply debate, and a debate on the first Imprest Supply Bill. Both debates, as usual, covered a wide range of subjects, but the opportunity thus afforded members of discussing "the state of the country" was far from satisfying their appetites. After the Budget was introduced there was a Taxing Bill, on which talk continued until it was stopped by the necessity of passing it in order to allow the tax assessment notices to be posted. Before and after them the long talk on the Budget was carried on, and broadcast regularly. It became apparent that members were unwilling to neglect the opportunity of letting their constituents hear their voices.

What else has been donef There has been a useful discussion on the Imperial Conference report. Before the Budget was presented time was found to pass a Bill to restore the industrial status of clerical and other workers —a matter which the Government, but not the country, seemed to think of urgent and pressing importance. In addition to the Taxing Bill there have been passed a Fair Rents Amendment, an Air Force Bill, an. Air Department Bill, and five local Bills. There is at present in progress a needed debate on the- Broadcasting Amendment Bill. But even now consideration of the Estimates (for a year already more than half over) has not been completed, and the Public Works estimates and various Departmental reports (all stale) have still to be dealt with. Already it is fairly apparent that some Government Bills, including that concerning local bodies, first introduced more than a year ago, will not be heard of again this year. '; If the affairs of a large business firm were conducted in the 'haphazard, time-wasting fashion indicated above, how long would the directors and the management be retained and paidf The analogy is admittedly not exact, but would any directorate spend so large a proportion of its time in general discussion, and so little in scrutiny (months too late) of the current expenditure? Can there be any justification of an arrangement of business which may be interrupted to pass an Arbitration Amendment of small importance, but leaves little time, or none, for the discussion of important changes in the Dominion's education system, ox of reconstruction of local body government? That Parliament can do better than this is certain, and just as certainly it should do better. The case for les3 speech-making at the beginning of sessions, and more deliberation at the end, is clear, and has been for years. The Labour Party when in Opposition repeatedly protested against the bad arrangement of the business of the House, but as the Government it is doing no better. At present there appears a prospect that Parliament, after the Christmas adjournment, will sit almost continuously until the general election. The House of Commons, with an incomparably greater range of interest and responsibility, does not find almost continuous sessions necessary, and there is no necessity for them in this small country.