MEMBERS DEPART

Auckland Star, Volume LXIX, Issue 220, 17 September 1938, Page 16

MEMBERS DEPART

FINAL VOTES.

parliament ends.

STRENUOUS PERIOD.

BACK TO THEIR MASTERS.

MR. SAVAGE AND MR.

HAMILTON

(By Telegraph.— P* rlla meiitury Reporters WELLINGTON, this dav.

Parliament's work is over, and, in the words of the Prime Minister, Mr. Savage, when he moved the adjournment of the House of Representatives at the close of the session last evening, the servants of the country will go in a short time "to meet their masters—the electors." After n session which lasted nearly three months members of both sides of the House were ready to call an end to their effofts in the House, and it was abundantly plain during the valedictory phase of the closing hours of the Parliament that the predominant thoughts of all members were on the coming •lection test. .

"The period of this Parliament has been fairly strenuous from time to time," said the Prime Minister. "We have had some heat at times perhaps." Mr. W. J. Broad foot (National, Waitomo): Only warm. Mr. Savage: We have never reached white heat or anything like it. He added that some of the legislation passed during the life of the Parliament had been far-reaching in character and, if he might say so, he thought it was all in the interests of the people. He hoped it would remain on the Statute Book, and that it would be improved on in the days to come by other Parliaments. Not Perfection. "We do not claim to have reached perfection," added the Prime Minister, "but we do claim that we have made considerable progress. We realise that we are living in a changing world and we have tried to express those changes by legislation. A Government that fails to do that will not remain/ on the Treasury benches very long." Members would be in the throes of the election campaign in a day or two, continued the Prime Miniater, but that did not prevent members of the Government from expressing its thanks to the Leader of the Opposition, Mr. Hamilton, and his colleagues. It would be a poor world if everyone held the same opinion. "I am afraid we have differed at various times, but I would like the members Of the Opposition to feel that we are parting as friends," he said. "If some of us fall by the wayside in the battle that lies ahead we will still be friends. We would be less than men if it was any other way. "It would not be so bad if the Opposition came back on its own, so long as they don't bring anyone else with them." (Laughter and applause.) Ksciprocity. In reciprocating the good wishes of the Prime Miniater, the Leader of the Opposition, Mr. Hamilton, agreed that members were going back to their masters. Democracy had ruled in New Zealand from the very beginning. It was the best form of Government that any country could accept, and it waa the responsibility of Parliament to see that it was preserved. "In this Parliament, the Government has outnumbered us about three to one," added Mr. Hamilton. "We have only a small band, but we will have a bigger one shortly. In the meantime we have tried to keep the Government on the right lines. We have succeeded in a small measure perhaps and we have adopted a reasonable and responsible attitude such as is expected of an Opposition. The party system has its difficulties, but a GoverAmerit with an effective Opposition is not a bad way of handling Parliament in a democratic country. Mr. Hamilton concluded by expressing the hope that the election campaign would be conducted in a manner worthy of British democracy and the Opposition for its part would accept the verdict of the electors. Other Officers Praised. Appreciative references had been made by both leaders to the work of Mr. Speaker, the Chairman of Committees and alt officers connected with Parliament. The acknowledgment was made by the Hon. W. E, Barnard and Mr. E. J. Howard. At 5.40 the old Parliamentary joke of negativing the final adjournment division was duly perpetrated, but Mr. Speaker declared that under the circumstances he would leave the clia'r. He of course knew that before long Parliament would be -prorogued. > The National' Anthem wa« then heard in rousing strains, as a Anal reminder of circumstances ahead,' political friend and foe joined hands and sang "Auld Lang Syne."