QUIET WEEK IN THE HOUSE

Press, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 25307, 6 October 1947, Page 6

QUIET WEEK IN THE HOUSE

DISCUSSION ON STATUTE OF WESTMINSTER LICENSING. COMMISSION’S report (From Our Parliamentary Reporter.) WELLINGTON, October 5. With Parliament meeting only for a few hours, and then for the sole purpose of paying tributes to the Minister of Marine, Mr James O’Brien, the House pf Representatives had its quietest period .of the whole session in the last few days. Most members were either at the funeral in Grey-, mouth or at their homes for the greater part of the week. Even this week-end, the Minister of Finance (Mr W. Nash), who, more than anyone else, can be said almost to live at Parliament Buildings, has been away on private business. The coming week promises little in the way of contentious discussion. The House will have a further opportunity of discussing the 451-page report of tiie Royal Commission on Licensing, but the quality of the debate on this topic 'when it was heard on the first day does not promise any .outstanding speeches. Most members are obviously unwilling, to commit themselves, and both sides are resolved that the commission’s report—a genuine nonparty issue—can best be solved by a referendum. Statute of Westminster Probably the most important piece of legislation to come before the Hquse will be the Statute of Westminster Adoption Bill, an important legal measure in which serious comment is expected from the many legal members of the House. A basis for discussion on the report will be a Government memorandum setting out reasons why the' statute should be adopted which was recently tabled in the House by the Prime Minister, Mr Fraser. “The adoption of the statute will not alter New Zealand’s practical standing in Commonwealth and world affairs ” says the memorandum. “Since the Peace Conference of 1919 New Zealand has been a fully sovereign country in world affairs, with the right to attend international conferences, make treaties and send and receive envoys. But the adoption of the statute will make it impossible in lhe future for some* foreign observers and States—unaware’ of the real nature of Dominion status and the modern Commonwealth —to argue as they have done from time to time when it suited their purposes to embarrass us or Britain that our nomadoption of the statute and our consequent legislative inferiority should deny New Zealand the right of separate representation in world councils.’’ In another part the statement says: “For many years the question of status has been settled, and separatism is a dead issqe. TJhe cohesion of the Commonwealth and that attitude of our own people during the recent war and since gre the answers to the prophets of gloom of the inter-war years. The statute can now be seen purely as the practical lawyer’s document it is, and its usefulness can be shown unclouded by the important but extraneous issues which were once associated with it.” These and other passages of the Government’s memorandum on why it wants now that the statute be adopted may be the basis of some legal debate, but it is unlikely to be controversial. New Minister Outside the chamber itself main interest will be centred on the choice of a new Minister fo succeed Mr O’Briep. Many observers believe it will lie between Mr P. G. Connolly (Dunedin Central) and Mr T. H. McCombs (Lyttelton). While Mr Connoljy’s chances are generally favoured, the prospects of Mr McCombs, with years of hard servjee for the party, should not be under-rated. The newest member of the House, Mr Warreh Freer (Mount Albert) will also take his seat this week.