POLITICAL NOTES

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 234, 28 June 1920, Page 4

POLITICAL NOTES

BUSINESS FOR TO-MORROW THE IMPREST BILL The business of tho House for the first day of the sitting will be short in all probability. The Government will bring down nn Imprest Supply Bill, and this will have to go through all stages at the sitting, but there is a good clliince that the debato upon it will be short. Generally this is so in the case of the first Imprest Bill. Members have a deal to talk about at the beginning of the session, but also they have ample opportunities ahead of them. Their first big opportunity is the Address-in-Eeply debate, which promises this year to be quite unusually interesting, because of the two want-of-eonfidcnce m«':ions to be moved

in connection with it. If the Imprest Bill goes through in half an hour or so, it is the intention of the Prime Minister to submit resolutions concerning the loss bv death of the late Mr. George Randall Johnston, and the late Mr, Tau Henare, tho only two ex-member.; of the Legislature who havo died since the prorogation. THE NO-CONFIDENCE MOTIONS The Address-in-Eeply debate will be commenced in a few days. It is not known, nor can it bo said with certainty, how it will be carried on, but in similar cases, where there is a want-of-con-fidonce motion to be submitted, the aim of tins Government party is generally to get tho no-confidenco amendment out of tho way before-resumption of .the debato on ordinary lines. The procedure will be that the mover and seconder will deliver their speeches, and then the Leader of the Opposition (Mr. Mac-Donald) will make his attack, and will move his proposed addition to itho Address-in-Eeply. This amendment may bo debated by ons speaker or two of tho Government party, but. the chances are that tho rank arid file will delay their speeches on 'the general question until the amendment has

been disposed of, Mr. Statham will no doubt move his amendment soon after, the Leader of tho Opposition's proposal has been decided, for it may ]x safely assumed 'that the proposal will be defeated. The effect of the moving of this other amendment will be to give those members who have already spoken in tho debate another right to address the HOU6O. • INDEPENDENniESIBEfIS An informal meeting of Independent members has been h>ld. Two members, Mr. J. Craigio (Tinwru) and Mr. G. Mitchell (Wellington South) were elected as definite Independents, while Messrs. S. G. Smith (Taranaki), W. A. Vcitch . (Wanganni), and E. Jtellett (Dunedin North) were elected as Independent Lahour representatives. Tlio Independents claim that their liumber is growing, and that they are going to become a force in Parliament. Members of 'he other groups point out that if tho Independents are to achieve much they must work together, and that as soon as tney do that thoy will have formed a party and will have ceased to be Independents. The unattached members, in the meantime, aro' disposed to consult together as occasion requires without forming any organisation, CUSTOMS DDTiFaND EXCHANGE . RATES The assessment of Customs duties has been complicated seriously by the present condition of foreign exchange. The system adopted by the Customs was previously to reckon exchange at the ordinary commercial rate in assessment. This pressed very hard upon importers of goods from countries such as the United States, where the value of the dollar stands high, relatively to that of the sovereign. The Customs Department, in consequence of protests from importers, consulted the Solicitor-General, who ad-' vised that the Department must assess tho dutiable value of the goods on the "parity" value of the sovereign, which means virtually a return to the pre-war standard for the. sovereign. This meant that importers dealing with Continental countries, where exchange was affected in tho opposite way, were under a disadvantage. Now, under a Cabinet minute, goods are to be assessed for duty according to tho "parity" value or tho commercial value of the sovereign, whichever affords relief to the importer, jit the discretion of the Minister. A Bill amending the law to give effect to this will be introduced this session.