LABOUR CAUCUS TO-DAY

Dominion, Volume 30, Issue 299, 14 September 1937, Page 10

LABOUR CAUCUS TO-DAY

Review of Government’s Legislative Plans

PREPARATION OF BUDGET IN PROGRESS

The Government’s legislative plans for the session will be reviewed briefly at a caucus of the Parliamentary Labour Party, which will be held in Parliament Buildings to-day. The Government caucus last week was practically confined to consideration of the Local Government (Amalgamation Schemes) Bill, with passing reference to the fixation of guaranteed prices for dairy exports during the current season,‘but to-day the whole range of Government legislation scheduled for the session is likely to come up for general discussion.

Some attention may also be paid to general items from the Budget proposals now in course of preparation by the Minister of Finance, Hon. W. Nash, but as it does not seem likely that the Financial Statement will be presented to the House for at least a fortnight, nothing in the way of a detailed examination is likely.

It is gathered that considerable progress has been made with the preparation of the Budget, and it is only reasonable to presume that the Hon. P. Fraser, who acted as Minister of Finance during the absence overseas of Mr. Savage and Mr. Nash, had inucn of the groundwork prepared before the return of his colleagues. The provisional accounts for the last financial year were issued about three months ago, and there has thus been ample time for a complete survey of the Dominion's economic position. Members of the Government party who were appointed to a special taxation committee last year, and who have been conducting a thorough investigation during the recess into the general incidence of taxation have been in close conference with Mr. Nash during the past few days.