NEXT SESSION.

Evening Post, Volume LXXVII, Issue 63, 11 September 1909, Page 6

NEXT SESSION.

Seeing that Parliament has been con- ' vened for 7th October, a -considerable amount of speculation has been indulged in as to whether the business that has to be done can be concluded before Christmas, so as to obviate the necessity of an adjournment into the New Year. The official point of view, judging from enquiries made, appears, to be that the session will not go beyond the eve of Christmas. The Government programme is ready; the recess occasioned by Sir Joseph Ward's absence Las been atilised by preparing for presentation to Parliament at the earliest Opportunity all the reports and papers that are the essential features of a session ; the draf ting_ and printing of the Bills which are included in the Government's ' legislative progzamme have been practically completed, and, from the Government point of view, everything, it is stated, is in readiness. Naturally, the Opposition .will have a good deal to say by way of criticism, and some of the criticism will be, directed to most important features of 'administration (defence and retrenchment, for instance), but it is urged that, .with Christmas Day as a compulsory stopping place, there is a strong probability that members will be enabled to eat their Christmas dinners at home without having to coiitemplate a resumption of their legislative labours immediately after the beginning of the New Year.