BEFORE SESSION ENDS

Evening Post, Volume LXXXVIII, Issue 73, 23 September 1914, Page 3

BEFORE SESSION ENDS

WORK YET TO BE DONE " IMPORTANT BILLS WILL HAVE TO BE TAKEN." la the House of representatives yesterday afternoon the Prime Minister moved : " That on and after "Wednesday next, the 23rd September, for the remainder of the session Government business should take precedence on Wednesdays." Sir Joseph "Ward asked that the Vrime Minister should give the House some indication of what its programme of legislation would be during the rest of the session. It was a fair thing, as six , weeks of preparations for the election had been lost through the uncertainty that followed the outbreak of the war. Let them combine — Government and Opposition — to have a short remainder of the session without party legislation and a short campaign without a personal word, and a happy election. (Laughter.) Mr. A. H. Hindmarsh asked what was going to happen to the Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Amendment Bill. The Prime Minister said he did not propose to shut out any Bill thafa had reached its third reading— such, as Mr. Ilindmarsh's Bill. If any attempt was made to overload a Bill with, amendments that was an end of it. With re1 garcl to the general programme, Mr. Ma-s-sey said there were important Bills which would have to be taken, such, as the Education Bill and the Legislative Council Bill. Would anyone suggest that they should drop the Legislative j Council Bill? Opposition members : Yes. The Prime Minister paid there were I members on the other side of the House who agreed with the Bill. The proper opportunity should be given to discuss the Bill. Opposition members : Isn't it a party measure ? The Prime Minister : I am not so sure about it. It doesn't deal with finance, and that is the greatest source of party contention. I can't forget the time when the Opposition walked out over the Financial Statement — an insult to this side of the House. ' Sir Joseph Ward : You could have introduced the Estimates without a Statement bristling with party points. The Prime Miniser disagreed. The Statement, he said, was a plain, straightforward statement of the financial posij tion of the country and the proposals of the Government to deal with finance. Other measures in the Government's programme included the Local Grants and Subsidies Bill and the Cook Islands Bill. The motion was adopted without further discussion.