END OF THE SESSION

Evening Post, Volume XC, Issue 89, 13 October 1915, Page 10

END OF THE SESSION

PROTRACTED FINISH CONCERNING WHEAT THE LEGISLATIVE PROGRAMME. A more than usually prolonged debate, on the Appropriation Bill was the feature of the end of the session of 1915. The Bill made its appearance at 11.45 a.m., and it was not disposed of until well after 9 p.m. Member after member spoke at length on the third reading, and on the whole the debate was merely a z-epetition of remark's which had been made at an earlier period of the session. 'In the course of the debate Mr. Witty complained of the treatment that had been accorded to the Opposition by the National Government. Mr. Anstey contended that the Government's wljeat purchasing transactions had resulted in a loss of about £100,000, and the design of keeping down the price of bread had not been achieved. Several producers also had suffered enormous losses on accoant of the action of the Government in preventing them selling their wheat. If that was the way that wheat-growing was to be "encouraged" the industry would soon be destroyed entirely I Mr. L. M. Isitt said he knew that one of the men who went in for "those wheat deals" went in as a speculator, and he (Mr. Isitt) was not concerned if he had burned his fingers. Mr. J. M 'Combs criticised the Government wheat deals'. The Prime Minister- replied at length, reviewing the Government's transactions. Had it not been for the importations of the Government there would not even now b© enough to carry New Zealand on until the Australian harvest came in. They had -'heard a great deal about the huge loss (£593,700), but as a matter of fact the loss was £24,559. This meant that the people had the benefit of the loss. Mr. M'Combs : Speculators got a lot of it. Mr. Massey : " Nonsense !" He added that during the voyage of the Hesperos, wheat-laden, to New Zealand, the price of wheat had advanced so much that her cargo was worth £30,000 more when she arrived here than when she left Canada. As long as the Government had wheat the price of flour stood at £14 10s net. He believed that the deal in connection with frozen meat was worth a million pounds to this country. Another transaction^ in "which a great saving had been effected was in connection with the supply of meat for' the military camps. Wh n the tenders came in he noticed that the prices were very much higher than was to be expected, and he arranged to have a supply from the stores. This simple transaction was the means of saving £47 10s • a day. A« far as he could judge, there would not be a single carcase of frozen meat left in the stores at the end of the present month. As to sugar, the arrangement made by the Government with a large company had resulted in sugar being £5 a ton cheaper here than it was in Australia. Dr. Thacker said that one thing they particularly wanted to know was what policy in regard to the Pacific our representatives would put forward at the Imperial Conference. The Appropriation Bill was sent in due course to the Legislative Council, which put it through all stages in a .few minutes, and it was returned to both Houses duly signed by His Excellency the Governor a few minutes later. Matters relating to recruiting (reported elsewhere) engaged the attention of the House for a few minutes, the National Anthem was sung, and at 11.50 p.m. the House, by 27 votes, to 16, decided to adjourn. WORK OF THE SESSION LIST OF BILLS. The session which concluded shortly before midnight last night occupied fiftysix days, and the daily average time of sitting was 5 hours 54 minutes. The following Acts were passed : — PUBLIC ACTS.. Alien Enemy Teachers. Appropriation. Arbitration Amendment. ' Auctioneers Amendment. Births and Deaths Registration Amendment. Census and Statistics Amendment. Civil List Amendment. Coal-mines Amendment. Cook Islands. Cost of Living. Counties Amendment. Crimes Amendment. Dairy Industry Amendment. Defence Amendment. Destitute Persons Amendment. Discharged Soldiers Settlement. Education Amendment. Education Amendment (No. 2). Education Reserves Amendment. Enemy Contracts. Expeditionary Forces. Expiring Laws Continuance. Factories Act Amendment. Finance. Footwear Regulation Amendment. Friendly Societies Amendment. Fruit-preserving Industry Amendment. Gaming Amendment. Hospital and Charitable Institutions Amendment. Hutt Road (N. 2). Imprest Supply. Imprest Supply (No. 2). Imprest Supply (No. 3). Imprest Supply (No. 4). Kauri-gum Industry Amendment. Lake Coleridge Water-power. Land Laws Amendment. Land Transfer Acts Compilation. Law Practitioners Amendment. Legislative Council Amendment. Lights on Vehicles. Local Authorities Empowering. Local Elections (Proportional Representation) Amendment. Local Railways Amendment. Marriage Amendment. Military Manoeuvres. Miners' Phthisis. Mining Amendment. Mortgages Extension Amendment. Municipal Corporations Amendment. National Registration. National Provident Fund Amendment. Native Land Amendment and Native Land Claims Adjustment. New Zealand Loans Amendment. New Zealand Society of Accountants Amendment. c New Zealand University Amendment. Post and Telegraph Amendment. Prisoners' Detention. Public Expenditure Validation. Public Health Amendment (No. 2). Public Revenues Amendment. Public Revenues Amendment (No. 2). Public Service Classification and Superannuation Amendment. Railways Authorisation. Railways Improvement Authorisation Amendment. Rating Amendment. Regulation of Trade and Commerce Amendment. Regulation of Trade and Commerce Amendment (No. 2). Reserves and other Lands Disposal and Public Bodies Empowering. Sale of Food and Drugs Amendment, Saviflgs-banke Amendment.

Scenery Preservation Amendment. Settled Land Amendment. Shops and Offices Amendment (No. 3) State Advances Amendment. Statutes Compilation Amendment. Suspension of Disqualification during War. Swamp Drainage. Trading with the Enemy Amendment. Tramways Amendment. War Funds. War Pensions. War Regulations Amendment. War Regulations Amendment (No. 2). West Coast Settlement Reserves Amendment. LOCAL ACTS. Auckland City Markets and Empowering. Bluff Harbour Improvements. Christchurch Electrical Supply Amendment. Devonport Borough Vesting. Dunedin District Drainage and Sewerage Acts Amendment. i Inglewood Borough Endowment Disposal. Lyttelton Borough Extension Amendment. Otago Harbour Board Empowering. Papakura Beach Vesting. Springs County Council Reclamation and Empowering. Tauranga Borough Council and Tauranga Harbour Board Empowering. Tauranga Foreshore Vesting and Endowment. Tokomaru Bay Harbour, Whakatane Harbour Amendment and Empowering . Wellington City Empowering Act, 1908, Amendment. Wellington and Karori Sanitation and Water-supply Amendment. Wyndham Recreation Reserve Amendment. PRIVATE ACTS. Church Property Trust (Canterbury) Act, 1879, Amendment. Georgetti Trust Estate. SLAUGHTERED INNOCENTS The Bills dropped or otherwise disposed of were as Tinder :—: — Public Bills dropped. — Betterment, Definition of Time, Expeditionary Forces, Factories Act Amendment (No. 2), Factories Amendment, Gas-supply Amendment, Greymouth Native Reserve, Huttroad, Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Amendment, Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Amendment (No. 2), Industrial Unions and Trade-unions Enabling, Juries ■ Amendment, ' Local Elections (Proportional Representation) Amendment (No. 2), Magistrates' Courts, Military Camps, New Protection, Prisons ■Amendment, Protection of Members, Public Health Amendment, Sanitation of Theatres, Shops and Offices Amendment, Shops and Offices Amendment (No. 2), Unregistered Nurses Registration. Local Bills Dropped. — Harbours Amendment, Kensington Park Rate Exemption, Liverpool and Raglan Counties, Lyttelton Harbour Board Elections, Mangawhero County, Moa County, Thames Borough Council Enabling, Wellington City Basin Reserve.