LEGISLATIVE PROGRAMME OUTLINED

Evening Star, Issue 26136, 25 June 1947, Page 6

LEGISLATIVE PROGRAMME OUTLINED

No Surprise Measures for First Session of New Parliament

(Special.) . . WELLINGTON. June 25. Only limited indications of the legislative programme for the new session were given in the Speech from the Throne by the Governor-General, Sir Bernard Frey berg, at the ceremonial opening of the Twenty-eighth Parliament this afternoon. . The speech traversed New Zealand’s recent participation in the international councils and the Government’s insistence .that the rights of small nations to be heard on international affairs should be preserved. Among the legislative proposals which His Excellency announced would come before Parliament were Bills for the nationalisation of coal resources, assistance for the Arbitration Court in its greatly increased range of work, improvements in workers’ compensation.benefits, the merging of the Labour and National Employment Departments, and the merging of the Health and Mental Hospitals Departments. Following the assurance given by the Prime Minister during the election campaign last year, the GovernorGeneral announced that Parliament would be given an opportunity of examining and discussing the report of the Royal . Commission on Licensing.