Greymouth Evening Star. AND BRUNNERTON ADVOCATE. SATURDAY. JUNE 11, 1927. PARLIAMENTARY SESSION

Greymouth Evening Star, 11 June 1927, Page 6

Greymouth Evening Star. AND BRUNNERTON ADVOCATE. SATURDAY. JUNE 11, 1927. PARLIAMENTARY SESSION

('oniiiip; (‘vents east their paragraphs before, and the fortheoniing session of Parliament, which opens on June 23. is being heralded by Press forecasts and Ministerial gatherings. The second .year of each Parliament is regarded as the most important of the three, Ihvis the bills to be considered are likely to be numerous. Mr. Coates and his colleagues are somewhat reticent regarding ’Government proposals, but it is known that probable official measures will deal with tariff amendments, rural finance, and roads maintenance. A sequel to the Dob-

son disaster will be amendments to the Mining .Act, but the nature of these will, of course, largely depend on the report of the Commission of, Enquiry, now sitting at Greymouth. Education, agricultural and ordinary, will prove fruitful ground for debate. The Bible-in-Schools bill is fairly certain to be reintroduced by Mr. Isitt. The Council defeated' the bill by one vote, last session, but appointments to the Upper Chamber since are said to favour the bill’s chances this year. The attitude of the Lower House is less certain, and it is not really expected that the old controversy will be much further advanced by the time Parliament ends its session.

The Dairy Control Board’s policy will be debated, and Mr. Veitch is expected to reintroduce his measure providing for the elimination of price-fixing powers from the Dairy Export Control Act. Licensing reform, long overdue through the vagaries of extremists, ought to be fostered by the Government, especially in the direction of providing licensees with greater security of tenure. The Westland Licensing Committee’s meeting this week' provided occasion for extravagant demands to be made on licensees, and although these requests were dismissed by the Committee on legal grounds, justice and equity also made it wropg to impose such burdens on licensees and hotel-property owners who have no guarantee that their expenditure will not be practically wasted by a catch vote on the prohibition issue. Until there is greater security of tenure, the majority of licensees and owners will hesitate to spend what they would under other circumstances. Attacks on the Arbitration Court by rural producers, mainly, may induce a friendly Government to attempt to amend the law, but the opposition to the Court’s abolition, or to the serious curtailment of its powers, would be strong, and Mr. Coates may decide to let well alone. Racing Clubs, in view of the decreasing totalisator returns, will be encouraged to repeat the demands for some relief from Government taxation, and unless redress is secured, some of the smaller clubs may have to wind up. Electoral reform and the question of abolished electorates may lead to talk, but little action. As for the state of the respective Parties, Mr. Coates will have no cause for nervousness. His majority is overwhelming, and nothing has happened since Parliament last met, to shake the Government’s position, seriously. The Official Opposition is too small to do anything but oppose, and they will not be wanting in this direction. The Liberals and Nationalists will have a chance to re-establish their prestige but they must first be united. The present position is somewhat grotesque, and it will be interesting to note who acts as the leader. Air. Veitch and Mr. Forbes cannot both do this in Parliament, whatever they contrive outside.