LITTLE PROGRESS MADE

Hawera Star, Volume LIV, 17 September 1934, Page 4

LITTLE PROGRESS MADE

Heavy Programme Ahead of Parliament

LONG DEBATE ON BUDGET DAIRY REPORT AWAITED Eleven weeks of the session have now gone, but so far the House of Representatives has comparatively little to show for its labours. Future progress will no doubt be determined largely by the nature of the legislation the Government has yet to introduce, ehieiiy that arising out of the report of the Daily Industry Commission. The Prime Minister is reported to have said in Christchurch that he was doubtful if the session would end before December. It therefore seems obvious that* a heavy legislative programme lies ahead. Forty-six speakers participated in the Financial Debate, which concluded on Thursday afternoon. Government and Labour members each accounted for twenty-two speeches, the remaining two being made by Independents. The two members of the Opposition not to speak wer© Mr W. J. Jordan (Manukau) and Mr J.

..■'L'rien (Buffer). Following the Budget debate, the Mouse went into committee to discuss the clauses in the Customs Acts Amendment Bill and the items in the tariff schedules. Under the most favourable circumstances this is expected to take at week at the very least, when the week-end adjournment was taken no progress had been made beyond clause 17 of the Biff fixing the rates of duty on beer brewed in New Zealand, Labour and Bidependent members taking strong exception to the proposal to reduce the excise duty by threepence per gallon. CONTROVERSIAL, ISSUE. Although the sliding scale of wheat and flour duties is a highly-controver-sial issue in Parliament, the opposition to them during the passage of the Customs Biff is not likely to be effective enough to disturb the existing state of affairs. Mr C. A. Wilkinson (Tnd., Egmont) and other opponents of the duties protested against a clause allowing the Minister to fix the f.o.h. values of wheat and flour, but the clause was retained by 59 votes to 6.

Mr W. Nash (Lab., Hutt) brought down an amendment to give authority to the Minister to take complete control of the production and importation of wheat and flour products, control prices of wheat, flour, bread and other wheat products, give an adequate guaranteed price to the wheat grower and the payment of standard rates of pay in tlie wheat, flour and breadmaking industries. The amendment, however, was ruled out of order as not being pertinent to the clause and also on the ground that it involved an appropriation. Mr Nash indicated, however, that in that- case he would move his amendment later as a new clause. With the presentation of the report of the Parliamentary Monetary Committee- on Friday, there was also tabled a bulky volume containing the printed evidence given before the committee. “Are we to have a session to discuss it?” asked Mr P. Fraser (Liab., Wellington Central ) as the tome was presented by the Minister of Finance, Rt. Hen. J. 'G. Coates.