THE Hauraki Plains gazette With which is Incorporated THE OHTNEMURI GAZETTE. MONDAY, WEDNESDAY, FRIDAY. “Public Service.” MONDAY, MARCH 31, 1941. ABRUPT END TO SESSION

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume 50, Issue 3056, 31 March 1941, Page 4

THE Hauraki Plains gazette With which is Incorporated THE OHTNEMURI GAZETTE. MONDAY, WEDNESDAY, FRIDAY. “Public Service.” MONDAY, MARCH 31, 1941. ABRUPT END TO SESSION

AGAIN the session of Parliament has come to an abrupt conclusion and an adjournment has been made until midwinter because there is no legislation to occupy the members. There is a very natural desire at this juncture to avoid contentious matters which have no important relation to the major issues facing the country. The Government has almost completed its legislative programme and indeed in civil matters would be better engaged in correcting errors to present Statutes and regulations rather than in adding to an already too formidable list of laws.

Becalise the only seriously contentious clause in the Loca' Elections and Polls Amendment Bill has been deleted by a committee of the House, the only prospect of an extended debate on legislative matters in the session has been removed. This clause proposed to give the right to tenants of State houses to vote on local body loan proposals. Had it been retained in the Bil it would certainly have met with strong opposition, mainly on the grounds that State house tenants are not ratepayers, and because it was not intended to extend a similar privilege to tenants of private landlords. It is admittec that a certain anomaly remains because there is no vote to represent the State houses, since the Government cannot vote, while the private landlord has his own individual vote, but the proposal in the Bill was scarcely an acceptable remedy.

Unless an emergency suggests otherwise, Parliament may not again assemble until the calling of the most important sitting of the year, when the Budget will probably be presented. The Minister of Finance, in association with his colleagues, will on this occasion be presented with an extraordinarily difficult, task because the element of uncertainty will be greater than for many years. The.national income can usually be anticipated with a reasonable degree of accuracy, ■but this year there are many factors beyond the control of New Zealand which must have their effect on the Budget. The dislocation of the meat export industry, for instance, was an unexpected development which is bound to depress the national income and therefore the people’s taxable capacity. As the war develops there may be other difficulties to contend with in the financial year that begins a few days hence.