King Country Chronicle. Wednesday, November 10, 1937. WORK OF PARLIAMENT.

King Country Chronicle, Volume XXXI, Issue 4567, 10 November 1937, Page 4

King Country Chronicle. Wednesday, November 10, 1937. WORK OF PARLIAMENT.

Parliament will have to speed up during the I'emainder of the preChristmas session, according to the Prime Minister, Mr. Savage. He has some reason 'for his statement, if the Government are going to clear the decks f'r the important business that will be before the House when it resumes next year. So far the two months of the present session have been spent on the Address-in-Reply, Imprest Supply Bills, the Budget, factors affecting defence, Imperial matters, trade agreements and marketing, the great question of taxation, five local Bills, the Fair Rents Amendment, and other questions, and last week the Government was under heavy fire in regard to broadcasting and the guaranteed price. The various bills to be considered before the summer adjournment, apart from the consideration of the remaining estimates, public works, and Railway statements, and the first annual report of the Marketing Department, are as follows:—The Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Amendment Bill, affording much needed relief to the Arbitration Court; the Sale of Wool Bill; the Electoral Amendment Bill, restoring triennial Parliaments; a bill dealing with important changes in the education system; the Coal Mines Amendment Bill; an Oil Prospecting Bill; and a Finance Bill, embracing miscellaneous provisions, among which will be a hardship clause in respect to the payment of the graduated land tax.

It seems as if the old policy of the last-minute rush will have to be followed to dispose of such a formidable array of subjects before the second week of December. When the House resumes after the holidays, however, even more important subjects will be dealt with—the question of national health and of national insurance schemes. Except for the fact that these schemes are to be dealt with in separate bills and that the Government's pre-election promises were exceedingly wide in their scope, practically nothing is known of them by the general public. A suggestion has come from Wellington, however, that the health scheme at least will be more limited in its scope than originally suggested; probably the whole question is still under consideration. Certainly it would be better to build up sound, even if limited, schemes rather than have them fail through boundless ambition. It seems that Parliament has an arduous future ahead of it, and it is to be sincerely hoped that ample time and scope will be found for consideration of matters of major importance.