POLITICAL NOTES.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLII, Issue 10114, 23 October 1917, Page 7

POLITICAL NOTES.

TDK END OF THE SESSION, LITTLIvTHINGSLTO BE HONE. Although an 'effort was to have been mado ,to bring-,the, session to a dost l this ivecK/it is-very improbable that the House will rise before Tuesday of next week at ' the; 'earliest, and if. may sit for a few days longer.. Even then if will mean' tliat late hours will' have to-'t)C kept, and that .members villi have to be less talkative than, they have, been in tin ja'rl.y part, of .the session. _ . There is no ie-gis'laiion of importance- yet to come down, but .there are one or two Bills on the Order Paper already which may demand the attention of members even in the busy hours at the end of the. session. Most important of theni all w the Expeditionary Forces Amendment Bill, :uuler which' the question ol the exemption of cbrgv and of- Maris-t .Brothers may |„, raised. A fair body of members showed • heir hostility to t.ho'Soeial Hygiene Billon Friday night, and it has: been arrangeel that these members or representatives are to meet Mr Russell and talk with him about modifications of the Bill. It is now practically certain that the Bill will be consider ably altered when.it.comes again before the Committee of-the House, -if Mr Russell tries again to force the Bill through in it* present shape, the session will not be over for couifl time after Saturday next. THE COST OF LIVING. : There are two reports of Select Committees which will occupy some, time when thevy' appear, ''the first is the report of the .Cost of Living Committee, which was referred.back .for reconsideration of one of the clauses, one of (lie two really import-ant-clauses in the report. The committee has been unable to agree upon the amendment to be 'made in this clause, and report is that, thev are. not at all likely to agree. It is possible that the Chairman of the Committee will present the report with the objectionable clause expurgated, and that die amendment askeel for by the House in he difficult clause dealing with the fixing if prices of commodities produced in this country'may nevbr.be presented. In the debate in tiio House on the first report-it was.stilted by the Chairman that the Committee had considered two schemes for the reduction of the local price of these commodities produced in-such, groat plenty in this country and exported to the Mother Country at" prices higher than the people of this'• country arc willing to pay tor 'hem. One of the schemes, ami that linallv adopted, was that the Food Controller dienild regulate the prices, of these commodities to the local consumer, and that the loss of profit-to the producer should ,ic made up out of the Consolidated Fund )f the State. The other proposal was that tire producers should be required to estabish an Equilisation Fund, in the same way i< thev were compelled to pay a levy em buttor-fat last summer, but the Committee ,vas stronglv impressed with the injustice ;)ossil>le under this scheme, and it was rejected bv the Committee. If the Committee had not rejected it, the House would-still have refused to sanction it. So that it is difficult, With the information available, to see how the Committee is ijoing to propose that this rpiestion shall w, settled. The industries affected have Seen built up by. the export trade, and lot by the local trade, and they are still rlmost 'wholly -dependent on the export "rude. The Committee may get out of, the dilemma by neglecting to report to the House at' all. -,,''. .'.' OTHER MEASURES.

' Oth"v measures remaining for the Hous<| o deal with are' tlv> two 'SvasWing-up Bills, Maori and pa'keha, and ihey are- ■ either of them likely to bo controversial this year-. ■ ' , ~ The Supplementary Estimates will conWin little of intercut except the war bonus o Civil Servants Votes.' These votes may >i> held up for -a time, for members who 'inve been convinced by the Government ,hat- it. is not. possible for financial reasons to 'increase the allowances to widows and children of soldiers may.be.difficult to convince, that- the country'ha? money to spare 'or the payment of extra money to servants if the State. ■ - ' .THE MEAT TRUST. '.' The other report is that of the Meat Export Tradd Committee: The main ol>ject of the oommittee'was't'6 investigate'the operations of-the, Meat. Trust in tlu> meat, trade of this country. • It' does not seem, possible that at this late stage of the session legislation will bo brought down as the result of 'the report, even if the Committee should recommend the (Jovernment to submit- legislation to the House. One of the results of the enquiry is likely to ba that some restrictions will be placed on the formation of private companies here by persons and firms not domiciled in this country. Indeed, the Treasurer has- already been asked to take steps to prevent these- companies and firms, whose business it is to buy meat for sale in England, from escaping-.taxation: in respect of their incomes.