LIFE OF THE SESSION.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LVI, Issue 17295, 20 October 1919, Page 6

LIFE OF THE SESSION.

THREE WEEKS TO RUN.

MANY BILLS WAITING.

REVIEW OF THE WEEK.

.SPECIAL REPORTER.]

WELLINGTON. Saturday.

With this session not yet ended mention has already been made of the next. During the discussion of the Treaties of Peace BUI in the early hours this morning the Prime Minister remarked that it might be necessary to call Parliament together immediately after the Christmas holidays. It has already been suggested that should the state of the parties necessitate it after the elections, Parliament will be summoned in January. There is a considerable amount of work still to be done before the present session can end.

The list of the measures still to be dealt with is in itself significant. There are already under way the Education Amendment Bill—which may be fairly extensively discussed, the Public Health Amendment, Dairy Industry Amendment, Expeditionary Forces Voting, Justices ot the Peace Amendment., Prisons Amendment, and Juries Act Amendment Bills.

The Board of Trad a Bid has yet to return from the Legislative Council, and as the Prime Minister uas stated definitely that the amendment will not be accepted, it may take a little time to adjust the differences with the jther House. In addition there are other measures still to be introduced, so that obviously there will be ample work to occupy the House for the fortnight or three weeks which, according to the Prime Minister, will see the end ot the present session. Two considerable tasks accomplished since last Monday were the passage of the Housing Bill and of the Treaties of Peace Bill. On the former the chief discussion centred around the necessity for guarding against speculation in the properties provided by the housing scheme. As it was quite possible that the Government would be supplying house property at a loss, it was plainly the opinion of the House that the purchasers should not be permitted to transform this loss to the State into a profit to the purchasers in case of alienation.

On the Treaties of Peace Bill a similar amount of time and i-Sequence was devoted to discussing the principle whether indentured labour should be admitted or not. There was some comment on the proposal that most of the details of the administration should be defined by Order-in-Couneil. This was finally settled by the Ministerial compromise providing that the Bill should not run for more than twelve months, thus ensuring that the House would have another opportunity of dealing with the administration of the new territories. On the question of indentured labour, the Labour members forced a division, and took into the lobbies with them one or two members who did not as a rule follow the lead of Mr. H. E. Holland (Grey). In addition to these two measures the difference with the Legislative Council over the Women's Parliamentary Rights Bill has been settled practically by giving the Council its own way. The Mortgages Extension Bill was discussed at considerable length on the second reading, and the Discharged Soldiers' Settlement Amendment Bill was also debated. The Post and Telegraph Amendment Bill was discussed at great length, despite its being largely a machinery measure. Lord Jellicoe's report on naval defence was presented, but as yet there has been no discussion upon it. 'Taken altogether, the week was productive of a considerable amount of useful work. In addition to the legislative programme the Public Works Statement and Estimates have to be dealt with. The statement is not likely to come down before the middle of the week, so that a number of the Bills awaiting attention may-be dealt with before the statement is produced.