WEEK IN PARLIAMENT.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LVIII, Issue 17914, 17 October 1921, Page 6

WEEK IN PARLIAMENT.

IMPERIAL CONFERENCE.

3?RIME MINISTER'S SPEECH.

SAMOAN AFFAIRS DISCUSSED

THE PROHIBITION QUESTION

. SPECIAL REPORTER.]

WELLINGTON. Saturday.

Varied issues, great and small, have been under consideration by Parliament during this, the third full week of the session. The financial condition of the Dominion, Empire relationships, Imperial defence, and the government of Samoa are among the subjects of greater magnitude. In addition, the members have exercised their minds about such subjects as rural mail deliveries, the taxation of motor-cars, and the registration of land agents. Until yesterday there was little to show in the* way of progress with the legislative programme of the session, with the exception of the Samoa Bill, which was read a second time and partly, put through the Committee stage*. Practically no measures emanating from the Government received attention, until Friday, when a definite forward movement was made.

Naturally the matter which aroused most ' interest was the statement made by Mr. Massey concerning this business done at thf) Conference of Prime Ministers. The j matters upon which ho touched were interesting, but, he had referred to so many of them in previous utterances from the platform and elsewhere that what he Lad to say on Thursday amounted, in a number of instances, to an elaboration of subjects previously alluded to. Nevertheless, he succeeded in capturing the attention of the House during the two hours in which lie spoke. Other subjects with ! which lie had been expected to deal were not ranched. Statements concerning wool, butter, freights, meat, and Empire communications were, anticipated, but as the Prime Minister said that he would have more to say at a later date concerning the results of "his visit to the other side of the world it can only be assumed that his pronouncements upon these interesting issues will be reserved Tor that occasion. While there is nothing definite to slate upou the point,, it is not considered probable that the later opportunity will occur during the coming week, or at all events for some days to come. The Farmers' Deputation. An incident which, while not strictly belonging to Parliamentary proceedings, w;vs nearly akin to them, was tut interview between the Prime Minister and the farmers concerning the financial position and the need for economy. Mr. Massey's sharp rebuke to what ho regarded as unjustified pessimism was very favourably commented upon by large numbers of people who considered that the farmers had been painting the situation in altogether too gloomy colours. The rise in wool prices which followed so closely upon the incident gave even more point to the emphatic declaration from the head of the Administration that there was absolutely no justification for talking as if the end of all "things were at hand. The legislation which was considered tho bulkiest measure before the House ■was the Bill for the government of Samoa. Not a great deal of it was new, neither were most of the comments offcjred by the House. When the word Samoa is mentioned something is certain to come from the Labour benches about the Chinese question. Just as certain is an inquiry from Mr. J. Horn (Wakatipu) whether the department has done anything to introduce wekas for the purpose of eradicating the rhinoceros beetle. Apart from the stock Questions the most interesting issue was that of giving some measure of representative government to the Samoan people. It was generally assumed that this was a matter which would have to be considered in the fairly near future, in fact, as the Minister himself inferred, the sooner and more completely the education system which has 'been inaugurated does its work, the nearer will come the day when the voice of Samoa will be directly heard in the councils of the Dominion. Medical View of Alcohol. One aspect of Samoan affairs, the prohibition order, about which a great deal of debate was expected, passed almost without comment. The Minister was forearmed. He quoted an opinion from a j medical officer at Apia without any leanings toward prohibition, who declared most emphatically that alcoho! was neither necessary nor even particularly desirable in th? island, but his precaution was ] hardly necessary. No one worried about that particular grievance of what have been termed the "' Olympians of the beach." It i<i interesting to note that the Minister dropped a hint that the Cook Islands Bill, which Dr. Pom:ire has introduced but which has not yet been circulated, contains a sii.iilar absolute prohibition of ale )iicl in those portions of New Zealand's outlying dependencies. No definite developments have yet occurred in connection with totalisator permits and the report of the commission. Little progress appears to have been made toward a workable compromise. Issues and interests cross and rerrons to sui h an extent that it is varv difficult to see how certain elements in the House will be able to reach common ground. That, however, like the tariff revision, can be described only as one of the hurdles of the future- to be sunrjpunted before the session tan be brought to an end.