FEDERAL POLITICS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20221, 4 April 1929, Page 6

FEDERAL POLITICS.

END OF THE SESSION.

REVIEW OF LEGISLATION.:

SOME IMPORTANT WORK.

A DRAMATIC INCIDENT.

No. n. [from our ppecial representative.] CANBERRA. March 53. In spite of the fact that the Opposition leader in the Federal Parliament, Mr. Scullin, on the adjournment motion before going into recess, voiced dissatisfaction with the progress that had been made by the Government in giving effect to the programme it had announced at the elections, some very important legislation has been put on the Statute Book. One remembers, however, that it is the business of the Opposition to oppose, and also to grumble. Probably tho dissatisfaction arises from the fact that so much progress has been made. What •would have been the caso if the Govtrnment had not applied the "gag" on several occasions when it looked as if the talking would go on for ever, wo may leave Mr. Scullin to say.

To begin the regulations that were put into force to bring the waterside workers' strike to an end have been embodied in the Transport Workers .Act. Then there is the validating .Act in connection with the financial agreement between the Commonwealth and the States. That is a measure of first-rate importance, and Australia is going to benefit by it to an extent that is hardly realised as yet. The Economic Research Bureau Act is another measure which the Government has passed. This provides for the setting up of a bureau, with a competent director, for the collection of all kinds of economic data, and it will function in close collaboration with the Development and Migration Commission and the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research. A number of other useful measures, if not quite as important as those named, have also been passed.

Tariff Matters.

Mr. H. S. Gullett, the new Minister for Trade and Customs, made his first important speech as a Minister on the Tariff Board Bill, and incidentally stated that the board would keep in close touch with the director of the Economic Research Bureau. Who will be director? that is the question. And to what school of political and fiscal thought will he belong? A good deal may depend upon this. Two names have been mentioned. One is Professor Copland, of the University of Melbourne; the other is Mr. Wickens, the Commonwealth Statistician.

Mr. Gullett, who before entering the Federal Parliament made his name in journalism and as a war historian, has started off well and everybody wishes him success, but he will find it difficult to adjust himself to the conflicting views of members supporting the Government. In his early days he did some farming in Victoria, and he has just bought a property a few miles out of Canberra, where he intends to run sheep. lie knows the difficulties of the men on the land, and his sympathies are with them. The indications are that he will endeavour to keep the scales as evenly balanced as he can, giving Australian manufacturers a fair measure of protection and reducing the tariff, as far as possible, on lines that will make the burden of the farmer a little lighter.

The Cotton Industry.

During the closing hours of the session Mr. Corser and Mr. Forde, both of them Queensland members, pressed for information as to the Government's intentions regarding the cotton industry. The Tariff Board has been investigating this industry for the last nine months and a fortnight ago its report and recommendations ivere presented to the Minister. Mr. Gullett, however, has given no indication as to the nature of the recommendations. The report is a voluminous one, he says, and the whole question very complex, but the Government will lose no time in going into it. In the Senate a vigorous attack on the Government for not making its intentions known was made by Senator Massy Greenjs, who is closely connected with cotton interests.

The Prime Minister has promised Mr. Victor Thompson, the member for New England, that he will give Parliament an opportunity next session to discuss the Constitution, in the light of our experience since federation, and the evidence given before the Royal Commission on this subject. Mr. Thompson has identified himself with the New States movement, and few men in Parliament hare made a closer study of the Constitution. He has persistently pressed for the setting apart of a special session to consider what changes are desirable.

Mr. James and' Coal Trouble.

In the early hours of Friday morning there was a remarkable scene in the Housa of Representatives. A speech dealing with the trouble in the coal trade and the closing down of the mines was delivered by Mr. James, the new member for the Hunter, and it created a profound impression. It is seldom that such a scene is witnessed in Parliament. It was not a "scene" in the sense in which that word is usually understood. This man was angry with the Government for not having taken proceedings against the coal-owners for closing down their mines and throwing thousands of men out of work; he was angry, and he spoke angrily, but his words, though delivered by a blunt, uncultured miner, carried conviction and when he closed with a reference to the Easter season and its meaning and, in all reverence, exclaimed. "For Christ's sake, do something!" there was a solemn silence in the Chamber.

The Prime Minister appeared to have been as much impressed by the speech as any other man there.

Mr. Bruce stated that the Government had been giving the matter the closest consideration, and h.<> hoped to be able to make an announcement before the session closed. A few hours later (he announcement of proceedings against Mr. John Brown was made.