OPENING OF PARLIAMENT

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21114, 23 February 1932, Page 11

OPENING OF PARLIAMENT

SESSION STARTS TO-DAY.

BUSINESS BEFORE HOUSE.

HIGHER unemployment tax,

RETAINING ARBITRATION COURT.

r B Y TELEGRAPH.— SPECIAL nEPOTITEn.] WELLINGTON. Monday.

The meeting of Parliament in the emergency session to-morrow brings into close prospect the revelation of the Coalition Government's plans for dealing with the economic drift. The nature of the Government's proposals will be sketched in the . Governor-General's Speech from the Throne on Wednesday, but the precise details will not be announced until the appropriate legislation appears. According to a statement by the Prime Minister, the Rt. Hon. G. W. Forbes, this evening, the drafting of the legislation is well advanced, and the Government is anxious that the real tasks awaiting Parliament should be dealt with at the earliest moment. However, the Parliamentary machine does not gather momentum speedily, and it is indicated that the preliminaries will occupy the attention of the House for at least a week. As this is the first session, Parliament, will be opened by commission to-morrow. The swearing-in of the members will follow and the House of Representatives will then proceed to elect its Speaker. The , r e-e]ectioii of Sir Charles Statham, who has occupied the position for the past nine years, is assured. The Address-in-JReply. The ceremonial inauguration of the session by the Governor-General, Lord Bledjsloe, will take place on Wednesday afternoon, and brief sittings of both Houses • w jJl follow. Tributes to the memories of deceased legislators .will be paid on Thursday afternoon, and in the evening the Address-in-Reply debate will be initiated, the mover being Mr. A. J. Murdoch, senior Government Whip, and the seconder Mr J- Bitchener, junior Government W hip. The Prime Minister said this evening _ that it was only reasonable to allow members an adequate opportunity to express their views on current problems during the initial debate, but at the same time he expressed the hope that the speeches .would cot be prolonged past the middle of next week. LTntil the temper of the House is revealed he prefers not to conjider the question of reintroducing the :losure, power to apply which automatically expired with the dissolution of the last Parliament. Thß Arbitration Act. The first important business to be brought before the House will be either the Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Amendmert Bill, embodying the principle of compulsory conciliation and voluntary arbitration, or the ratification of the Canadian trade agreement. According to Mr. Forbes there is no intention of abolishing the Arbitration Court, . as has been suggested in some quarters, but proposals for making the award conditions less restrictive are expected to provoke Labour Hostility. The Labour Party's determination to resist any interference with industrial awards and agreements was emphasised

by the Leader of th e Opposition, Mr. H. E: Holland, this evening. " The session will open in circumstances which appear to be quite different from anything experienced in this country before," said Mr. Holland. " While it is possible that the Coalition Government has reached some agreement with regard to an attack upon awards and agreements under the Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Act, and various Email matters, it has so far announced no policy affecting the main political and economic issues. Resistance from Labour. " The Economy Commission which has been set up to find a policy for the Government will not furnish even its interim report before March 1, and even then Cabinet will have to make its decision as to whether it will accept all or any part of the report before the House can deal with it," added Mr. Holland. This means that the House will be called upon to debate the motion for the Address-in-Reply without being in a position to discuss the policy that will eventually be evolved." Mr. m Holland added that interference with agreements and awards, as well as wholesale dismissals and wage cuts, would be resisted by the Labour members to the limits afforded by the forms of Parliament. Mr. Holland declined to discuss the possibility of a no-confidence amendment to the Address-in-Reply. A caucus of the party to determine the party's attitude during the session will be held to-morrow.

More Money for Unemployment. Another matter for early consideration by the House will be the Lnemployment Eil], in which the Government s further proposals for dealing with this persistently difficult problem will be revealed. An increase of the levy on salaries and wages is apparently inevitable and it is being darkly hinted that popular expectation that the impost of threepence in the pound will be increased to sixpence will be short of the mark. However, legislation has yet to be finally drafted and submitted to Cabinet. There is every indication that the session will last quite two months. A short time ago Mr. Forbes expressed the view that four weeks should suffice for the despatch of business, but he has revised tis estimate and as much as said this evening that a continuance past Easter, which is four and a-half weeks away, was yirtuallv certain. Experts' Report Nearly Ready.

;l The legislative pace will be regulated in : a large measurp by tlie reports of the •4 Economy Commission and the Committee j| of Experts. The former is required to Jj submit an interim report by March It while it is understood that the. second > " body is almost ready to submit its reportr| It is likely that, after consideration by J _ Cabinet, both reports will bo printed as 'j Parliamentary papers and laid on the j table of the House, thus giving free oppor- ■ (unity for discussion. j The Prime Minister does not appear 3 to be greatlv disturbed by the criticism 3 levelled at tlie Government for its delay || , in reaching decisions on the various mat - •g ' ters of economic moment, particul arlv»t h e exchange question. "It is the general ex|j perience that any Coalition Government has few champions," he said with a smile, ti , Those who support a party seem to , 1 consider themselves free to criticise when j that party merges its identity with another." I Mr. Forbes declined to be drawn re- | S Riding the prospect of a further cut in p. Civil Service salaries.