BUSY SESSION ENDS

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18278, 22 December 1933, Page 11

BUSY SESSION ENDS

VALEDICTORY SPEECHES GOOD FEELING SHOWN TRIBUTES TO LEADERS (Per Press Association.) WELLINGTON, this day. The third session of the twenty-fourth Parliament concluded at 12.45 p.m. today, with the usual valedictory speeches. Compared with the momentous meetings of Parliament in recent years, the session just concluded was comparatively uneventful, but a very large number of bills was passed. During the session, the House met on 57 days, and sat for 382 hours 13 minutes, representing a daily average of 6 hours 42 minutos. The House met at 11 o’clock this morning to receive the Appropriation Bill back from the Legislative Council, and immediately adjourned to enable Mr. Speaker to wait upon Lord Bledisloe to receive Royal assent to the bill. The House resumed at 11.45 a.in., when tho Speaker formally announced that Royal assent had been given. Speaking on tho motion to adjourn, the Rt. Hon. G. W. Forbes said members had had a particularly busy session, in which an amount of solid work bad been done that would compare favorably with the efforts of any other institution or business organisation in tho country. The session had been completed with the best feeling among members that lie could remember. In spite of divergent views on many subjects, there had been no element of bitterness. Mr. Forbes referred to the gap left in tho House’s ranks by the death of tho late Leader of the Opposition, Mr. 11. E. Holland, whoso passing had been so deeply regretted by members. He also paid a tribute to Mr. M. J. Savage, stating that in tho short time he had held office as Leader of the Opposition lie had earned the respect of every member of the House. “The bulk of the session’s work,” Mr. Forbes said, “lias fallen on my colleague, the Minister of Finance, who lias come through a particularly trying period with no loss of prestige, and with very good humor.” In conolilsion, the Prime Minister paid tributes to the Speaker, the chairman of committees, and officers of the House, and extended the season’s greetings to all members. Mr. P. Fraser, deputy Leader of the Opposition, said lie joined in the tributes paid by Mr. Forbes, and also in wishing members a very good New Year, which, he hoped, would be shared by the whole country. There was no doubt that the session just concluded had been a heavy one, and, in regard to 1 the number of bills passed, it must have established something like a record for th<i time occupied. In regard to quality—the present was not the time to refer to that. Mr. Coates said ho had not deserved the Prime Minister’s tribute. He had been assisted in a valuable manner by his colleagues and had also had tho co-operation of the Opposition. To-day the economic outlook was better than it had been a year ago, but the activity could not be relaxed until unemployment was cured. Tho Speaker, Sir Charles Statham, expressed thanks for the tributes that had been paid to him, and referred to the loss The House had sustained by the deaths of Messrs. Holland and McCombs. Mr. Smith also thanked those who had spoken for their references to him. Tho motion to adjourn was traditionally lost by 10 votes to 14, and the Speaker left the chair, members singing the National Anthem and “Auld Lang Syne.”