THE GOVERNOR'S SPEECH

Southland Times, Issue 20525, 29 June 1928, Page 6

THE GOVERNOR'S SPEECH

A fairly heavy session is foreshadowed by the Governor-General’s speech, but it must be admitted that the substance of it is very slender. However, measures will appear to give the House some concern and it will be found by the time the session closes that the many matters of prime importance have been touched. References to the financial situation are cheerful, and it is good to have from the Government assurances that economy measures are to be proceeded with to reduce the departmental expenditure to a lower point. The flotation of the loans recently is mentioned, and the country will take notice of the excellent showing these operations make, but it will be more concerned with evidence of the Government’s determination to taper further its borrowing operations. Of course, no mention is made of the Licensing Bill of last year and there will be some concern about the possibility of its reappearance. That concern will be deeper among the members than in the country. New proposals governing the licensing and registration of cars will come forward, but there is no direct reference to the Arbitration Court or the recent conference on industrial matters, from which it may be presumed that fundamentally the system of dealing with industrial disputes will not be changed. The question of providing Universal Pensions will be shelved in view of the financial situation, and the postponement of this project should be taken as a keynote to the political activities of the year—a restriction on heavy Government outlay wherever possible. At the same time this should not blind the country to the fact that in several directions improvements involving extra expenditure are desirable, particularly in education, where the surplus of teachers should direct the attention of the Government to the need for cutting down the large classes which now are too apparent as a feature of the primary system. The speech is no better than many of its predecessors, but we have grown used to mild, uneventful documents, and we know that the speech really gives no indication of the course the session will actually take.