THE SESSION

Southland Times, Issue 21219, 21 October 1930, Page 5

THE SESSION

WEEK IN PARLIAMENT.

CLOSING DATE POSTPONED.

LITTLE PROGRESS MADE.

(From Our Parliamentary Reporter.) Wellington, October 21

The past week in the House has been a disappointing one in that progress has been slow in spite of long sitting Jiours. • The first forecast of.the end of the.session was heard when the Hon. G. W. Forbes left New Zealand for the Imperial Conference, it being claimed at that time that the halls of legislature would be empty in three weeks. The Hon. E. A. Ransom became more definite about three weeks ago when he stated that the session would end in a week and' instituted long. hours to make his prophecy come true. The long hours have continued, but the end of the session is still at least some days away.

Three measures occupied the time of the House on Monday, the Arms Act Amendment Bill being introduced, the Stock Amendment Bill being passed, while a good deal of discussion took place on the Land Laws Amendment Bill. The pro : posed amendments to the Arms Act probably proved very satisfactory to farmers and others who use explosives and to those sportsmen who place their faith in shot guns, but the hundreds of New Zealanders who use rifles would probably have been better pleased if the amendments had included a proposal to permit of the purchase of rifle ammunition without the necessity of a permit. Disposal of Crown Lands. Interest in the Land Laws Amendment Bill centred largely in the clause which proposed to give the Minister power to dispose of 50,000 acres of third class land in one block. Discussion on the Bill was continued on Tuesday when the Minister (the Hon. E. A. Ransom) yielded to the arguments of the Leader of the Opposition (the Rt. Hon. J. G. Coates) and deleted the clause. Mr Adam Hamilton won approval during the debate by raising a good point. He reminded the Minister that he w'as wasting his time and the time of Parliament by bringing the Bill before the House if he did not put its provisions into force after it was passed. He received the support of a large number of members when he said that it was useless to find difficulties and correct them on paper without correcting the trouble. There has been a certain amount of evidence of dis-union in the ranks of the United Party for some time past and evidence that it actually existed appeared during the discussion on the Land Laws Amendment Bill on Monday night when Colonel T. W. McDonald made a spirited attack on his party and announced that he placed loyalty to his constituents before loyalty to his party. Further evidence of trouble in the ranks of the Government appeared on Wednesday when Mr D. McDougall announced that he hoped to see the Government go out of office if it did not attend to the needs of the small farmers of the country. In spite of the expressed desire of the Government to conclude the session at the end of the week, Wednesday evening was wasted on the Meat Export Control Amendment Bill, which was introduced by ,the member for Gisborne. Mr Lysnar has voted fairly consistently with the Government during the present session, and that fact, combined with Ihe fact that he appears likely to be the only private member to get a chance with a Bill, led, to some caustic comment in the lobbies, and the Bill’s downfall in the House. The debate did not get beyond the Short Title stage, in spite of an attempt on Mr McDougall s part to secure extra time for Mr Lysnar, when he was endeavouring to convince the House that his Bill was a necessary measure. Mr McDougall’s motion caused a slight sensation, he having been in the habit of objecting to extensions of time. He. has never objected to an extension for a Minister or private member in charge of a Bill, however, and evidently wanted to show the House, that far from objecting, he was in favour of law makers, or wouldbe law makers, having all the time they required. Provisions for Returned Soldiers.

Ths first fruits of the Ex-Soldiers’ Rehabilitation Commission appeared in the House on Wednesday when the Disabled Soldiers’ Civil Re-establishment Bill was introduced and read a first time. The Bill is a very straightforward one and easily understandable even to laymen who have no knowledge of the ways of law draftsmen. It aroused a considerable amount of interest in the House when it appeared and will provide much needed machinery if its provisions are put into operation. Little progress was made on Thursday, the sitting hours being occupied with a number of minor Bills. The Census Postponement Bill met with strong objection from the Labour Benches but passed through all stages without a great deal of trouble. Bills have been appearing almost as fast as they are disposed of and Thursday saw the birth of one in the Kawarau Gold Mining Amalgamation Bill, which may or may not revive the attempt to prove the dream of Sir Julius Vogel true. The most uninteresting sitting of the week took place on Friday when a number of local Bills were discussed. These Bills having a local interest only were not very keenly debated, and the galleries, which are usually well filled on Fridays, were very sparsely occupied during the whole of the day. The appearance of Professor Hornell’s report on the Arapuni hydro-electric scheme was one of the interesting events of the week, and its satisfactory’ nature should make the discussion on it much lighter than might otherwise have been the case. The discussion on the report will probably take place this week. The Order Paper still contains a large number of Bills, but the “slaughter of the innocents,” which takes place at the end of every session, will probably dispose of most of them. The supplementary estimates have yet to be dealt with, and the Appropriation Bill is yet to come. However, they are matters which are usually taken through all stages as soon as they appear in the House, and the hopes of the Government, that the. session will conclude at the end of the present week, may be realized without much difficulty.