BUSINESS OF PARLIAMENT.

Taranaki Daily News, 5 September 1935, Page 4

BUSINESS OF PARLIAMENT.

In a pre-election session it seems too much to hope that the formal “Address-in-Reply” debate can be curtailed in the House of Representatives. It affords an opportunity for the private member to air his views on most things that can crop up, and with a formal “want of confidence” motion added, it appears likely that there will be many speeches made before the foregone conclusion is reached and the House can settle down to real work. All parties are said to be in agreement in regard to the non-intro-duction of preferential voting at the next election, and it seems strange that they cannot as easily agree to curtail the formal debate that is now proceeding, and enable business to proceed. It was announced a week or two ago that draft legislation was well under way, and while it is possible that the Minister of Finance will not be ready to bring down the Budget for a week or two, there seems no reason why in the meantime amending Bills could not be considered and completed. Unless developments overseas introduce any unanticipated problems there seems no reason why the session should not be a short one, for the Governor-General's speech included no suggestion of legislation that is likely to be highly controversial or to mark any serious alteration of policy. The chief interest of the public will centre in the Budget, and in the Government’s employment proposals, which of course will depend upon the resources available. The shorter the session the wider will be the opportunity of consulting the electorate, and in view of the issues at stake the less unhurried the election campaign can be the less likely is the voting to be based on insufficient understanding of the policies upon which the support of the electorate is being sought.