ABOUT PARLIAMENT.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 11506, 30 September 1915, Page 1

ABOUT PARLIAMENT.

notes from THE GALLERY. (By Telegraph—Special to the "Star. ) WELLINGTON, September 29. WAR TAXATION. It would be very far from true to say that the Governments amended taxation proposals, which got through the House shortly after five o clock this morning, met with the unanimous approval of members. Sir Joseph V\ aid stated the position very fairly when lie said it would have been impossibie toi any Government representing ony one side of th© House to get them through at all. The 1 per cent primage duty on imports is obnoxious to three-iourths of the members, who say, probably with some truth, that by the timo it has beeu passed on to the consumer through the merchant and the retailer, it will amount to a much larger percentage. One per cent on one pound of tea will be about three-fifths of a farthing, and, if the merchant and the I retailer each convert this fraction into | a pennv, the charge will have risen to 110 or 11 per cent. In the case of many ! other articles the passing on process ' jiifiY hfl-VG 3. still mors uiStigTG&sblG ro- | suit for housewives. I COST OF LIVING, j The evil tendencies of the primage i duty, as they appear to some of the j critics, have led to a more insistent demand for the appointment of a commission with wide powers for the regulation of prices. It is being recalled that the Commission set up under the legislation of last session d:d practically nothing to protect the consumer. There was much talk about the price of wheat, and much expenditure in making superfluous inquiries, but the price went soaring up without the least regard to the good intentions of ! the Government or the tardy recom- | mentations of the vacillating Commisj sion. The general opinion here is that j a single commission, a capable, reliable ! business man, clothed with all the au- ! thority of a thorough-paced autocrat, i is the only power that can save the un- | happy consumer from the accumulating primage duty, as it is passed along. FORBIDDEN GROUND. Of course the many-featured taxation proposals have provoked warm disci ■ sions in the lobbies and elsewhere as to j which party represented in the Cabinet is responsible for this impost and which for that. It is admitted by his loudest critics that Sir Joseph Ward has '"played the game" admirably all through the piece. Me has never even hinted at a personal excu.se for the Cabinet's proposals. The most he has permitted himself is to remind the House that a National Ministry, made up of different party cements, must proceed hv compromise and conciliation. This morning: he took some of his critics rather severely to task for having forgotten this fact, and gave them to understand that the taxation propose Is had been framed with a view l;> produce- revenue and not. for the purj pose of advancing the creed of any par- ; t-iculvti" party. "We ar<> not." ho.said, ! " introducing into I his legislation any j of tho£e knotty p-ohlemx that, will re- ! quire to be settled in thy future. We i are .'-imply making provision for the j raising of the extra revenue that is | essential in what we believe to be the | best p-ossibh? way." ' END OF SESSION. | It. is now confidently predicted that < the session will be brought to a oicse jby the end of next wee k. This will j I necessiiate the slaughter of a number | ol innocents that would, hare been ! spared under other circumstances, but members are in no humour for routine ; work, and till the war passes the cri- • liral :.- 4 n:re they will be of almost as i use at home as they can be ' here- ♦