WEEK IN PARLIAMENT.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 16811, 14 August 1922, Page 6

WEEK IN PARLIAMENT.

awaiting financial STATEMENT. HURRY—UNTIL LATER. (Special to the “ Star.”) W ELLINGTON, August 12. The House of Representatives is still qmte leisurely. There is no straining n t Icash > no de ma.nd that members .shall have business put before them, and be given the chance to work. This suits the Government excellently for it is an open secret that no Government measures of real importance will see the light of day before tlie Finance Minister lias placed his annual financial statement be!ore the House-. Meantime little sops likely to prouuce hour-filling debates have been thrown to members, strong will be the contrast when, a few week* hence, members hear of the active campaigning of their opponents in the various electorate®. Then all will be hurry and bustle and the work will go through just as quickly as Mr Speaker can announce the titles and just as ti,e in defatiguable Chairman °r Committees can count the clauses. More reports have been tumbling on to the table th-i® week. Chief of these of course, is the report of the business men s Taxation Committee. The report itself was symbolical of the difficulty experienced when two or more men try to come to a unanimous opinion upon the details of this thorny question. On all the big issues, corapany taxation, earned and unearned income, exemption limit, etc., there was a decided division of opinion, or an agreement with reservations. One recommendation of the committee, the withdrawal of the euper-land tax, has already been given partial approval by the I rime Minister—and it will not be altogether surprising if that is the sum total, this session, of the results achieved by the committee. Members have not yet had the opportunity of debating the report. That will be taken in conjunction with the Financial Debate. Mr Sidey, when this proposal was first made, seemed to think that it was scarcely fair that members should be aMved to give part of their time allowance on that occasion to the report but, as Mr Massey said> surely they have about discussed everything else already, what with the three weeks on the Ad-dress-in-Reply as well as a host of time on the various Departmental report® which have come down alreadv.

Talking of reports, members had their usual full afternoon on tourist resorts when Mr Nosworthy brought down his annual report on Wednesday. It is only when the House discusses this matter that one realises what a great country it is in which we live. No member is parochial on these annual occasions : no, it is always the other fellow who is guilty of cranking the parish pump. Some of the older members are managing nowadays to get quite a lot of fun out of this debate. It vras Mr Ngata who gave the most cheerful touch' to this week’s debate. Ho recalled the fact that the Leader of the Opposition was “ one time an authority on the Balkans” and had told the people of the striking national dress of the ‘people. From that Mr Ngata went on to say that if the Government would only compel New Zealandere to wear a national costume the country would be ever so much more attractive to tourists. No doubt he was right. A jaded tourist would go miles surely to see the Prime Minister, Mr Isitt or Sir William Herries, for instance, in something really chic. Incidentally it was this debate which showed most clearly the surplus of time which the House feels it has at its disposal. Had it not been for the Land Tax Bill (annual) the House would have been in very grave danger of finding itself with absolutely nothing to do for the last two days of the week. This, or any other measure in which the word “tax” occurs, however, is always a sure gapfiller, and members were quite content to spend both Thursday and Friday evenings discussing the rights and wrongs of concessions to what were called “ the land kings” or “the poor unfortunate farmers” according to which side of the Honse the speaker resided. Tlie Financial Statement debate wil! give the Government a welcome respite in which to decide definitely just what shall and what shall not be placed before the House tin's session.