Inclement weather and the prevailing influenza epidemic account for the absence of some of our political chiefs from the House of Representatives, Sir W. Lyne, Chief of Home Department is confined to his home in Sydney; Mr. Reid the Free Trade Leader, and Mr. Deakin have both been absent for a while; and Bigjohn Forrest, Westralia's representative in the Ministerial Team is away in Perth, representing the Government in the final act of the Royal tour. With all these shining lights away, it is no wonder that some of the recent debates have been of a particularly auh character. Three important measures are now before the House, and as far as outsiders can judge, none of them seem to get much forrarder." Discussion on the very dry Tariff Bill has the effect of reducing the attendance to about half. More interest is, however, centred in the debates on Sir ai. Forrest's Defence Bill. This Intter measure has provoked a storm of hostile criti cism. Sir John Quick, the Member for Bendigo, in an animated speech, roundly condemned the coercive clauses of the measure, arguing that Parliament might well loave the safety of the country to the poople themselves, independently of any legal authority for calling upon citizens to serve in the ranks. The term "emergency raised apprehension in the minds of one of two speakers. The naval side of the mea-stite was also severely criticised, whether from forethought or accident cannot as yet he said, but the only provision contained in the Bill, is for the appointment of a N: val Commandant, and no other details are even so much as mentioned. Sir John Quick in his speech referred to this, maintaining that it was high time we placed more reliance on our resources and less on the British fleet that lies at anchor in Sydney harbour, for so many months in the year. As an island continent, our first line of defence is the fleet, and this should be manned by our own population. There is little doubt that the naval side of the Defence Programme has been subordinated te what one especially peace-loving member referred to as the ghastly bane of militarism.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.