I have to announce that I have received information of the death, on 26th July last, of Mr. Stephen O'Mara, a former member of this House. His death causes a vacancy which will have to be filled as a casual vacancy, and it is my duty, as Chairman, to fix the date for the election. The election has to be held not sooner than a fortnight from to-day, but there is a difficulty in connection with that, which I want the House to consider and come to some conclusion upon. I do not think there is likely to be much business for us between this and Christmas. So far as I can see, the only matter of urgency to come up to us from the other House will be the Expiring Laws Bill, which will probably be a non-contentious measure. So far as I can judge, we will not want to sit on more than one day between this and the Christmas Recess. It has occurred to me that members of the House might, under these circumstances, consider it desirable not to fill this vacancy until we meet in January. That will be a matter on which I will be entirely guided by the opinion of the House. The 15th December seems to me the earliest date that we will be required to meet, and if we had nothing to occupy us on that date except the Expiring Laws Bill we might have a very small attendance. Accordingly, it might be more dignified for us to fix a date for the election subsequent to the Christmas Recess. Senators can consider the matter, and I will mention it again before the adjournment to-day.
Before concluding, I should like to welcome back here our colleague, Senator Mrs. Wyse Power.
