NEW LAWS

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 49, Issue 66, 28 December 1928, Page 3

NEW LAWS

SOME IMPORTANT ACTS.

OPERATION NEXT TUESDAY. Not only does each New Year bring with, it a crop of good resolutions but also a, budget of new legislation, which canont be broken under penalty of severe monetary loss. On Tuesday next, several Acts passed during the long session of 1928, under the Reform Government, will come into force. Among them are some much-discussed decisions of the Government.

The most important of all perhaps is the Mental Defectives Amendment Act, which raised a storm of criticism all over New Zealand when it was going through its various stages in the House of Representatives. « The main portion of the Act provides for the admission to mental hospitals of persons who are "socially defective—that is, persons who suffer from mental deficiency associated with anti-social conduct, and who, by reason of such .mental deficiency and conduct, require supervision for their own protection or in the public interest." Any person who is competent to apply for a reception order for such person may do so. A special board will be set up, consisting of the Director-General of Health, the Director of Education, the Controller-General of Prisons, a special mental medical officer, and two other members, one of whom must be a woman. The board will compile a register of all the mentally defective people in New Zealand, and will see that they are under proper supervision, will inquire into all cases periodically, and will make proyisipin forthe establishment of psychological clinics. The name of any person may be entered upon the register on the decision of a majority of members of the board, but anyone to whom the decision of the board may relate may object, and the objection may be decided by a Judge of the Supreme Court in Chambers - » l i• U The Education Reserves Act, which empowers the Crown to reserve lands for educational purposes, is largely a consolidating Act.

Kinematograph Films. Parts of the Kinematograph Films Act come into force on Tuesday next, and other parts on October 1, 1929. The first and second portions, relating to the censorship and registration of beclomes law on Tuesday, but the film hire tax, which is based on the gross receipts for a film, does not operate until January 1 of 1930.

Divcrce Laws. Several important changes in New Zealand divorce laws are embodied m the Divorce Act, and among the changes are: — Failure to comply with a decree tor restitution of conjugal rights is made a ground for judicial separation. The distinction between cases of adultery happening before and cases happening after June 1, 1899, has been abolished. The rule of the retention of her domicile by a deserted wife, notwithstanding that her husband has changed his domicile, is extended to apply to the case of a wife who has been separated from her husband by agreement or otherwise. Collusion, except in the case of adultery, has been fixed as only a discretionary bar to relief. A new clause provides that a wife may apply for divorce if her husband has been guilty of rape or any unnatural crime since the celebration of the marriage.

Motor Insurance. "An act to require the owners of motor-vehicles to insure against their liability to pay damages on account of deaths or bodily injuries caused by the use of such motor vehicles," is the full title of the Motor Vehicles Insurance (Third-Party Risks) Act, which comes into force on Tuesday next. The Act provides that every owner of a motor vehicle, on making application for the issue of a license or of registration plates for the year commencing on June 1, 1929, shall pay the insurance premium in respect of that motor vehicle and shall nominate: the company with which the contract of insurance is to be made. ;

Various Legislation. By the Hanmer Crown Leases Act better provision is made for the leasing of Crown Lands in the Hanmer Town area. Those who have leases at present are given the opportunity of applying to have them changed. The new Inspection of Machinery Act is a consolidation measure, bringing the law on the subject right up to date. The new Magistrate's (Court Act is a similar piece of legislation, with a new provision that a summons or oi\?r process may be served by registered letter, a signed receipt being taken as evidence of service. There are three registration Acts, providing for music teachers, opticians, and surveyors. . . The Noxious Weeds Act makes it incumbent upon owners of land to clear their property of noxious weeds, which are classified in a special schedule. The Orchard and Garden Diseases Act is a similar measure. Among the consolidation Acts are the Post and Telegraph Act, the Public Works Amendment Act, and the Rabbit Nuisance Act.