CHANGES IN LAW

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 66, Issue 47, 5 December 1945, Page 5

CHANGES IN LAW

GOVERNMENT PROCEDURE OPPOSITION OBJECTION (P.A.) WELLINGTON, Nov. 4. Objection to the use of the Statutes Amendment Bill to make major changes in 1 lift law in the closing stages of ihe session was expressed by Hie Leader of the Opposition (Mr S. G. Holland) when the Bill was before the House of Representatives to-day. The Bill, be said, amended 49 different acts, and he suggested that in some instances this should have* been done by separate bills.

Air Holland said the House bad been sitting for 23 weeks, of which about 20 weeks were spent on all sorts of things, such as papers for consideration—all very useful in their way; but members had come to transact the country’s business. Now c,ame this Rill, amending different acts of Parliament. It bad been considered by the Statutes Revision Committee, the members of which, however, had not seen the Bill until Monday, and it was the custom to refer bills to committee with expert knowledge of questions in the Bill. How could the Statutes Revision Committee have expert knowledge of 49 different acts? For example, two sections which were worth a special bill on their own were those dealing with the wages and conditions of agricultural workers and share-milkers. Members of the Opposition would like to see farm workers get ihe benefit of good conditions, and-they should have ample time to study the provisions of such legislation. Orders for Raie Payments Another clause enabled the ValuerGeneral to attach farmers’ cream cheques for payment of rates. That, too, was worth a special hill. A farmer might have given an order to someone else but the Valuer-General’s order would apparently take precedence. It was necessary to have wash-ing-up hills, but they should not include such revolutionary things as compulsory unionism in the Public Service.

The Minister of Supply (the Hon. D. G. Sullivan) said if Mr Holland had not made the speech he did it would have been a break from precedent. The‘problem confronting the Government and the method of solving it were the same as those of all governments in the 25 years he had been in the House. He thought, however, that Mr Holland had exaggerated the position. Although this Avas not the best method of legislating, it did save the House’s time. If all the clauses were separate hills, Heaven knew how long it would take the House to get through its, work. The session had been one of the most productive of valuable and fruitful legislation in the history of New Zealand. While the House was’passing those bills it could not he dealing with matters in the Statutes Amendment Bill. It was unnecessary to have a separate bill dealing with compulsory membership of railway service organisations, because the whole country was familiar with compulsory unionism, and the railway organisations had asked for it for some time. The Government believed the clauses in the Bill could not be done without, and that the only alternative to the Statutes Amendment Bill would he to leave the work undone, which would he a more serious matter.