THE MONOPOLY BILL.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXV, Issue 206, 29 August 1904, Page 4

THE MONOPOLY BILL.

Mr Seddon has justified the warnings that he has for from time to time addressed to would-be monopolists by Dringing down a bill "prohibiting monopolies detrimental to the interests of the people." The scope of this Trades Monopolies Prevention Bill is compre hensive enough, including, as it does, all articles of food, drink and clothing, tobacco in all its forms, fuel and light ing material, with gas and electricity, agricultural implements, building material and furnitu-e. The nature of the "trade monopoly" which is to be prevented in with such commodities is defined as any agreement to prevent or restrain "reasonable trade competition," or to raise prices artificially; and it covers the formation of "all such trading concerns as are usually called Trusts. All trade monopolies answering to this definition are to be illegal, and a special Court, consisting of the Chief Justice and two Supreme Court Judges, is constituted to investigate them. This Court will nave powers in every respect equivalent to those of the Supreme Court; and the Registrar of the Supreme Court in the district is to act as Registrar for the new tribunal. A petition signed by not less than 50 "respectable persons" wiD be sufficient to set the machinery of the Court in motion; but a notice from the Minister of Labour or the Minister for Commerce and Industries will have the same effect. The Registrar is to lay the notice or petition before the district Inspector of Police, who will investigate the facts and forward his report to headquarters. It is then for the Solicitor-General and the Auditor and Controller-General to upon the trader or firm in question b o produce all evidence in the form of books and papers required; and if they think that a prima facie case has been made out, the Attorney-General is instructed to summon the defendant before the Court. After hearing the ease, the Court may punish a breach of the Trade Monopolies Prevention Act by a fine up to £ 1000, with costs in addition, may compulsorily wind-up the offenrling company, and may declare all contracts entered into "in furtherance of the monopoly" to Ye null and void. In spite of the rather circuitous method of procedure, the bill seems to provide a vigorous and practicable means of dealing with Trusts. We are glad to see that no appeal is to be allowed from the Court constituted by the Act; and in a matter of purely local legislation for which there is no analogy in English law if would be a serious mistake i: ' allow such cases to follow the ordinary course of appeal. Of course, the whole difficulty in dealing with monopolies lies in the interpretation put upon such phrases as "reasonable trade competition," and, dangerous as Trusts usually are to the public welfare, we fear that even if the bill is passed In its present form it will still be very difficult to administer the law withort producing a feeling of insecurity and uncertainty that might prejudicially affect the commerce and finance of the whole colony.

The Paknranga hounds met on Sat-| arday at the Papatoetoe station, the j meet being a most successful one. Tnere;! was a large number of followers pres-h ent, and no less than live hares were,! found, and four kills were registered i after exciting runs. The properties 1 hunted over during the day were Messrs C. Wallis, Davis, Wingfield, i - ] Boucher, Woolfield, Martin, Wylie, I ! and Gray, Yates and Massey. On Wednesday the hounds meet at Ihtnnata. Mr A. C. Norris, secretary of the Mew Zealand Rugby Union, on Saturday received a cablegram from Mr Rowland Hill, for many years secretary of the English Rugby Union, asking whether it will suit the New Zealand Rugby representative team to play its first match of the English tour at Plymouth on September 16, 1905. To carry out the improvements to the harbour, suggested by the engineer, Mr. Hamer, will necessitate the Board raising a loan of £ 400,000. The matter will be discussed at a meeting of the Board to-morrow, when the chairman will move: "That Mr. J. H. Witheford, MJLR., be requested to introduce and take charge in the House of Representatives of the Auckland Harbour Board Empowering Bill, and also of the Auckland Harbour Board Loan and Empowering Bill, and that the Hon. T. Thompson, MJIC, be requested to introduce and take charge of the bills in the Legislative CounciL" In order to carry on Bang's Drive-road right across Mechanics' Bay, Mr. G. W. Basley will move at the meeting of the Harbour Board to-morrow afternoon: "That the secretary ascertain from Messrs. Macklow Bros, the terms upon which they are prepared to relinquish the water frontage of allotments in Mechanics' Bay now occupied by them (leases for which will expire in July, 1915), in order that the King's Drive roadway may be carried across the opening now existing in Mechanics' Bay sea wall." Mr. Henry, the contractor for cutting down at the other side of Mechanics' Bay is now commencing operations, he having only waited for finer weather. At the last meeting of the Raglan 'ounty Council, a letter was read from he Postal Department notifying that the carriage of mails by water between Raglan and Waingaro had been abanloned owing to no suitable tender for ihe service having been received. Evilently the heavy rains last month did nuch damage in the district, as the "'ouncil's engineer reported that the hree-span bridge at Mangakina, on the laglan-Waipa-road, collapsed, and a emporary bridge was erected. A one--pan bridge at Te Mata, and another at Kariori Hill, Kauroa, would have to be renewed. The bridge near Waingaro. in the Te Akau Raglan-road, almost col';\psed through a slip, and had to be 'engthened and repaired. In addition to l he damage to bridges, a considerable lumber of slips had to be removed all iver the county, which caused unusual ■xpenditure during the winter. The railway working account for the fmr weeks ending July 23, published in 'ast week's Gazette, show that the total revenue from all Government lines was £155,419, and expenditure £110,327. North Island railways contributed £64,774, and their expenditure was C 45.905. On South Inland lines revenue totalled £90,645, and expenditure £ 04,422. Returns from Auckland railways were as follow: —Kawakawa —revenue £ 144, expenditure £ 138. Whanrarei—revenue £ 1963, expenditure £811. Kaihu—revenue £272, expendif ure £315. Auckland—revenue £21,423, expenditure £ 13,394. A Perth telegram published by the "Sydney Telegraph" of Tuesday last states: Whilst tw»» fishermen, Benjamin and Charles Petersen, were passing Beagle Island on the 19th inst., they noticed a naked man waving a rag to them from the island. They sailed close to the island, but owing to the rocks could not get a landing. They called nut to the man to swim to the boat, which he did. TLe man turned out to he T. Spanish fisherman named Lucas Matons, aged 21. He was in a terrible state. His tongue was swollen, and he could scarcely speak. According to his ac-ount. b<! and two others, named Chas. Keylor and Wm. Sullivan, were wrecked in their bc-it near the island on the 4th inst., and his two mates were drowned. Tfatons managed to swim to the island. He had since been living on crabs and wild berries, and was on one occasion attacked by a swarm of birds <md had to take shelter in the water. He was brought to Fremantle by Carr m?d Petersen ant! landed. He is in a very weak state but is now recorering. Pastor Joseph Clark lectures In the V.M.C.A. Hall to-morrow evening on "The Business of Public Speaking" under the auspices of the Athenaeum Literary and Debating Society. Mr C. C. Dacre will move at a meeting of the Devonport Domain Board on Tuesday evening "That a new fence he erected a-t the north-east end of football ground and south end of cricket ground, and remaining fences be put in <»ood order;" aleo, "That the path east end of cricket ground be shelled." At the ordinary meeting of the Devonport Borough Council to-morrow night Cr. Logan will move, "That the resolution passed on 19th July, That in view of the action of the Municipal Conference the Council take no further steps to acquire the gasworks,' be rescinded;" (2) "That the Council's solicitors be instructed to forthwith prepare a local bill empowering this borough to acquire the gasworks at Devonport." Cγ. Daere will move, "That the cemetery reserve at Narrow Neck, being no longer required, be sold forthwith;" and "That a portion of the money from the said sale be utilised to pay the cost of filling in the reserre opposite the Council Chambers. ,, An exceedingly interesting meeting may be expected at the Helping Hand Mission Hall, Freeman's Bay, this evening, when Miss Blakeley speaks on China, The lady will be arrayed in Chinese costume and exhibit a large number of interesting Chinese curios. Captain J. Wynyard, officer commanding the "A" Company Auckland Mounted Rifles, met with a severe accident at 2.20 p.m. on Saturday, while riding .to the parade ground. On passing a j-amcar at the loop-line near the Royal Oak Hotel, Onehunga, his horse shied and fell over some tram rails piled on the east side of the road. There is* a fairly deep fall at this place, and horse and rider rolled ''.own it and gov entangled in the barb wire fence. Captain Wynyard pKckily picked himself up, and took the animal by the head, while willing assistance was given by passengers of the car. It took a considerable time to loosen the wires, two of which had cut into the withers of the horse, but eventually the animal was released, being very much shaken about and cut. Captain Wynyard was badly bruised and shaken. The departure of the s.s. Waimarie for Paeroa has been postponed until midnight to-night-

A gruesome discovery is reported by the "-Melbourne Age" of Tuesday last as follows: —"A startling discovery.was made yesterday afternoon at Stewart and Lamb's bone manure factory, Alexandria, when some human remains were found in a bag of bones. At these works large quantities f bones are crushed for the manufacture of manure. The bones are bought from the marine stores in the city and suburbs, and taken out to the factory, whe*e, before being put through the grinding machinery, they are picked over and any stones or foreign matter removed. Yesterday afternoon a -jorkman, while engaged in this duty, was horrified by coming across an irfant's left leg. The limb w/as severed below the knee by a clean cut through the flesh and bone. It was in a perfect state of preservation, and appeared to be that of a child about six months old. The police were informed of the discovery, but they were unable to do much in the matter, as the proprietors of the factory are not able to state where the bag which contained the limb was bought. The cut, which was slightly below the knee, was perfectly clean, and the bone was not shattered. This would indicate that the operation had been done by an experienced person. The Coroner **as been s nformed of the matter, and he will probably have the remains examined by a medical man, witn a view to ascertaining' whether the leg was, severed during life or otherwise." Mr Steuart (of the firm of Messrs Steuart and Fenn, electrical engineers) went to Cambridge last Thursday in connection with tne proposed scheme for lighting the town with electricity. While he was there the Mayor, together with Messrs Dickinson, Wilkinson and Bunyard (waterworks engineer), interviewed Mr Steuart on the subject. He said that a capitalist or a private company could run a lighting scheme under mutual arrangement with a local body when that body could not manage to start such a scheme. The Mayor said that the discovery of Mond gas, and the fact that it could be ob tamed from Taupiri coal, showed that the power could be obtained at a very low rate. With regard to Mond gas, Mr Bunyard stated that he understood that the gas could be produced at onetwentieth to one-fortieth of a penny per horse-power per hour, according to the size of the plant. Mr E. G. Wright's estimate of £6000 for a complete scheme was considered by Mr Steuart to be pretty accurate. The Mayor said that the Council would before long receive an offer from a coal-gas syndicate, and the merits of the two schemes would then be consideredMr Edgar Ward, Town Clerk of the Onehunga Borough Council, was watching the steamer Rarawa leave the wharf yesterday afternoon, when he had a "sudden seizure, and fell prostrate on the edge of the wharf. He recovered slightly, but was taken with another attack, and on coming to he was assist--3d to the station waiting-room, where i third seizure came on, frpm which he subsequently recovered and went home. Dr. Walker saw Mr Ward, and said that the trouble resulted from a severe ■hill, and to the fact that Mr Ward has been very busy lately, and is consequently somewhat run down. The crew of the schooner Isabella Anderson, which was wrecked rear Kaglan last week, arrived in Auckland on Saturday evening, and were admitted to the Sailor?' Home. The men are most unfortunately situated, as they lost all their belongings at the time of the wreck, and arrived in Auckland penni less. The manager of the Home (Mr Grant) is making an endeavour to secure sufficient money for the men to obtain ah outfit of clothing, etc., so that they may follow their calling; It is to be hoped that his efforts will meet with a liberal response.