VIEWS ON BILL

Auckland Star, Volume LXXI, Issue 283, 28 November 1940, Page 9

VIEWS ON BILL

SOLDIERS' FARMS. COLOURLESS DEBATE. OPPOSITION AMENDMENT. (By Telegraph.—Parliamentary Reporter.) WELLINGTON', this day. In the main back benchers participated yesterday in the resumption of the second reading debate on the Small Farms Amendment Bill. They covered ground which generally has become familiar and the debate lacked colour. The day was thus a fairly quiet one. By moving an amendment members of the Opposition have the right to spe ik again on the mime subject, but whether they will do so or not remains to be seen. The Opposition put forward several workable suggestions, but their attitude to the bill remains unchanged. Tlie.v regard it as a measure which is not in the best interests of landholders or returned soldiers, and they have suggested as an alternative that the position could be adequately met by an amendment to tile Discharged Soldiers' Settlement Act. This was the main feature submitted in a nine-point amendment tabled by Mr. Dickie (National, rates) late in the evening. The amendment pointed out that this Act contained nil the necessary powers for the acquisition of land for soldiers, and that any further powers that the Government considered necessary could be provided for by an amendment to the Act. The second reading debate showed no si?n« of weakening when the House adjonrned at 11.40 p.m.