POLITICAL NOTES

Press, Volume LXVI, Issue 20025, 5 September 1930, Page 10

POLITICAL NOTES

j-Tfttf rBBSS Special Service.J WELLINGTON, September 4 Coal for Railways. "If the hon. member will place his question on the Order Paper he will get a considered reply in due course." This was the reply given by the Minister for Railways, tho Hon. W. A. Veitch, in the House of Representatives to-day,' to an urgent question asked by Mr J. S. Fletcher (Ind., Grey Lynn) in reference to coal supplies for the railways. Mr Fletcher asked: (1) If the Minister approves the method adopted by the Comptroller of Railway Stores in calling tenders by urgent telegram for aunclies of coal and demanding an answer the same day for over £200,000 worth of coal? (2) Does he deny that the Comptroller of Railway Storeß has accepted a tender from the Taupiri Coal Company at 19a 3d a ton in spite of the fact that the Comptroller had two tendera, one for 700 tons and one for 750 tons, at 19s a ton! _ (3 V Does the Minister think it in the public interest to give the Taupiri Coal Company over £2500 above what ho could have purchased the coal for?

Hawking of Shares. Restriction of the activities of share hawkers is the main purpose of the Companies Amendment Bill which was introduced into the House of Representatives to-day by Mr W. E. Barnard (Lab., Napier), and read a first time. The measure is modelled upon the provisions of an English Act passed last year consequent upon the report of a Special Committee which deprecated the wholesale disposal of shares and bonds by unauthorised persons. "I had hopod that tho Government would bring down an entirely new Companies Bill this session," Mr Barnard said. "For some reason that has not been done, and I am therefore introducing a small amendment to meet an evil which has existed for some time in New Zealand and Which threatens to grow to considerable proportions. I refer to the practice of share-hawking. Most of us have seen something of tho methods of persons who go from one end of the country to the other endeavouring to t dispose of shares and bonds. Those who know anything about these ventures realise that they are in many casos of a highly speculative nature, to put it mildly.' Experience shows that hundreds and thousands of comparatively poor people are induced by glib-tongued salesmen, who are also under the necessity of making a living, to invest their hard-earned savings in these unsatisfactory and speculative ventures. One can hardly call them investments."

Mr Barnard said that his amendment was passod upon a section of the British Companies Act of last year. The evil existed in Great Britain and the necessity of providing some remedy for it was recognised by the appointment of a Special Committee by the British Parliament. As a result of its report issued in 1925-26, the whole question of company law was reviewed and new legislation passed. Briefly the amendment he was proposing was that it should be made illegal for any. pereon *o go,from house to house offering shares*. Secondly, he proposed that when any shares were offered to the public the sharebroker or hawker should be required to make a statement containing various provisions, one of which was that permission for the sale of the shares had been obtained from the Stock Exchange or, in other words, that the Exchange was prepared to recognise the share issue. r t Barnard said he thought the Bill was a step in the right direction, and he considered it waa high time that New Zealand was afforded at least the same statutory provision for protection against the evil of the share-hawker.

Hydro Undertakings. Confirmation of the statement that Professor Hornell, the Swedish expert, would investigate and report upon the Waikaremoana and the Waitaki hydroelectric schemes, was given by the Minister for Public Works, the Hon. W. B. Taverner, in reply to a question by Mr J. A. Macpherson (U., Oamaru), in the House of Representatives to-day^ Mr Macpherson asked the Minister whether he had heard rumours that the foundation rock at Waitaki was faulty, and he asked whether a report upon the scheme could be made by Profes* sor Hornell, in order to prevent such an occurrence as that at Arapuni. The Minister said lie had had no ra< ports concerning the safety of the foundations. .So far as he was aware everything was all right at the works. He added that he had already made arrangements for Professor Hornell to carry out an examination at Waikaremoana and then at Waitaki, and reports would be submitted to the Government on each project.