THE STATUTE BOOK.

Press, Volume LXVII, Issue 20315, 14 August 1931, Page 10

THE STATUTE BOOK.

I ! I temporary LAWS MADE i j ! 1 PERMANENT. | j ; | ; j AMENDMENTS PUZZLING TO i LAWYERS. I I During ii discussion by the Ountur- ' bury Chamber of Commerce last wee:;, on. the raising of loans without polls, the chairman of the Chamber s iailiamentarv Bills Committee (Mr A. 3\ Wright") mentioned that the Local A.u- ---> thorities Empowering (Belief of Uneni- ; ployment) Act was not the only onact- ! ment of the New Zealand .Parliament i which, though intended to have a tem- ! porary effect only, had been repeated a\, one session after another. An examina- ; tion of tho Statutes shows how many ■ temporary At.s have been, made virtu- ' ally permanent by their annual passago through the llouse, in some eases with • so* many amendments over a period of ! years that even a trained lawyer can scarcely tell what is, and what is not. law at the present day. When the Local Authorities .Empowering (Relief of Unemployment) Act Mas originally passed in 10-0, authorising local bodies to borrow money for relief works without polls of ratepayers, it was explicitly (stated that the Act expired on June oOth. 11)27. The Aet is still in force. Rent Restriction. (some sections of the Kent Restriction Act in its present form hark back ta the War Legislation Act, of Jf>lo, of which, though it was intended to tako effect only until six months after th-3 end of the Great War, the larger section of Part I. is still law. The confusion of the War Legislation Act by tho numerous amendments which have been added to it strongly emphasises the need for a complete revision of this statute. The pages of the Act in its original form are now so scored, in red, with additions and cancellations, that a correct under,standing of the existing law is almost impossible. War Legislation. (sections of the War Regulations Act, originally pushed in 31)11 and extending to more than 20 pages in the New Zealand Statutes, arc nlso still in force, although their application has been restricted to assisted soldiers. Part of the Act. which was consolidated in 3920, has been repealed, but; sections dealing with enemy property, permits, and passports, the protection of the guarantors ot' soldiers, and tiie protection of discharged soldiers, are still law to-day. A further examplo is the Housing Act, of 39.10, which, although actually dictated by the results of the Great War, is still largely in force to-day, with certain other war legislation tacked 011. Too Many Amendments. These aro extrenio cases of a practice which lawyers declaim is becoming all too common among Parliaments of the present day. In the words of one solicitor who was seen by The Press yesterday, "Things are reaching such a state that before long our only hope of clearing up the statutes will be to ask .Parliament to disband for a year or two.'' Some of the older Acts contain insertions of 20, .'!0, and more amendments pasted so thickly through the pages that to find any given section and its present application is often a work of hours.