ROYALTIES FOR OIL

Press, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22343, 5 March 1938, Page 18

ROYALTIES FOR OIL

+ • RIGHTS OF LAND s, OWNERS • EFFORTS TO SECURE EQUAL DIVISION FAIL DEFEAT OF OPPOSITION AMENDMENT [From Our Parliamentary Reporter.] WELLINGTON. March 4. Members of the Opposition failed in their efforts, made in the House of Representatives during the last two days, to secure for landowners at least half' of the royalties payable ,on flow oil under the Petroleum Act passed last year. The act provides that a royalty of not less than 5 per cent, shall be paid to the Crown on all oil produced, and when the Opposition forced a division with the object of securing a portion of the royalty for the owners of land on which oil may be found, it was defeated by 44 votes to 16. As the interests of the East Coast and Taranaki Maoris are to a large extent affected, some significance is attached to the attitude of the two Labour Maori members, Messrs E. T. Tirikatene (Southern Maori) and H. T. Ratana (Western Maori), who eventually voted with the Government. Mr Tirikatene to-day repeated his statement of the previous day that he was satisfied with the Government's assurance that if oil were found on land belonging to Maoris they would not lose by it.

Voting on Amendment The division on the amendment of he Opposition was:— Against the amendment (44): Anderton McDougall Armstrong Martin Barclay Mason Barnes Meachen Barrell Moncur Burnett, C. H. Nash Campbell Neilson Carr O'Brien Chapman Osborne Christie Parry Coleman Pelric Cotterill Ratana Denham Richards Fraser Roberts Hodgens Robertson Howard Savage Hultquist Semple Jones Sullivan Langstone Thorn Lee Tirikatene Lowry uebb McCombs Wilson For the amendment (16): Bodkin Holland Broadfoot Kyle Coates NgQta Cobbe Poison Dickie Roy Forbes Rushworth Hamilton Sexton Hargest Wright. After the division on the amendment there was further discussion on the general motion, but this debate petered out early in the afternoon, and the Opposition did not press for a division on the motion. The debate in its later stages followed closely the lines taken earlier, with Government speakers' maintaining the right to secure royalties to the State, and Opposition members asking for an equal division of royalties between the State and native and European landowners.

"MIGRATION" OF OIL MR KYLE DRAWS A COMPARISON CHRISTCHURCH ARTESIAN WATER CITED (From Our Parliamentary Reporter.! - WELLINGTON, March .4. The sporting habits of the Minister for Mines (the Hon. P. C. Webb) were recalled by Mr H. S. S. Kyle (National, Riccarton) to provide an analogy during the debate on the royalties issue under the Petroleum Act in the House of Representatives to-day. Later Mr Kyle also quoted the extensive artesian water supply used by Christchurch citizens when claiming that the fact that oil was migratory gave the Government no right to abrogate the royalties to itself. "The Minister for Mines is very fond of shooting and on May 1 likes to find a place where he can erect his paraphernalia and get a few ducks," said Mr Kyle. "Now, ducks are migratory." Mr Speaker: I must ask the honourable member where his analogy leads us to. Mr Kyle: The Government says that oil is migratory and that the royalties belong to the State. I am endeavouring to show that birds of the air are migratory. No other individual can go on to that property on which the Minister sets up his gear and goes to shoot. It would amount to trespass. The Government says that oil is migratory and belongs to the State. Then the same measure should be applied to birds of the air. ' The Minister for Education (the, Hon. P. Fraser): Is the honourable member making ducks and drakes of the House? Mr C. Carr (Government, Timaru): There are some members of Parliament who are migratory. Mr Kyle: I know that the member tor Timaru will be migratory after the next election. What about his nomination? . Mr Speaker: Order! Order! Mr Kyle said that the artesian water under the city of Christchurch was migratory, but the people used it and had to pay rates for the privilege. Yet the Government speakers had compared the position of petroleum with that of artesian water. There could be no comparison to suit the attitude taken by the Government over royalties and the rights of landowners. "I feel sure that when a vote is taken we will see the member for Southern Maori (Mr E. T. Tirikatene, Government) in the same lobby with the member for Eastern Maori (Sir Apirana Ngata, National), voting to uphold the rights of all the native race," Mr Kyle concluded.