PROCLAMATION

Press, Volume LXXV, Issue 22805, 2 September 1939, Page 14

PROCLAMATION

M HOUSE Statement by Si* Fraser TENSE MOMENTS \s IN PARLIAMENT Outline of Precautions Taken i [Prom Our Parliamentary ReporterJ WELLINGTON, September 1. A proclamation declaring a staff of emergency in New Zealand wa» issued to-night. The announcement , that the Governor-General had today, on the advice of his Minister* proclaimed such an given by the Acting-Prime BBnij| ter (the Hon. P. Fraser) just the week-end adjournment taken in the House of Representatives this afternoon. After a special meeting gf Cabinet during the luncheon journment, at which the heads of the three defence services members of the Council of . were present, Mr Fraser mggjjpwdj that he would- probatfiy statement later in the day o&gmjS the steps the Government (Kgipw ered necessary in the present aKcPation. He was absent from the CSbacaper until late in the afternoon; jpg within a few minuses; of there, the item on the EstimatgwßUfltt under discussion was approved? _• Progress was reported and MT Fraser immediately rose and a« leave to make his statement 3P reading of which occupied seven, minutes. . ■ , The proclamation, Mr Fraser sag, was a matter of machinery■ w amounted to nothing more than Jpn. obvious precautionary measure. Jm outline was given by Mr Fraserof regulations it was intended to have Gazetted. These made their appearance to-night. ' They , deal wife censorship and publicity, naval mobilisation, shipping control, army mobilisation, the Air Force Reserve, and price stabilisation. There was a tense atmosphere in the House as Mr Fraser made his statement. Members listened to Jiis remarks with grim silence and “the only interruption was caused by a passing thunderstormwwhistl st one time made them momentaji-rfy -m----audible. The seats on the? flof\r of • the Chamber to the left or*fhe Chair were occupied by the High Commissioner for the United in New Zealand (Sir Harry bee) and by the Honorary Consul for the Netherlands' Weston, K.C.). “ . The House adjourned immediately after'Mr Fraser’s'statement and for a time members. 1 , stood , about in groups discussing the significance \of the proclamation declaring, a state of emergency. . The proclamation was issued' under section 2 of the Public Safety v Conservation Act, 1932. It states : that “whereas it is provided that if at any time it appears to the Governor-General that any circumstances exist or are likely to come into existence whereby, the public safety or public order is or is likely to be imperilled, he may by proclamation, approved In Executhje:. Council, declare -that a -state <ji emergency exists throughout New Zealand.”

LAW TO PREVENT hoarding

CLAUSES BIND BUYERS BELLAS (PRISB ASSOCtMSOS TXAEOBiX.) . WELLINGTON, September^. The purchase of goods- for hoazSiqC ‘ is prohibited by the Price Stabilisatwm Emergency Regulations issued late-tcj 1 night. Prices of goods and. services are to be stabilised at the figure ruling , to-day. The clause of the regulation relating to hoarding states: "No person shall purchase any goods for purposes * of hoarding whether in contemplation, of ultimate resale or disposal, or ultf* mate personal consumption, and iw person shall sell any goods to any other person whether for resale or otherwise if he is of the opinion, or if circumstances exist under which he would reasonably be of the opinion, that such other person requires such goods fqr the purposes of hoarding and not for normal use in the course*)! business or for normal consumptiCßl.' , Authority is granted to the Minister, if he thinks fit, to alter the standard price, rate, or fee for goods or service*.