AMENDMENTS TO ACTS

Press, Volume LXXXI, Issue 24741, 5 December 1945, Page 6

AMENDMENTS TO ACTS

PROCEDURE ADOPTED BY GOVERNMENT OPPOSITION’S OBJECTION (P.A.) WELLINGTON, Nov. 4. Objection to the use of the Statutes Amendment Bill to make major changes in the law in the closing stages of the session was expressed by the Leader of the Opposition (Mr S. G. Holland) when the bill was before the House of Representatives ■ today. The bill, he said, amended 49 different acts, and he suggested that in some instances this should have been done by separate bills. Mr Holland said the House had been sitting for 23 weeks, of which about 20 weeks were spent on all sorts of things, such as .papers for consideration—all very useful in their way, but members had come to transact the country’s business. Now came this bill, amending 49 different acts of Parliament. It had been considered by the Statutes Revision Committee, the members of which, however, had not seen the bill until Monday, and it was the custom, to refer bills to committees with expert knowledge of questions in the bill. How could the Statutes Revision Committee have expert knowledge of 49 different acts? For example, two sections which' were worth a special bill on their own were those dealing with the wages and conditions of agricultural workers and sharemilkers. Members of the Opposition would like to see farm workers get the benefit of good conditions, and they should have sample time to study the provisions of such legislation. Orders for Rate Payments Another clause enabled the ValuerGeneral to attach farmers’ cream cheques for payment of rates. That, .too, was worth a special bill. A farmer might have given an order to someone else, but the Valuer-General’s order- would apparently take precedence. It .was, necessary to have washing-up bills, but they should not include such revolutionary things as compulsory unionism in the Public Service.

Munster of Supply (the Hon. D. G. Suhvan) said if Mr Holland had not made the speech he did it would have been a break from precedent, the problem confronting the Government and the method of solving it were the same as those of all governments in the 25 years he had been J{* % H? u ., s , e ' He thought, however, that Mr Holland had exaggerated the position. Although this was not the best method of legislating, it did save the House’s time. If all the clauses were separate bills, Heaven knew how long it would take the House to get through its work.

The session had been one of the most productive of valuable and fruitful legislation in the history of New Zealand. While the House was passing with® c °V ,d not be dealing mint unV 6 ?! in the Statutes Amendment Hill, it was unnecessary to have a separate bin deaiing with compuL sory membership of railway service organisations, because the whole country was familiar with compulsory unionism, and the railway organisahons_had asked for it for some time.' ?th9 < £n rnme £ t believed the clauses l j’ th e MU could not be done without, Iti; ♦ t „ the only alternative to the Scutes Amendment Bill would be to if? the work undone, which would oe a more serious matter.