STATE. HOUSING RENTALS

Press, Volume LXXXV, Issue 25762, 25 March 1949, Page 9

STATE. HOUSING RENTALS

PROVISIONS IN NEW LEGISLATION “The Press” Special Service AUCKLAND, March 24. “The very first thing that strikes one on an examination of the Tenancy Act is a provision contained in section 3 to the effect that the act is binding on the Crown,” said Mr R. M. Algie, M.P. for Remuera, in an address to a meeting of his constituents in Auckland. “From this it looks as though the Cabinet contemplates the making of adjustments to State house rentals in pursuance of the power which the act undoubtedly confers upon the Government.” Mr Algie said the Tenancy Act replaced Labour’s so-called Fair Rents Act, and it would be observed that the Government itself acknowledged! by implication at least, that the word “fair” as applied to the legislation was so inappropriate and inaccurate as to make the title seem a little ridiculous. “The new act gathers into one Statute all the best or most-needed features of about 11 previous acts and some five sets of Orders-in-Council,” said Mr Algie. “It adds about two dozen new points and it substitutes a permanent code for what was in 1938 described as a temporary measure. This is in accordance with Socialist practice: the gossamer threads of temporary or emergency control soon give way to the durable shackles of the planner and the bureaucrat.” Various provisions of the act were explained by Mr Algie.