CONSTRUCTION RILL

Press, Volume XCVIII, Issue 29004, 18 September 1959, Page 12

CONSTRUCTION RILL

Second Reading Given (New Zealand Press Association) WELLINGTON, Sept 17. There had been 34,000 accidents in New Zealand industry in the last five years, resulting in a total loss to industry of between £Bm and £lom, the Minister of Housing (Mr Fox) told the House of Representatives during the second-reading debate on the Construction Bill today. The bill prescribes safety rules for building and construction work, and provides for the appointment of a chief safety engineer, safety inspectors, and supervisors. It is based on the recommendations of the Commission of Inquiry into the collapse of scaffolding on a Wellington building in 1957, in which two women died. Moving the second reading, the Minister of Labour (Mr Hackett) said the bill’s sole aim was to increase safety in building. In America and some parts of Europe insurance companies provided safety inspectors for construction work, he said. “I would be surprised if consideration is not given to that here before long,” he said. The chairman of the Labour Bills Committee (Mr R. Macdonald) described the bill as splendid. He said it would be of great benefit to workers. Mr H. Johnstone (Opposition, Waipa) said the bill would benefit the whole of New Zealand. Mr McAlpine “Horrified” But the former Minister of Labour, Mr J. K. McAlpine (Opposition, Selwyn) described it as a very, very poor bill. He attacked the Labour Bill’s committee’s decision to strike out a clause in the bill providing that the chief safety engineer should be a qualified engineer. “I was horrified when I saw what had been done to the bill,” Mr McAlpine said. “As the Act is written, anyone at all—perhaps some political appointment the Minister has in mind—could be chief safety engineer. I don’t know why they’re calling him an engineer when he doesn’t have to have those qualifications.” he added. Mr Hackett said there was only one chance in a hundred that a chief safety engineer appointed would not be registered under the Act. Mr McAlpine: Why not make certain? Mr Hackett: That one chance might produce a man with the highest qualifications who had not taken the trouble of registering. The bill was read a second time. Kelly Range Track.— An offer by the West Coast Alpine Club to provide a working party to improve the Kelly Range track was accepted with thanks by the Arthur’s Pass National Park Board. The work will be put in hand soon.