Legal Position Of Innkeeper Defined

Press, Volume CI, Issue 29985, 21 November 1962, Page 18

Legal Position Of Innkeeper Defined

(New Zealand Press Association)

WELLINGTON, Nov. 20. Clarification of the legal position of innkeeper and traveller were contained in the Innkeepers’ Bill, said the Minister of Justice (Mr Hanan) during the second reading of the bill in Parliament today. Mr Hanan said that under the provisions of the bill the proprietor of an establishment which offered only sleeping accommodation to travellers —such as a motel—would come within the definition of an “innkeeper." However. no place is an inn unless it offered accommodation to travellers generally, without special contract This preserved the existing common law distinction between an inn. and such places as private boarding houses. Licensed motels were declared to be inns for the purposes of the bill Changes to the existing law included abolishing the liability of an innkeeper in respect of vehicles and animals, and extending his liability to Include damage to a guest's propertv as well as actual Joss.

Mr Hanan said it seemed unfair to make innkeepers insurers of guests’ vehicles. “It penalises those who provide parking facilities for their guests and favours those who do not provide such facilities." Mr H. G. R. Mason (Opposition, Waitakere) said the Opposition found the bill quite acceptable. The bill was committed. No Changes The Minister of Finance (Mr Lake) said the Govern-

ment had no intention of adopting the British system of P.A.Y.E. “It places too great a burden on the employer to be introduced here.’’

Mr Lake was replying to a question by Sir Basil Arthur (Opposition, Timaru) asking if the Government had any plans to alter the P.A.Y.E. scheme, in line with the British scheme, which provided for immediate refunds as they became due, for taxpayers who might experience a fall in income or lose work through sickness or accident. Meat For Troops Provided their offers remained competitive. New Zealand exporters should be able to continue supplying goods to military establishments in Singapore and Malaya, said the Minister of Overseas Trade (Mr Marshall).

He was replying to a question from Mr D. Maclntyre (Government, Hastings) asking that the supply situation at Camp Terandak in Malaya be investigated so that New Zealand meat, butter, fruit and other goods would be available to the troops and their families.

Mr Marshall said that supplies were obtained by military authorities under a competitive tendering system. Rabbits In Otago

Rabbit infestation throughout the country was low, although the situation in Otago emphasised the need for continuing effort by farmers and rabbit boards, said the Minister of Agriculture (Mr Talboys). He was replying to a question from Mr J. H. George (Government. Otago Central) who said rabbits were increasing in an alarming degree in parts of Central Otago and were becoming immune to the usual methods of destruction by poison. The Minister said the techniques of rabbit destruction were more successful in some areas than in others. The position was being investigated. Detention Terms To date 40 offenders sentenced to preventive detention had been released, said Mr Hanan. The average period served had been four years 11 months, and cf those released 16 had been recalled or reconvicted, he said. Mr Hanan was replying to a question from Mr R. D. Muldoon (Government, Tamaki) quoting a report on a judgment stating the average period of preventive detention was “as surprisingly short as four and threequarter years.”