“Officialdom Gone Mad”

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30269, 23 October 1963, Page 14

“Officialdom Gone Mad”

(Parliamentary Reporter) WELLINGTON, Oct. 22. Mr H. G. R. Mason '(0 p p., Waitakere) made a bitter attack in Parliament today on the law relating to Court approval to land transfers.

He described the statutory time limit placed on applications to the Court for approval as an example of “officialdom gone mad” and said Parliament had “maintained this outrage.”

Mr Mason was speaking during the committee stage debate on the. Statutes Amendment Bill.

A clause in the bill gives the court or a land valuation committee the power to grant an extension of time for the making of an application for approval to a transaction. The extension of time under the clause can only be granted if the court or committee is satisfied that the delay in making the application was due to a mistake in fact or law by the parties, or any other person, or to circumstances beyond their control and that the delay has not been used to contravene the principal act. At present, application for approval must be made within one month of the sale contract being signed by the parties.

Mr Mason said that if one party saw an opportunity to gain from failing to keep an agreement he might get a substantial deposit made by the other party when the agreement became illegal “He may keep the deposit.”

There had never been any need for the statutory time limit, he said. “It is by Parliament this outrage has been maintained —the difficulty is not what officialdom does, but what this House has done,” Mr Mason continued. "On the advice of officials we've had this outrage carried on by the will of Parliament from the passing of the act to the present day. I’m glad to see some litigation is taking place.’’ The limit, said Mr Mason, had caused financial hardship. "This clause is officialdom gone mad. Here we have an injunction embodied in an act of Parliament and not

due to orders-in-council but to Parliament itself. "If Parliament wants to do anything aboift this tyranny of officialdom then the thing to do is to watch statutes going through this House.” The Attorney-General (Mr Hanan) said the clause was copied from the Servicemen’s Settlement and Land Transfer Act, 1943. “Here we have Mr Mason lambasting a clause imposed by the first Labour Government. We are trying to unravel restrictions but it is most difficult to unscramble the eggs,” he said. "Under this clause many injustices have been made, and I welcome his support for the change in the law.”