Review of earless days suggested

Press, 11 July 1979, Page 6

Review of earless days suggested

PA ' ’ Wellington Substantial amendments to the earless days scheme scheduled to start on July 30 could follow a report to Parliament yesterday by the Statutes Revision Select Committee.

The committee, which has a majority of Government members, recommended eight main changes to the scheme and the week-end petrol sales ban on the ground of undue trespass of personal rights and liberties. The Minister of Energy (Mr Birch) said the Government would consider each of the recommendations, but he would not indicate which ones would be acted on by the Government. “I expect some changes to be made,” said Mr Birch. ■‘The recommendations we feel are justified in the light of our experience.” Mr Birch said some of the recommendations calling for greater discretionary powers over exemptions would be hard to administer. “They are looking at it from the point of view of the user,” he said. "We also have" to consider the administrative aspects.” He said he would take his recommendations to the Cabinet. Among the committee’s recommendations, it suggests that a earless day start at 2 a m. to avoid what it describes as a “midnight curfew” on social and other' activities. Most of the committee’s re-

commendations relate to the earless days scheme. It called for the regulations to be changed to allow persons to alter their nominated earless days in cases of "undue hardship.” rather than “extreme hardship.” It also requested that provision be made for the Minister of Energy to allow persons living in places where there was no’public transport at certain times to be exempt from earless days for those periods. The committee further recommends that the Secretary of Energy be given discretionary powers to provide special exemption permits where a strict application of the regulations would result in extreme personal or economic hardship, or, in cases where the hardship was workrelated, "undue hardship.” Under another recommendation, the committee suggests provision should be made to the effect that any contravention of the regulations shall not in itself be a ground for avoiding liability under any contract of insurance. The committee also recomimends that earless day ex- ' eruptions be extended to | cover any person using a vehicle for civil defence pur-

poses and voluntary welfare organisations such as the meals-on-wheels scheme. It says the Secretary of Energy should be given discretionary powers to allow people to buy petrol where it is essential because of: — The seasonal or weatherrelated nature of their work. — The need to carry out continuous regulatory activities such as those undertaken by forest rangers. — The fact that a person would suffer extreme economic hardship if unable to buy petrol at the week-ends. The committee had to decide whether the introduction of the week-end sales ban and earless days was an undue unexpected use of the regulation-making powers contained in the Economic Stabilisation Act, 1948. In its report, the committee said it was clear that a stable economy would depend heavily on an adequate supply of petrol and the orderly distribution of the effects of any short-fall, and this the petroleum regulations set out to do. “As such, the committee finds that they are not an unusual or unexpected use of the regulation-making power contained in the Economic Stabilisation Act.”