THE HOUSE

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2527, 30 July 1915, Page 7

THE HOUSE

'.' <ihe' House of Representatives met at . '2.30 p.m. . Seven days' leave of absence was granted to Mr. G. R. ■ Sykes ■ (Master- <■ . ton) on the ground of illness.-. • ■. The, Bluff Harbour Improvement Bill ' '(Sir Joseph: Ward) was introduced and ■Mead a'first , time. : ■ ■ <■ Amendments- made by the Legislative Council in the. Arbitration Amende . ' iment Act woro agreed to. • • , 1 LOCAL BILLS. ' The Wbakatano Harbour 'Ainondment ■ .and Empowering Bill (Mr. W. -D. S. • Mac Donald), and the Tauranga Borough: Council and Tauranga Harbour -I Board Empowering Bill (tho Hon. W. IH. Harries) were read a second time. ..

THE FINANCIAL STATEMENT* In reply to Sir Joseph Ward, r Tho Right Hon. W. F. MASSEY ! (Prime Minister) said that the Finan'Cial Statement, would not be delivered jto-day (Friday), but it would probably . como down oil Tuesday evening. This {morning the Defence Committee would roviow amendments .to the Pensions fill. '

RULED OUT. X; When the State ' Advances Amend- : . meni Bill iMr, .Wilford) was about to be committed, • : MR. SPEAKER gave his ruling on ■ the point of order raised by the Prime .' Minister,'as to whether it was competent for a private member to move a : clause- increasing • the revenues of the J Crown. He could find no rule against | a private.member, moving to increase ! tho revenue unless this would entail a jcharge upon the people. He held that the clause in.' the Bill 1 requiring all borrowers from tho State Advances Deparfc■jnent to insure their : property pledged V 'an. the' Stato ; Fire':Office would entail a l-charge upon- people', who-would, if , the '•'{-clause - wore passed,'' have the- effect of fcompelling them to pay higher , insur- • ence rates, and it was therefore out of; • »rder. He would draw, the attention' <of the Chairman of Committees to the .Cla-uso. j .""In. Committee the clause objected to jtiwas struck out, and the Bill was reFported with this amendment. This - .clause was the only, one oft any import- ; ,ance in the Bill.

) REGISTRATION OF NURSE?. •, ■ Mr J..PAYNE (Grey Lynn) moved the 'second reading of the ; Unregistered ■Nurses.Registration Bill. ' The Bill pro. vide i' n that nurses admittedly' qualified V : as nurses or;inidwives, but who. are un--1 registered on account of not'having had . the provisions; of - the '.Acts of 1901 and il9o4; 'Brought under -their notice in ; due

time, he registered, and provides for V th'e restoration of licenses of . those holding - private-hospital licenses prior to' .. d9U6. Mr. '-.Pajno said that i the Bill : , -.simply 'sought to remedy an oversight made by those'nurses, many of whom , were working in the backblocks, and had not observed,the alterations in the Acts ;ia time to register. Ho did not desire |to widen the scope.of tho Act; to per:mit unqualified nurses to register, but at;a:time like this, when all nurses were aieedcd, a remedy should: be provided; It would be of special benefit to the workers. . Tho Hon. It. H. RHODES (Minister of Public Health) said that he did not 'intend Hto oppose the second reading. lln fact, they had under consideration ;an'amendment to the Act. Some qualifafiefl nurses,* who were not registered funder tho Act, had returned from other parts of the world, and tho amendments proposed would allow', them to register. ' ;He did not propose to open the register ■■■' again to unqualified midwives. They, could always obtain work in tho conn-

try .where there were not qualified midlives. Objection-was not taken to' thorn f when, there were no Qualified midwives in the district. Neither did he propose to open fclio door to uulicoiisedprivato hospitals. ■ Tho Hon. D. BL'DDO (Kaiapoi) said 'that he was pleased to see.the attitude taken. up by the Minister, for .it was recognised that there was a 6carcity of nurses.. The member for Grey Lynn liad agreed to hand the : Bill over for revision by the Public Health Department, 'and if this was done there was (no reason why a number of qualified

nurses should not be added, to tlio list. He hoped that tlie Minister would, make inquiry and endeavour to make provision for. some extra nurses: in those districts •where there was' a/ shortage. • Mr. W. T. JENNINGS (Taiimaruniri) said that; a grave injustice had been done in the past in not allowing an extension, of the list of nurses. Ho' would also like to see ah extension ,of . nursing homes. If tho cottage hospital system was extended it would he of great assistance to outlying settlers. Mr. PAYNE, in reply, said that ho Iwouid be only too pleased to hand thp Bill over to tho Minister ,to make any •modifications he thought necessary, and 'to add any provisions. : With regard to the midwives he submitted that if the applicant • secured a certificate from three doctors there would be no reason ,whv ■ she • should not ho registered.. Hie Bill was read a second time.

FACTORIES ACT AMENDMENT. Mr.-J. PAYNE (Grey Lynn) moved tho second reading of the Factories Act 'Amendment Bill (No. 2), to provide that where a: majority of workers in a. factory decide to have a full. holiday on Saturday they vinay do so by making lap the extra time during the week. The member said that women workers in factories would bo greatly, benofited by such a provision. 'A secret ballot was stipulated for. , Tho Bill, ho said, contained the elements of mutual consent on. tho part of the employers and the, employees. Ho held that it would find favour with employers, who would be benefited by running machinery a little longer each day, and Saturday..

could be set aside for repairs. If the employers did not consent to the secret ballot it could not bo lield. A periodical rotakihg of ballots was provided for, tho term being set at two years. If at the expiry of that time either the employees or the employers wcro dissatisfied, they could revert to the old practic'e. Mt. C. H. POOLE (Auckland West) urged that there could be 310 objection to the Bill when it rested on the approval of both parties. Mr. T. A. H. FIELD,(NeIson) thought that tho Bill could inflict 110 hardship on the employers, and would give tho workers. the opportunity for a whole holiday in each week. Mr. W. A. VBITGH (Wanganui) said ho had discussed the measure with a number of employers, and a large number of employees ,and he bad not heard one objection. He thought most of the employers in the country would favour the Bill It really gave more benefit to them than to the workers.

.' The Right Hon. W. .F. MASSEY (Prime Minister) said that personally he saw no objection to the Bill,- but it was in tho nature of an experiment, and ho suggested' that the Labour Bills Committee should have the opportunity of going; through it, and, if necessary, calling evidence on it. Mr. G. V. PEARCE (Patoa) said that the principle of the Bill was good, and might be extended to' allow an accumulation of lialf-holidays'to permit of a week's holiday being taken. Mr. J. A. HANAN (Invercargill) said that tho. Bill could be applied to some industries, only, therefore it would not have ,the 'unqualified succcss hoped for. The Bill -was read a second time and referred to the Labour Bills Committee.

SETTLED LAND AMENDMENT. The Hon. A. L. HERDMAN (Attor-ney-General) moved 1 the third reading of the Settled Land Amendment : Bill, and in accordance iwith a promise made in Committee explained the amendment to_ Clause 27. Cases had occurred, he said, where Judges of the Supreme Court had regretted not having the power to order a sale of property in' the interests of the beneficiaries to a will. The amendment removed the responsibility from the Court of locking up an estate, _and gave it power to order a salo where it had been desired. The Bill was read a third time and passed. THE SAFETY OF SHIPS. 1 Tho Hon. A. L. HERDMAN (Attor-ney-General) moved the second Teading of the Crimes Amendment Bill. He said that the Bill was a short Bill, and a wajr Bill, which proposed'to make it a capital dffence, punishable by. the. Courts. of this country, to endanger the safety of a ship.. No such case bad been reported of a person doing any act calculated to endanger the safety of a ship, but it had occurred to the Government that as time went: on there might be danger of enemies of Great Britain, attempting to damage ship or cargo by putting explosives on a ship. This 'was merely a precautionary measure. Mr. C. H.'POOLE (Auckland West) expressed approval; of the Bill. It had been; discovered to be a fact that a very large number, of'men going to sea on 'British ships were .foreigners, the British sailor "having gone out of the business; because of the hard conditions of the life on board some ships. The Board of Trade had improved these unsatisfactory conditions, arid now , a greater number of Britishers were in British ships. On the other hand _ a number of foreigners were in the ships of our mosquito .fleet, and ; these,' he held, constituted a grave danger. ~ ' The Bill was read a second time.-

I EXPIRING LAWS. The Expiring Laws Continuance Bill (the Hon.:A.:L;-Herdman).,was,commit-. ted,' reporad^With6ut7 : ,Meh'dment, arid read a third.time.■; AN ADJOURNMENT. The Right Hon. W. P. MASSEY (Prime Minister) said that he proposed to move that the House should adjourn until 2.30 p.m. on Tuesday. A number of Southern members had suggested to him that they would like to go South., ■ Mr. Witty: A lot. of us don't want to get away. We want to get on. - Mr. Massey:, The difficulty is to prepare legislation fast enough for the House to deal with it under present circumstances.' ... . Another reason for the adjournment is that it. is just possidble that a very importance conference, at which certain'members of the House will have to attend, will be held to-mor-row afternoon, and if it is held I, along with; half a dozen other members, will have, to be away also. He added that committees would sit to-day. Mr. G. W, RUSSELL said that he was not aware that there' were.'any, ! special circumstances which _ would make an adjournment over Friday desirable. : If there were no special rea-; sons, he thought the House should meet next day, and then adjourn till Tuesdav. '• '.->■• Mr. G. .WITTY said; that the days for private members' Bills were fast disappearing, and if there was no other business they should bo given an opportunity of getting their Bills, some of which were important, considerecl. They had only another week or two. Mr. Massey; Nonsense; the private members' days last till the House The question was agreed to on the voices. - ■ . . . Tho House rose at 4.50 p.m. till 2.30 p.m. oil Tuesday next.