PARLIAMENT.

Evening Post, Volume LVI, Issue 77, 28 September 1898, Page 5

PARLIAMENT.

LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL. Yesterday's Sitting, native land laws. The Native Laud Laws Amendment Bill was read a third time and passed. WOEKEES' COMPENSATION FOR ACCIDENTS BILL. In moving the second reading of this Bill, the Minister for Education pointed out that it was not confined, like the Imperial Act, to certain dangerous trades only. He did not think that placing the liability on the employers would increase the negligence of workmen. The latter would not be likely to incur willingly any risk of life and limb. At the same time employers would have greater incentives to carefulness. It might be alleged that the Bill created fresh responsibilities for employers without any compensation. The workman still retained his common law and Employers' Liability Act rights as well as the new ones established by the measure. The same fault had been alleged against the English Act, but both measures attempted to put on a better and more modern footing the relations between employers and employed. The Bill before the Council was intended as a further protection to workmen, and threw the burden of compensation on the industry in which they were engaged. The Minister then proceeded to explain the wider extent of the Bill as compared with the English Act. The authority to which schemes of insurance were to be submitted was to be the Arbitration Court. The Bill legalised the right of employers to protect themselves against the risks they were liable to, and the Government hoped to extend its ineurance operations to cover accident risks. The amount of compensation was limited as in the English Act. With regard to the compensation being made a first charge on the property involved, that rule already existed in the case of coal mines, and he (the Minister) thought it a just provision. The Hon. Mr. M'Lean thought it a matter for consideration how far legislation of this class should be carried. In the Old Country industries were well established, whereas here they were struggling into existence. The result of such a Bill would be to force the employment of young and active persons, and it might, therefore, injure the prospects of the very people it was intended to help. It went a great deal further than the English Act. It not only laid a heavy risk on a farmer employing labour, but even went behind any mortgage that might be held on his land. He understood that the Bill was " stuck up " in another place with a view to the introduction of an insurance scheme that should be discussed with it. The two Bills should surely both be before the Council before it could properly deal with one. It was unsafe to put more work upon the Conciliation and Arbitration Act machinery while that machinery was in need of further amendment. The Bill should stand over until an Accident Insurance Bill was introduced. The Hon. Mr. Rigg thought the case of the burden falling on a farmer or a mortgagee was an imaginary one that would not exist in practice, owing to the almost certain employment of a system of insurance. He thought the Bill would need further extension. The English Act was imperfect, like all the Labour legislation of the Old Country. The present Bill made effective what had long been attempted under the common law and the Employers' Liability Acts. The workers had had to contend against the defences of " common employment" and of "contributory negligence" that have seriously hampered them in obtaining redress. The only just way was to make accidents a charge upon the profits of the employer. As for the flaws in the Bill, he (Mr. Rigg) pointed out that two weeks' disablement was the minimum before compensation could be obtained. He thought there should be a distinction between partial and total disablement, and that in the latter case the compensation should be obtained even for a shorter period than two weeks. He also objected to the schedules making the limit of compensation the same as in the English Act. Wages in this colony were nomiually higher than in the Old Country, although their purchasing power might not be greater, and the maximum should be raised to £500. The Hon. Mr. Bonar pointed out the wide-reaching effects of the measure, which influenced all classes and industries in the colony. It was nominally brought in to favour the workers, but he feared some of the clauses Would operate to withdraw capital from investment, and so injure the workers by swelling the list of unemployed. The risks imposed upon almost all employers by the measure were very great, and the possibilities of such risks had been recently exhibited in the Brunner case. Could the employers face such risks? With such chances in their way financial institutions would hesitate to help the starting of new industries, and the progress of the colony would thus be checked. The clause assuming the employer's responsibility until the contrary was proved was especially objectionable ; the mere accident was taken as pnmd facie evidence against the employer. This provision was not to be found in the Imperial Act. The Bill also made the compensation not only a first charge upon the employer and all he possessed, but also upon the rights of those who held mortgages or other credits against him. The Bill was wrongly named : it should have been styled a Bill to provide business for the Government Accident Insurance Department. The debate was adjourned till to-day on the motion of the Hon. Air. Jennings. TBAMWATS ACT AMENDMENT BZLL. This Bill was considered in Committee, and its only operative clause created some discussion. The clause was alleged to limit somewhat tyrannically the powers of local bodies over their tramway concessions, and read as follows : — " Whenever the consent of the local authority is required under section 11 of ' The Tramways Act, 1894,' or under an} r deed, instrument, or order relating to any tramway, such consent shall not be arbitrarily withheld, but shall be deemed to have been given unless, within 28 days after application for such consent, some sufficient reason is assigned by the local authority for withholding the same ; and on application to a Judge of the Supreme Court, by motion in a summary way, by or on behalf of any party aggrieved, the Judge shall decide as to the sufficiency of the reason so assigned, and such decision shall be final." The Hon. Mr. M'Lean proposed to strike' out "28 days " in the clause, with the purpose of inserting " six months." The Hon. Mr. Bolt, the Hon. Mr. Pinkerj ton, and the Hon. Mr. Kerr objected to the | whole clause. The Hon. Mr. Rigg thought that the Bill would deal with the case of non-progressive I local bodies. The Hon. Mr. W. C. Walker expressed surprise at the opposition, roused by the Bill, and moved to report progress in order i to obtain further information. After a short discussion progress was [ reported. i GAMING AND LOTTERIES BILL. Clause 2, which read as follows—" If any ' person is found loitering, or if two or more persons are found assembled together iv any road, street, footway, court, alley, or public thoroughfare of auy kind, for the purpose of betting or wagering, each of them commits an offence, and is liable to a penalty not exceeding £10" — led to much discussion as j to the definition of loitering and the drastic j nature of the provisions made. / The Hon. Mr. Jennings asked whether legislation like this would not drive the vice off the streets into shops and so on. The totalisator must be abolished before gambling \ could be dealt with effectually.

At 4.45 p.m. progress was reported, and the Council then adjourned.