PARLIAMENT.

Evening Post, Volume LXXX, Issue 5, 6 July 1910, Page 8

PARLIAMENT.

TO-DAY'S PROCEEDINGS. LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL, The Council met at 2.30 p.m.

The Attorney-General gave notice of the setting up of sessional committees. FIRST READINGS. The Bylaws Act Amendment Bill and the Indecent Publications Act Amendment Bill were read a first time on the motion of the Attorney-General. The second reading of both measures was set down for Friday next. CHAIRMAN OF COMMITTEES. The Hon. W. C. F. Carncross, the only candidate nominated for the Chairmanship of Committees, was declared duly elected. The Attorney-General congratulated Mr. Carncross on his election. Mr. Carncross briefly and feelingly acknowledged the honour which had been conferred upon him. ADDRESS-IN-REPLY. The debate on the Address-in-Reply was continued by the Hon. J. Anstey. (Left Sitting.) HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. The House met at 2.30 p.m. Notice was given by Mr. Herdnian to ask the Prime Minister if he will set up a Royal Commission to investigate the conditions relating to the Public Service, including the question of whether political influence is used in making appointments. Mr. Massey gave notice to move for a return giving the names of all th» persons employed in the High Commissioner's Office, their duties, and salaries. Notice was given by Mr. J. Duncan to ask the Prime Minister if he will offer a prize for the type of flying machine best suited for military service. The Minister of Marine (the Hon. J. A. Millar) said he had been considering tho case of men sent down to the Macquarie Islands. The person promoting the venture had refused the offer of the Government to send a boat down, on the score of expense, and his own vessel was leaving Port Chalmers tomorrow. There was no possibility of the men starving. The Prime Minister, in answer to Mr. T. E. Taylor, stated that the House would this session be given a full opportunity of coming to a decision in regard to both the bookmaker and tho totalisatoi (Left Sitting.) INDECENT PUBLICATIONS. FAR-REACHING PROPOSALS. PROVISIONS OF THE ATTORNEYGENERAL'S BILL. The Indecent Pu&licaiions Bill, introduced in the Legislative Council by> the Attorney-General, is a measure of very great importance, and, as the Hon. Dr. Findlay said yesterday, is wide-i'eaching in its application. At present a person charged with the sale or publication of indecent literature cannot be convicted summarily except with his own consent. In 1908 a joint select committee of the Imperial Parliament recommended that all such offences should be dealt with on summary conviction (that is, before a Magistrate), and the English law was amended in accordance with that recom-. mendation. The Attorney-General's Bill follows the same lines. DEFINITION OF "INDECENT DOCUMENT." The Bill first of all sets out the definition of "indecent document," which is : — "Any indecent book, newspaper, picture, photograph, print, or writing, and any paper or other thing of any description whatsoever which has printed or impressed upon it or otherwise attached thereto, or appearing, shown, or exhibited in any manner whatsoever thereon any indecent word, statement, or significant sign, or any indecent picture, illustration, or representation." THE PENALTIES PROPOSED. The Bill goes on to say (clause 3) : — "Every person commits an offence, and is liable on summary conviction to a fine of fifty pounds, or, when the offence is wilfully committed, to a fine of one hundred pounds or to imprisonment for three months, who — (a) Sells, or delivers by way of hire, or offers for sale or hire, or has in his possession for sale or hire an indecent document ; or (b) Prints or causes to be printed an indecent document ; or (c) Causes to be inserted in a newspaper any matter or thing whereby that newspaper becomes an indecent document ; or (d) Knowingly sends or causes to be sent, or attempts to send, through me post an indecent document ; or (c) Exhibits or causes to be exhibited an indecent document to any person in consideration or expectation of any payment, or otherwise for gain, and whether such payment is made by way of gratuity or otherwise howsoever ; or (f ) Publicly exhibits or causes to be publicly exhibited an indecent document in a public place, or so that the same is in view of persons in a public place ; or (g) Delivers or offers, or causes to be delivered or offered, an indecent document to any per- ; son in a, public place ; or (h) Knowingly delivers ov leaves or causes to be deliver- • ed or left on premises in the occupation | of any other person an indecent docui ment ; or (i) Writes, draws, aflixes, impresses, or exhibits, or causes to be written, drawn, affixed, impressed, or exhibited, any indecent statement, word, picture, drawing, or sign in or upon a pnblic place, or so that the same is in view of persons in a public place ; or (j) Delivers to .any person an indecent document with intent that it should be so dealt with by that or any other person in such a mariner as to constitute an offence against this section." The next clau&e is equaJly important aud far-reaching. It roads as follows-: — "If any newspaper printed, or published, or sold, or offered for sale, or kept for the puipose of aale in Xew Zealand, contains any matter or thing whereby it becomes? ah indecent document, every per«>n who art. the date of the publication of that newspaper is or acts as a printer, publisher, proprietor, manager, editor, or sub-editor thereof, and every person who consented to the insertion therein of that mutter or thing, shall, without excluding the liability of any other person, bo conclusively deemed to have caused that matter or thing- to be inserted in the newspaper, and shall be severally guilty of an offence against this Act accordingly." In determining whether any document or other matter is indecent tho Magistrate must take into consideration not 'rneTely the nature of .the document or matter itself, but also the nature and circumstances of the- act clone by the defendant, and purpose with which th« ' act was done, and the literary, .scientific, or artistic nieriu or importance of the document or matter ; and no document or matter is to be held to be indecent unless having regard to these and all other relevant considerations,, the Magistrate is ot opinion that the act of the defendant was of ; an. immoral or mischievous tendency. LIABILITY. A& to liability, the BiM provides that when an indecent document is sold, or delivered b,y .wajr of hire, or offered 1 for

sale or hire, by a servant or agent in the course of his employmenit or agency, whether with or without the aiofchority of his employer or principal, the document shall, for the puirposesof this Act, be conclusively deemed to have been so sold, delivered, or offered both by the servant or agent and by his employer or principal, and each of those parties will beseverally guilty of an. offence against the Act. It will be no defence in a prosecution that tho defendant had no knowledge that the document or matter was of an indecent nature. The Bill also provides that on. the complaint on oatli of a constable a Magistrate may issue a search warnanit for indecent documents, and the Magistrate may then issue a summons to the occupier to show cause why the articles seized should not be destroyed. If the Magistrate is satisfied that the articles are indecent ho may make an order for their destruction. In. some cases of indecent publication (sub-clauses f, g, h, and i 'of the clause quoted above) a constable may arrest without warrant. Any case brought- under the Act is .to be heard and determined by a Stipendiary Magistrate. For the purpose of avoiding the risk of vexatious and unreasonable prosecutions, it is provided that informations are to be laid by police officers only. A private person must obtain the leave of the Attorney-Gen.eral to prosecute. STATE FIRE INSURANCE. j A PROFIT ON THE YEAR'S WORKING. The result of the past year's operations of the State Fire Insurance Department was a profit of £2698, which, says tho general manager in his annual report, is a, better resiilt than that recorded in any previous year. In comparing this year's revenue account with that of previous years, he adds, it must be remembered that, the amount appropriated 1 to reserve to cover prospective losses payable out of unearned premiums was for the first three years 33 1-3 per cent, of the net premiums, whereas for the last two years the amount reserved was 40 per cent. This, of course, he points out, reduced the net profit for 1909, as compared with that of previous years. The year 1908, resulted in a loss, and the debit balance, which, at the end of the year stood at £4140, has now been reduced to £1441. The chief feature in the annual account presented are the very satisfactory increase in the net premium income and the low ratio of expenses to net premiums. The net premiums receivedi show an increase in 1909 of 24.85 per cent. over 1908, and the ratio of expenses to premiums was only 30.5 per cent. in. 1909 as against 38 pea- cent, in 1908. This 5 the manager says, must be considered a very low ratio, especially when ifc is remembered that the expenses include the statutory contribution to Fire Boards. Ifc will be remembered, he goes on to say, that the opening of the office in, tbe t year 1905 was the signal for a very considerable reduction in the rates charged throughout the Dominion!, and although for the last year the office has been: able to show a profit while working -under these reducedi xates, it should not be forgotten, that foT the year previous a substantial loss was made. The office is certain to experience unfavourable years in the future, as it has in the past, and it would therefore be unwise to gauge the adequacy or otherwise of the current rates 1 by the result of the past year's operations alone.