TO-DAY'S PROCEEDINGS. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.

Evening Post, Volume LXXXII, Issue 64, 13 September 1911, Page 8

TO-DAY'S PROCEEDINGS. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.

The House of Representatives met at 2.30 o'clock this afternoon. Notice, was given .by Mr. J. P. Luke- to a*>k tho Minister for Justice if he will promote legislation to iaor<» cffectaftlty deal with c-ffenders against young children Mr. Hiu*» resumed the debate on the BnJgiet. lie painied out that, according to the Budget, £25,(X)0,C00 had I been spent on railway construction, wlrereag, according to the Railways Statement, £31,000,000 had been spent. He contended that justice had not been done to the backblocks in regard to the expenditure of public money on roads and bridges, and he regretted that no mention was made of the mat-tor in.. 1 the Budget. The main questions of the day were those of tenure of land and the reduction of the cost of living, and I he contended that those had not been dealt with in the Budget. He com* I plained that since IS9I the Government had only spent £4000 on assisted passages to immigrants, as against £2.459,000 before 1891. What he wanted was to see an immigration policy that would encourage settlers with small* 1 ttteans 'to come here. (Left sitting.) PAPAITONGA LAKE. In answer to Mr. Field, the Prime Minister stated that the question of title of the Papaitoftga Lake id under consideration by tho Crown Law Office, prior to the final decision in regard to its purchase being arrived at by the Government. s, LABOUR LEGISLATION. •fK the House recently Mr. M'Laren gave notice to ask the Minister of. Labour, whether there is any provision' in the Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Act which will prevent a body of workers in any industift from acting in collusion with their employers towards the forming and registering of a'bogus union under the Act in order to prevent other workers in the industry from availing themselves of the benefits of the Act in the way of securing an industrial agreement or award, and if he will submit an amendment of the Act which will provide that, on a petition of one-tenth of the membeas of a workers' union, covering claims for improved conditions of employment, the union will be required to file euch claims as a dispute, or part of a dispute, under the Act? This afternoon the Minister replied as follows: -—No such cases have been experienced during the time the Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Act has been in force, and there is no provision _ restricting the freedom of any persons in registering' a union under the Act, provided the rules of such union are in accordance therewith. I am, afraid that a. clause to deal with a case of the nature referred to would restrict the rights which for years the Govern* ment have been striving to grant to workers. Only experience would show whether such a union were a bogus one or not, and if it were so, steps could ■be taken for its cancellation.