PUBLIC SAFETY

Evening Post, Volume CXXVIII, Issue 64, 13 September 1939, Page 10

PUBLIC SAFETY

DOMINION'S DEFENCE

SCOPE OF THE BILL

Regulations may be made in the interests of public safety, the defence of New Zealand, the maintenance of public order, maintenance of essential supplies and services, and for safeguarding and promoting the welfare of the community.

The Bill sets out that regulations may be made for any of the following purposes:—

1. Providing for the apprehension, trial, and punishment of persons offending against the regulations, and for the detention of persons where that appears to be expedient and in the interests of public safety or the defence of New Zealand.

2. Authorising the taking of possession or control, or the acquisition of any property, and the entering and search of any premises.

3. Providing for the modification or suspension of the operation of any enactment.

4. Detailing fees which may be payable under emergency regulations, and the persons liable.

5. Making provision deemed necessary for the suppression, restriction, or control of enemy trade, and making provisions necessary for dealing with enemy property.

6. Controlling prices and preventing profiteering, as well as promoting the development of standardisation, simplification, and certification in relation to commodities, processes, and practices.

7. Protecting debtors and for regulating and restricting legal proceedings, powers, and remedies.

8. Creating corporate bodies and prescribing their powers and functions.

9. Establishing Courts and tribunals and conferring jurisdiction on any Court or tribunal, whether established under the regulations or | otherwise. EXTERNAL EFFECT. j The emergency regulations will have an extra-territorial operation. They will apply to all ships and aircraft in or over New Zealand, and to all ships | and aircraft registered in New Zealand, wherever they may be.

They will also apply to all persons in the Dominion, as well as to persons on board New Zealand ships or aircraft, and to persons employed outside New Zealand on New Zealand ships or aircraft.

Protection is provided for persons acting under the authority of the Bill or any regulations made under its power. Breaches of the regulations

will be punishable* on summary conviction by imprisonment for twelve months, a fine of £100, or both. Courts are empowered to admit any evidence they may think fit, irrespective of whether it would be admissible in other proceedings or not. The release from custody of any person convicted, pending the hearing of an appeal, is prohibited except with the consent of the Attorney-General. FAR-REACHING BILL. "This Bill is a very important and far-reaching measure in the present crisis," said the Acting Leader of the House (the Hon. P. Fraser). "In fact, it is as far-reaching as the regulations already passed under the Public i Safety Conservation Act, and the main reason for having this legislation introduced is that that Act, while very useful in a sudden emergency, is not so well suited to regulations that may have to last for the period of the war."

Members would perhaps recollect that the Public Safety Conservation Act was passed in 1932 to deal with conditions that had been induced internally and was entirely for the preservation of law and good government, Mr. Fraser continued. Proclamations made under that Act could not continue in force for more than one month. Therefore, although the Act was convenient for the initial purposes of war regulations, New Zealand had to adopt similar measures to those taken by the United Kingdom, South Africa, Australia, and Canada in the present emergency.

The Rt. Hon. J. G. Coates (National, Kaipara): I suppose it follows closely the 1914. emergency legislation?

Mr. Fraser: Not in all respects. These regulations are framed upon the British Bill to a very large extent. Members will see that they are very far-reaching and extensive. They give complete and absolute power to the Government in office, necessarily and unavoidably so, and the measure of the Government's sense of responsibility will be gauged by the use of them. It is unavoidable that whatever Government is in power, there will be very extensive powers controlling almost every one of our activities. A good many of.the regulations already promulgated do that.

"I hope that the yoke will be easy and the burden light," remarked Mr. Fraser, to another interjection by Mr. Coates.

Mr. W. J. Poison (National, Strat-. - ford): Do you propose to take power to take over enterprise or businesses?

Mr. Fraser replied that the Bill contained a clause authorising the taking of possession or control, or the acquisition of any property, and the entering and search of any premises. The regulations, he declared, would not be used recklessly but in a responsible fashion, and were unavoidable. It was a matter of giving the power and holding the Government that had that power responsible for the use or misuse of it.

The Bill was read a first time.