PARLIAMENT

Evening Star, Issue 22816, 26 November 1937, Page 14

PARLIAMENT

MINING AMENDMENT FURTHER SAFETY PROVISIONS [Per United Press Association.] WELLINGTON, November 26. ■ The Mining Amendment Bill was introduced when the House sat at 10.30 a.m., read a second time and referred to Committee. Some of its provisions are reported in this issue under separate headings. In the section of the Bill dealing with considerations of personal safety, it is laid down that the mine manager shall exercise daily personal supervision of a mine, and that the battery superintendent shall likewise supervise the battery. No person engaged in trucking, timbering, or winning ore is to work alone on a level, the object being that, in the event of a man meeting with an accident, there shall be another man at hand to give a call for assistance. At present all the revenue derived from mining licenses is paid to local bodies in order to cover the cost of collection. The State is in future to receive a commission of 10 per cent. POWER BOARD BILL. Moving thh Committal of the Auckland Electric P.ower Board Board Amendment Bill, the main provision of which is to extend the municipal franchise to the board’s elections, the Attorney-General, Mr Mason, said the Auckland Power Board’s franchise was different from that of the remainder of the boards throughout the Dominion. It was antiquated and inadequate, and belonged to the times of the past The Leader of the Opposition, Mr Hamilton, said he thought the provision would tend to give the Auckland City Council an almost overriding power over outside smaller authorities. Nothing had been said to show that there was any necessity for the change. Mr Lee said the small domestic consumer got a poorer deal than the larger consumer in Auckland, and he thought paid a higher rate for electricity than Wellington or Christchurch. The large consumer, however, wag well catered for. The Bill entered the Committee stages just before the adjournment at 1 p.m.