PARLIAMENT NEW HARBOURS BILL PASSED BY LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL

Greymouth Evening Star, 16 October 1948, Page 2

PARLIAMENT NEW HARBOURS BILL PASSED BY LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL

(P.A.) WELLINGTON, October 14. Payees of dues had had special representation on harbour boards for many years and workers should also have representation or else the boards should be purely elective, said Mr J. Roberts (Wellington), addressing the Harbour Amendment Bill in the Legislative Council today. There was considerable irresponsibility in the world among those who provided goods and services, and both workers and employers were to blame, said Mr' Roberts. The only cure for irresponsibility was to give responsibility to those concerned. Under stress of war workers had taken part in the control of industry and that had been a remarkable success, especially in regard to the port clearance committees, which had done a job harbour boards could not do. Mr T. Bloodworth (Auckland) said the provision for an appointment system was an admission- that the ordinary methods of election were not good enough. He asked why> the Government should appoint men to harbour'boards, in which the Government was not financially interested, when it did not appoint members to hospital boards and power boards, in which the Government was financially interested. The bill wa’s passed.