NZ CONTRIBUTION

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XXV, Issue 266, 24 October 1935, Page 9

NZ CONTRIBUTION

Imposition of Sanctions BILL CONFERS POWERS Labour Party in Agreement By Telegraph.—Press Association. WELLINGTON, Oct. 23. Full authority is given New Zealand to fulfil her obligations to the cause of international collective peace by the League of Nations Sanctions (Enforcement in New Zealand) Bill passed by the House of Representatives this afternoon. The Bill will confer on the Governor-Gcneral-in-Council power to make regulations to enable the Dominion, as an original member of the League, to fulfil the obligations undertaken by it in the terms of Article XVI of the Covenant. The Bill provides that the Act shall come into force, on a date appointed by the Go-vernor-General, by proclamation approved in the Executive Council and published in the Gazette. The GovernorGeneral may in a like manner suspend or revive its operation as the exigencies of international affairs may render desirable or expedient. Under the Act no regulation shall be made or construed to authorise that any person shall undergo compulsory training to serve in New Zealand or overseas. Nor shall any regulation prohibit fair and reasonable publication of any expression of opinion as to the expediency of any regulation. Liability for a breach of the regulations under the Bill provides for a penalty of 12 months’ imprisonment or a fine not exceeding £lOO. All regulations made under the authority of the Bill must be laid before Parliament within 28 days if Parliament is in session, and, if not, within 28 days of the beginning of the next session. Regulations laid before Parliament will expire after two months unless they are expressly validated or confirmed by an Act. Failure to make the collective system effective, said the Prime Minister, in the course of his speech supporting the Bill, would lead to “international intrigue, international hatred, international chaos, the death of countless millions, and the probable destruction of our civilisation.”