PARLIAMENT.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LVI, Issue 17256, 4 September 1919, Page 8

PARLIAMENT.

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.

THE ELECTORAL LAWS.

DEALING WITH PROFITEERS. [BY TELSOBArH.PRESS ASSOCIATION. WELLINGTON. Wednesday. The House of Representatives met at 2.30 p.m. On the motion of various Ministers the sessional committees ware set up. The Leader of the Opposition, Sir Joseph Ward, asked the Prime Minister . if the Government proposed to bring down j this session some amendment to the elecj toral laws in the direction of proportional j representation or preferential voting, so ' that the voice of the people might be effec- ! tive in the coming election. The present [system, "first past the post," was not satisfactory. He asked the Government to take the matter into serious consideration. Mr. Massey said it would be quite impossible to adopt proportional representa- ! tion at the coming election, even if the , House was unanimous on the point. He j -d not like preferential voting because ''■ it was open to unlimited intrigue. He i was most anxious that the people should have an opportunity of clearly expressing their opinion at the ballot box, and he would ask the Cabinet to take the matter into consideration. In asking leave to introduce the Board of Trac= Bill the Hon. W. D. S. MacDonald said the Bill was introduced because of the letter which the Prime Minister wrote to the secretary of the board, and which he (Mr. Mac Donald) considered reflected on the board and himself as its president. He was convinced that no one worked more assiduously to keep down the cost of living than the members of the board, but tney found they bad insuffi* cient power. He personally had given definite instructions that exploitation must be put down, but the Department advised him that the existing legislation was ineffective for the purpose. He then instructed the Department to prepare legislation that would be effective. He further sent officers to Australia to make inquiries on the spot as to the working of the Act there, and the information they got had been embodied in the Bill he was introducing. He was aware that he could not pass the measure th's cession. He therefore hoped the Prime Minister would at the proper time take the Bill up and put it oil the Statute Book, and so check profiteering and exploitation. Early Introduction Promised. Mr. Massey said that though the existing Act was not perfect he was advised that the Act was workable, and if the Act was rigorously enforced be thought a good deal could be done in the direction of stopping profiteering. He had seen Mr. Mac Donald's Bill. It was a good Bill not stringent enough in some respects under the circumstances, but it was being improved. He proposed to introduce it at an early date, and he hoped the House would help him to pass it into law. He had hoped that' when the war was over prices would drop. There was no sign of that so far. In fact, 'prices were still soaring. It. would probably be disastrous to many if prices dropped suddenly, but they at least should see that no j one made undue profits. Mr. C. J. Parr (Eden) said that, if the Board of Trade Act was impotent, it was a pity its impoteney had only just been discovered. Mr. J. McCombs (Lyttelton) said it was a pretty spectacle to see two Ministers who had been specially charged with the matter, after five years of war, being compelled to admit that no legislation had been passed to stop profiteering and 1 reduce the cost of living. The National I Government had a free hand to pass what ' legislation it liked, and now they had a confession that practically nothing had been done. Mr. W. A. Veitch (Wanganui) declared ; that the Prime Minister had always exi cused himself on the ground that no specific cases of exploitation had been ; brought under his notice. He himsplf | had brought specific cases under Mr. MasI sey's notice, but they had been consistently ignored. An Effective Measure. Sir John Findlay (Hawke's Bay) said he had seen the Bill before the House, and he believed it to be one of the most effective measures ever put before any Parliament of the world. The only way | to deal with this question was to give j wise and wide discretion to a tribunal that could be trusted. He was glad to ! hear the Prime Minister say he proposed : to take the Bill up and pass it through , Parliament if possible. The Hon. W. D. S. Mac Donald (BaT of Plenty), in reply, defended the actministration of the Board of Trade, which, he said, in controlling the prices of commodities, saved thf» people of the Dominion millions of pounds. The motion was agreed to, and the Bill was read a first time. The House resumed at 7.30 p.m., and carried a resolution regretting the death of General Louis Botha, and re*ordin? its sense of his distinguished services to the Empire. A Ion? debate followed on the Discharged Soldiers Settlement Loan Bill. (Left sitting.) LEGISLATIVE COUHOIL. THE ADDRESS-IN-REPLY. [BY TELEGRAPH.—PBBSB ASSOCIATION.] WELLINGTON. Wednesday The Legislative Council met at 2.30 p.m. The Hon. O. Samuel (New Plymouth) was re-elected chairman of committees. The Hon. J. B. Gow (Opotiki) moved the Address-in-Reply. He said the admittance of the Dominion to full nationhood entailed burdens, which, however, New Zealand would not shirk. All that was possible should be done for those who had borne the brunt of the fighting in the front-line trenches. He advocated the return to regular Government methods, industrial reconstruction, more attention to agricultural development, the " speeding-up " of public works, and a progressive immigration policy. The Hon. J. Grimmond (Ross) advocated the nationalisation of the coalmining industry. The Council adjourned at 4.7 p.m. until to-morrow afternoon. \