PARLIAMENT.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20968, 3 September 1931, Page 11

PARLIAMENT.

PRIVATE BILLS.

TWO MEASURES PASSEO.

KEPORTS OF COURT CASES.

tenants and evictions.

RADIO bill next week

[PY TELEGRAPH— SPECIAL REPORTER, 1 WELLINGTON. Wednesday.

Judged by ordinary standards of private members- day, the House of Representatives made considerable progress during the short sitting this evening.

Mr. P. Fraser (Labour —Wellington Central) had the honour of being in charge of two measures which were put through ali stages and passed, an accomplishment that, does not often fall to the Jot of a private member, who more often than not' will be more likely to see his carefullv prepared measures crowded out completely. The first of Mr. Fraser's measures to go through was the Judicial Proceedings 'Regulation of Reports) Bill, which puts severe restrictions upon newspaper reports of certain Court cases, more particularly divorce and affiliation actions, its object being, as Mr. Fraser said, to prevent harmful publicity to litigants. This bill is modelled' almost entirely along the lines of that passed by the British Parliament some years ago. Landlords and Tenants. Increased protection for tenants against summary eviction by landlords is contained in' tha Distress and Replevin Amendment Bill, the o.ther measure to • be passed. The ,L° ca ' Elections and Polls Amend ment Bill, aiming to make optional the systems of striking ou't candidates' names or putting a cross next to them on voting papers at elections, reached the second reading. This bill is sponsored by Mr. H. G. R. Mason (Labour —Auckland Suburbs). >• The House then passed to Mr. Mason s Marriage Amendment Bill, which sought to make it, possible for women ministers to officiate at marriage ceremonies. This was thrown out on a division by 42 votes to 22, the Minister of Justice, the Hon. J. G. Cobbe,. having made the interesting point that there was no need for the «► measure in view of the fact that there had been only" three applications bv women for the powers sough! by the bill during the past 21 years. • Reports From Committees.

Reports from the Select Committees, mainly on petitions, took up much of t.h<> early part of the evening, so that considering the little time left for the rest of the business it must be admitted that in spite of,the fact that the evening was uninteresting, it was spent to fairly good purpose as far as the actual volume of work done was concerned. It has been decided by the Prime Minis<Vr. the Rt. Hon. G. W. Forbes, tlia* there will be no sitting of the House at ?l{ on Friday,' in order that the special Economy Committee might have mor<» time at its disposal. It is understood that the measure to give effect to the Government's plans concerning. the future control of broadcasting will not appear until early nc-xt week on account of drafting difficulties. The Auckland Harbour Bridge Bill will be discussed to-morrow evening.

PETITIONS FROM SAMOA

CLAIM" BY SOLICITOR

NO RECOMMENDATION MADE:.

[BY TELEGRAPH. —SPECIAL REPORTER.]

WELLINGTON. Wednesday

'. Two petitions having a bearing on happenings in Western Samoa were reported to the House of Representatives this evening from the Public Petitions Committee. t

The committee had no recommendation to make in connection with the petition of P. B. Fitzherbert, of Wellington, who sought- compensation for the loss of his licence to practice his profession of barrister and solicitor in Westem Samoa.

The other petition was that lodged by Mary Ah Quoi, who had asked that her husband; a Chinese tailor, who had been deported from Samoa, should be licensed to return to Samoa and reside-there with his family. The committee referred the petition to the Government for favourable consideration, with the suggestion that he be permitted to return to Samoa at, any time after the end of the current year, conditional on his entering into a bond as to good conduct and complying with such terms as might be determined by the Administrator of Samoa, in consultation with the Chinese consular representative at Apia.

LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL.

SHIPPING COMPETITION.

SERVICES IN THE PACIFIC. [by telegraph.—press association.] WELLINGTON. Wednesday. 'The Legislative Council met to-day at 2.30 p.m. ' - The Dominion Life Assurance Office of New Zealand Bill was reported from committee without amendment.

The Imprest Supply Bill (No. 3) was received from the House of Representatives and read a first time. Speaking, oil the second reading, the Hon. G. J. Garland protested against the operations of the Matson Shipping line in. competition with British vessel, contending that this service, which was -Jieavi]y subsidised, would eventually endanger the very existence of New Zealand's mercantile trade in the Pacific. He predcted that unless some steps were taken to protect our own interests, there would be very many unemployed Ee' ! rr>en in th:s country. He urged that diplomacy should be employed in endeavouring" (o 'make some arrangement with the United States.

The debate was adjourned at 3.10 p.m

WAR MEMORIAL MUSEUM

amendments to bill.

[by TELEGRAPH.— SPECIAL REPORTER.] WELLINGTON. W»rl jefday.

The Auckland Museum Maintenance Amendment Bill was reported to the House r >f Representatives this iotp the Local Bills Committee with amendments.

Clause three was amended to provide , 1 unauthorised expenditure by the ,°ard shall not exceed £6O in any financial yen,- ? J

.An amendment to the schedule of e principal Act provides that the eiensville Town District ceases to be a contributor as from March 31 last.