PARLIAMENT.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21163, 21 April 1932, Page 11

PARLIAMENT.

THE ADJUSTMENT BILL.

Civil. SERVICE SALARIES.

SCALE OF DEDUCTIONS.

protests by labour.

PUBLIC SAFETY MEASURE

[BY TELEGRAPH. —SPECIAL REPORTER.]

"WELLINGTON, Wednesday

Long hours and complicated tasks nre Imposing an exacting toll upon the energies of members of Parliament. The House of Representatives sat until after five o'clock this morning before the Public Safety Conservation Bill was put through all stages.. The Legislative Council met later in the morning and passed (he bill within an hour. The Coalition members of Parliament, in spite of tho late sitting, were not able to secure a very long rest, as a further caucus was held at 11.30 a.m. to discuss amendments to tho National Expenditure Adjustment Bill, the first batch of which were brought clown in the House later in the day. ■ The attention of the House was distributed among three different bills during the early part of to-day's sitting. The Unemployment Bill. Firstly, several amendments to the Unemployment Bill were put through as a matter of urgency. As predicted earlier in the week, power is to be given for payments out. of the Unemployment Fund to include assistance in meeting liability for rent. The exemption of those under 16 years of age from the payment of wage tax was another concession which appeared to be appreciated. The House was next required to ratify the agreement made last week between the managers appointed by both Houses to consider the Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Amendment Bill, as it affected the right of women workers to have their wages fixed by the Arbitration Court. Having disposed of an unusual number of preliminaries, the House went into Committea on ,the Adjustment Bill, which was read a second lime last Friday after a whole week's debate. Although the tenor of the debate was not particularly lively, Labour speakers showed no inclination to allow the bill to proceed without recording a sustained protest, and the short title was exhaustively discussed. First Section of Bill. The Prime Minister, the Rt. Hon. G. W. Forbes, had taken the precaution to secure urgency for the passage "of the whole bill throughout the remaining stages, but he indicated that he would bo content to move the adjournment after the first- section, which relates to Civil | Service salary cuts, had been disposed of. j When the Houso reassembled in tho j evening, several amendments to that sec- j tion were introduced, and an intimation ras given that others would follow when other sections of the measure had been reached. It is gathered, however, that j the Government will stand firm on the «cale of reductions proposed in pensions, by which it is hoped to save £300,000, and that subsequent amendments will relate principally to the question of interest and rent reductions. Caustic comment was made by Labour members at the Government's procedure in presenting the bill to the House in several pieces, and it was contended that the Government should have striven to incorporate all its proposals in the original draft, particularly as a long Easter adjournment had been taken to allow it to prepare that phase of its legislative pro-

gramme. Difficulties of Drafting. However, both Mr. Forbes and Mr. Coates said the measure was of an extraordinarily difficult nature, and some anomalies had only become apparent since the bill had been introduced. Certainly the technical nature of some of the amendments necessitated considerable lesearch on the part of those desiring to view the general effect of the proposals in the light of the' amendments subsequently presented, but in the circumstances outlined the Government it is difficult to see wh/it other procedure couid have been adopted. '1 he short title debate proceeded wearily nntil a few minutes before midnight, when tlie division was reached without the closure being invoked. The clause was passed by 41 votes to 24 and members settled down to a prospect of another lengthy sitting. The bill as introduced comprised 55 clauses, of which 15 are in the first part of the measure which Mr. Forbes desires to be dealt with before rising.

UNEMPLOYMENT BILL. amendments adopted. basis of the wages tax. [BY TELEGRAPH. —PRESS ASSOC! ATION. ] WELLINGTON. Wednesday. M::nor amendments to the Unemployment Amendment Bill were introduced "i the House of Representatives to-day l>y Governor-General's Message, and were accorded urgencv. Explaining the proposed alterations, the St. Hon-: .J. <;. Coates, Minister in charge of Unemployment, said the wages tax was to be imposed on a basis of one penny for ear]] Is 8d 'if wages, instead of threepence for every 5s as originally stated in the bill. , Another alteration in the wording made 't perfectly plain that rent could be paid assistance out of the Unemployment fund. There had been requests to grant, exemption from the payment of the emergency charge in the case of young people, &nd an amendment exempted those of 16 Jears of age or under. •Mr. J. McCombs (Labour —Lyttelton) a 'd he was sorry the Minister had not Scon fit to exempt women from payment the wages tax until such time as the oard an adequate scheme, for 6 relief of unemployed women. Vif ,Pa( ' ei " °f 'he Opposition, Mr. H. • Holland, said the exemption on the a sis of age would not be nearly so fair s exemptio n 0 n ihe basis of wages or . nc "me. Some people under 16 had fairly incomes, while on the other hand, any people well over 16 were receiving extremely low wages. , ; Coates pointed out: that the exemption applied to wages and salaries but ot (o (] )fi incomes of young people under 16 years of age labour members urged that women reel ring £1 a -vveek or under should be empt<?d from payment of the tax. J'fla amendments wore adopted.