PARLIAMENT.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 18467, 31 January 1922, Page 8

PARLIAMENT.

3 PROCEEDINGS (Abridged from Press Association telegram.) HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES i ;:i WELLINGTON, January 30. TAXING SOLDIERS’ PENSIONS. . Replying to Mr G. Mitchell Mr MASSEY. \ said no.; could not understand soldiers’ port-, siona'heijag taxed as unearned income,-; and .would Inquire in,to the facts. THE RAILWAY CUT. Replying to the Hon. J. A. Hartan the HON. D. H. GUTHRIE said he would make a statement on the subject of the proposed railway out in the course of a few days.:,, ; EXPLOSIVES FOR MINERS. In ■ reply to Mr H. E. Holland the Hon,2 G. j.;.- ANDERSON said the question of procuring explosives for miners at a cheaper rate Was now under the consideration of the Government, SHOPS AND OFFICES AMENDMENT BILE / On the motion of the Hon. G. J. ANDERSON the House disagreed with the reasons given by the Legislative Council for its amendments in the Shops and Offices BiJL Messrs M'Oallium, Dickson (Parnell),, and the mover were appointed managers to confer with the managers from the counoil. INSURANCE COMPANIES DEPOSITS 1 * BILL. Art -amendment to the Insurance ComDeposits Bill was introduced by Governor-General's message altering the date ’ 6£ the coming into operation of the Bill from January 1, 1922, to a date when it in,'signed by the Governor-General. The amendment was agreed to by the House:, ANIMALS PROTECTION BILL. Sir‘-HEATON RHODES asked the House to agrfee to the majority of the amendments made J by the Legislative Council in the Animals Protection - and Game Bill, but to disagrad with tho amendments which prohibited’.; live pigeon matches, or making regulations governing the same. Mr C. E STATHAM moved that, this amendment be agreed to, which raised a debate an the cruelty inflicted by shooting pigeons from traps, as against the cruelty impeded by other forms of sport. The amendment was defeated by 28 votes to 13. ‘ . Tiie'kMxnistor’s motion was then agreed to, aid a committee appointed to draw up osaiam accordingly. | { LEGITIMATION BILL Tlfe ; House then went into committee on thb;Legitimation Amendment Bill, which was unamended. The' Housing Bill was next taken in oouirtofttce. Mr 1?. FRASER moved to strike out subsection 2 of clause 7, repealing section 56 of tbd - principal Act, and section 22 of the amehidiiig Act, 1920. Ho asked that this legislation be suspended until next session/ By which time a census of • empty houaeafoould be made, and the House then ' haveUwte fullest information on which to act. ;~3lt present it was asked to' repeal the existing law, while more or less in the dark do to the actual position. The House adjourned at 5.30 p.m. ; SITTING. The; House resumed at 7.30. 7 £ HOUSING BILL. Discijssion on Mr Fraser’s amendment in the. Housing Bill was continued, Mr FRA£4*E contending that the only solution of the--housing problem, in tho absence of auffieiept houses, was to give magistrates, powCrito say whether an occupier would' BUffezvilndiie Hardship if compelled to vacate a That had been a great safeguard in theiipast, and he asked the Minister not to tfikl that power away until it was definitely ascertained that there were sufficient houses :j for all. This ; view was supported by Sir JOHN LUKE, and Messrs VEITCH, PARRY, BARTRAM, and HOLLAND. The discussion was continued by Messrs . STATHAM, LYSNAR, and MITCHELL, and; Mr Fraser’s amendment was defeated ' by 30 votes to 22. The ‘MINISTER said he was considering , havingclause inserted in the ■ Bill when it reaoEed the. Legislative Council, providing..-, a. .penalty for anyone who obtains, a hoUsS" under clause 7 and lets the same within-"six months. fthe MINISTER’S motion paragraph of sub-section 1, “ any other ground that may be deemed sufficient by the_magis- . trase making an order,” on application for thA; recovery of a dwelling-house was struck OUW' Mr J. A. YOUNG moved new clauses to enable electric power boards to acquire land and’, erect dwellings for their employees. Bpst on the voices. Mr W. E. PARRY moved a new clause maging it unlawful for any person owing a vacant: dwelling-house to refuse to. let it to any* man or woman of good character who ha»' a child or children.' - ■ • TJie MINISTER said the matter was one of Threat difficulty, and although all would agree with, the intentions of the clause- ! Ke feared it would have little effect. He-would lodif into the matter and see if it was possible to .insert a clause on these' lines vrijpn thflf*Bill r reaches the Legislative Council. 1 ** Mr PARRY accepted this assurance, and tbdrjunfeMdment was aUbwod to drop out 'on th<S-‘ voices. Mr P. FRASER suggested an amendment deigned to check the practice of putting inferior furniture into empty houacs, and reofliring tenants to purchase tho same. Tons was rejected on the voices. ~ xho Bill was and read a (bird tinajfe and passed. SETTLEMENT BILL, tho Hon. D. H. GUTHRIE moved the sedrjhd reading of the Discharged Soldiers .Settlement Bill, which he said was designed to .'help returned men who went on the ■f land, by making things as easy as possible forithom under the difficult conditions which hajifci arisen. The difficulties wore accentuated by the variety of the tenures of the lairds taken for soldier settlements, in order tojarotect the public whose money, was used fofSSsettlemont. The Minister retained the right t,O; authorise tho transfer of properties. Sosf«r there had been only 60 foreclosures onsdischargcd soldiers’ farms, involving an 1 area of 27,091 acres, valued at £126,069. Mr Guahrie added that the losses on soldiers’ seraementa -were not expected to be serious. A -siigh financial authority had told him that even if the Government lost a million oufc|of the 21 millions it was spending on repatriation of soldiers, it would still bo/jn a position that would deserve cohgr|(ju!ation on the good work it was doing for* the men who had fought for their country. Mr T. M. WILFORD (Leaden of the Opposition) declared that the Minister’s speech waft an admission of the failure of the Govsoldier settlement policy. It was anStidmis’slon that the Government had got ints a mess over its purchases of land privately at high prices, and this Bill was designed to try to gloea it over. Tho Minister said that there had been only 60 foreclosures. That may be, but what about • thepfsnap-;;who had to abandon their selections. He (Mr WflJord) believed that a very large number of men were unable to carry-'.on.' because the price of their land was far too high. Tho Bill probably was a necessary measure, hut he doubted if it wag put in the best form to achieve the end- desired. In going to the aid of the soldiers op the land it. was necessary to consider the.! postponement of payment of interest. and he congratulated the Minister on (jthe clause dealing, with this. Mr Wilfnrd suggested that the Government might use: this is an argument to induce private mortgagees to treat with similar leniency soldier settlers who bad' found themselves in financial difficulty. The Hon. J. - G. COATES defended the private purchase of lands in certain cases, as the compulsory purchase was often only accomplished at a price far beyond the real value. Mr R. M'CALLUM contended that the weakness of _ the various Government land purchase policies in New Zealand had been piecemeal buying, which resulted in inflated values. In this respect the present Government had followed the bad example of earlier Administrations. He considered the Bill might he softdy held_ over till next year, as with improving prices for produce the’ men ,on the land had every chance to pull through successfully, Tho debate was continued by Messrs HARRIS, MITCHELL, J. R. HAMILTON, FIELD. STATHAM. R. W. SMITH, MACKENZIE, SBDDON, and. YOUNG; ajl pf j whom gave general support to the Bill. The MINISTER, in reply, __ reiterated the efforts igndq by the Government to, meat th(B recitfu’oments of 'soldiers—first, to 'provitM I hem with land and subsequently to ticlo rihsMi oyer their difficulties. At the same lime the Government was not going to mato any rash concessions to soldiers, but- iyere' going to conduct : ,their: -business , relatiqna with. soldiers on business lines.. . Thd Bill was read a second time, and.

-The following Bills were introduced by Governor-General's ■ Temporary Empowering Bill, the Urewera 1 Lands Bill (which was read a second time pro forma, and referred to the Native Affairs Committee). The Native Lands Amendment Bill and the Native Land Adjustment Bill were treated similarly, and the House n»e at 0.57 p.m.