PARLIAMENT

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22136, 14 December 1933, Page 10

PARLIAMENT

YESTERDAY’S PROCEEDINGS .. . ' . v - LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL (Peb United Press Association.) WELLINGTON. December 13. ; The Legislative Council met at 2.30 ' The Municipal Corporations Bill was received'from the. House and read a first '' .-Replying to Mr W. W. Snodgrass, the LeadeV of the Council, Mr R. Masters, e aid the Government wag making further inquiries concerning the attitude 9* ‘■he Imperial Parliament on the position ot the Performing Rights Association before taking any action. SHIPPING COMPETITION. Replying to another question by Mr Snodgrass, Mr Masters said the Government recognised that British shipping was subject to inequitable competition in the Pacific, but the problem, could not be tackled by New Zealand alone. The Government was at present in communication with the Governments of the United Kingdom and Australia on the subject. THE COMPANIES BILL. Mr Masters, moving the second reading of the Companies Bill, said the measure was intended to bring New Zealand law into harmony with the English legislation. The general effect of the Bill was to give greater protection to shareholders, prospective shareholders, and the creditors of companies. It had been suggested, that the Bill contained too many provisions enabling the affairs of companies to be pried into, but the view of the expert committee was that any publicity required under the Bill was necessary in- the public Mr M. Fagan said he welcomed the Bill as there was ample evidence in recent years that many companies had been floated which should never have been permitted. There had been so many swindles in the mining industry that it. was a wonder any investors were left with confidence in mining verdures. " Mr R. M'Callum said he had no faith in mining companies and would not invest money in them. ■ He, did not think more than five out of every 100 companies floated paid dividends. By fraud and -__ chicanery people were taken down and f he would like to have seen greater .restrictions on company promotion and share-hawking than had been imposed indhe Bill. ... , . Sir Francis Bell said that if a Bill of a . technical nature had been carefully drawn ■up by experts it would be mischievous to interfere with the language in which the ' Bill was drafted, although it was compe- ! tent for Parliament to consider whether .the language included all the provisions which it wap intended should be included. ■Butfor an unfortunate action he would have been content to allow the Bill to Jiass the Council as a formality. On the ast day the Bill was before the House, however, sheets of the amendments had been introduced without the possibility . of due consideration, and he for one would not accept responsibility for the amendments, as he had had no opportunity of giving them proper consideration. He , ..would have been happy to accept the original language of the English statute, subject only to such amendments as the Crown Law Office desired, but he could not accept responsibiity for a Bill into which had been inserted amendments which had not been given due consideraSir James Allen said’’the Bill should s be sent to the Statutes Revision ComimtMr ■W. H. M'lntyre contended that sharehawkers should be licensed. ■ Mr Masters replied to the debate when the ‘ Council resumed at 8 p.m. He said that every amendment which had been made fo the Bill in the House had first of all been approved by an expert committee. The Government had not ac- ■■ cepted any amendments without taking that precaution. He had no objection, however, to the Bill going before the r Statutes Revision Committee. The Bill was read a second time and referred to the Statutes Revision Com- , > mittee, which was instructed to report C to-morrow. f . CONTROL OF TRANSPORT. - the second reading of the Transport Law Amendment Bill, Mr Masters P said that £122,000,000 was invested in different forms of transport, and it was „ essential that the waste and overlapping % of the different services should be eliminated. The Bill provided for the establishment of a co-ordination board, and gave power to reduce the membership of the Central Licensing Authority to one person- , The Bill was read a second time, put through its remaining stages, and passed. ’ * LOCAL BILLS PASSED. The Victoria University College Bill < - and the Canterbury University College Bill were put through their remaining stapes and passed.. The Council rose at 9.40 p.m. until to-morrow.

/ house of representatives The House of Representatives met at 3.30 p.m. “FRIENDLY ROAD” RADIO SERVICE. Mr F. Lye (Waikato) asked the Prime Minister (Mr G. W. Forbes) whether, in view of the fact that members .of 5 . Parliament were being inundated with letters from correspondents urging the reinstatement of the “Friendly Road broadcasting service, he would give an indication of the Government’s policy so as to make unnecessary a continuation of the cortfespondence, acknowledgment of which was causing members so much concern and work. . ■ “ I can appreciate the difficulties of members,” ■ Mr Forbes replied, “ but a solution of the problem is not so simple as might .appear. X understand that the ‘ Friendly Road ’ organisation has been offered an opportunity of continuing on the air in conjunction with other church services. This has not been accepted, and the 1 request now is for a separate broad;casting station for this particular organ- ’ isation. .This is a very serious step in broadcasting and one that later on might have far-reaching effects, especially when applications come in from other similar organisations. The whole matter is still having consideration with a view to seeing whether a satisfactory arrangement can be made, and it is hoped to give an indication of the Government’s intentions at -an early date. ' “I would like to take this opportunity cf expressing regret at the inability of the staff of my office, owing to the extreme pressure of work entailed by the parliamentary session, to undertake the preparation cf separate acknowledgments of the receipt of 'the 2620 letters on this subject which I have received to date,” Mr Forbes added, “ and I can only ask these correspondents to accept . this general acknowledgment of the receipt of their letters.”—(Laughter.) BILLS REPORTED. The Bluff Harbour Board and Bluff Borough Council Empowering Bill was reported from the Local Bills Committee without amendment. The following Bills were reported from the same committee with amendments: The Napier Harbour Board and Napier Borough Enabling Bill, the Hawke’s Bay Rivers Amendment Bill, and the Napier Harbour Board Loan Bill. With respect to the last-named Bill, the committee recommended that the Napier Harbour Board be not permitted 'to divert the eum of £47,400 (being the unraised portion of a loan previously authorised for the construction of the inner harbour) • until the poll for which the Bill provides has been taken. BILLS PASSED. The Harbours Amendment Bill and the Trade Agreement (New Zealand and Belgium) Ratification Bill were put through their remaining stages and passed.

HARBOURS AMENDMENT BIEL. The Harbours Amendment Bill was amended to make it clear that the Sinking Fund commissioners of a harbour board are to be a body corporate for the whole of the sinking funds. The amendment covers the cases of those boards whose commissioners have been appointed for the sinking funds of one or more loans by special Act and not under the general provisions of the Harbours Act. On an assurance being given by the Minister of Marine (Mr J. G. Cobbe) that further legislation would be brought down next session, Mr H. T. Armstrong ,(Christchurch East) did not press tor

the reinstatement of the provision relating to the deposit of refuse in harbours. The Minister said it was expected that a conference would be held between representatives of the harbour boards and municipal bodies, and any agreement reached would be embodied in next session’s Bill. ' ■/ EVENING SESSION When the House resumed at 7.30 p.m. the ■ Trustee Amendment Bill was put through its remaining stages and passed. The House went into committee on the Estimates.

VALUATION DEPARTMENT. On the Valuation Department Estimates Mr R. M'Keen (Wellington South) asked whether the Government intended to bring down legislation to deal with persons who were securing special valuations.

Mr C. A. Wilkinson (Egtnont) asked whether it was not possible to speed up the valuations of the small boroughs and counties affected and thus prevent rates being imposed on valuations which did not exist. . Mr C. H, Chapman (Wellington North) alleged that the revaluations w r ere being held up by the large number of special valuations. Wellington City had dropped by £2,000,000 owing to private valuations. „ , , Mr H. M. Rusliwortb (Bay of Islands) asked whether valuations could be made until there was some meaning attached to the money unit. , . Mr W. Nash (Hutt).said that if the Minister would take some of the properties offered at ridiculously low prices the special valuations would be checked. Mr W. A- Veitch (Wanganui) said there was nothing more futile than trying to value land at the present time. Mr Ransom replied that legislation was to be introduced covering the position of special valuations. During the last five years 64 per cent, of the cities, boroughs, and counties had been revalued. The department was endeavouring to speed up the work. The estimates were passed. SMOKE CONCERT INCIDENT. When the vote of the Public Service Commissioner was reached Mr Sullivan asked what happened when extra assistance was required in Government departments. Was the extra assistance approved by the Minister or the Public Service Commissioner? Mr Forbes said the Minister approved of extra assistance and all appointment* made by the Public Service Commissioner., ~ Mr P. Fraser (Wellington Central) referred to an incident arising out of the Lyttelton by-election. He said that cer-, tain young civil servants had asked questions at a meeting addressed by the Minister of Finance, and as a result there had been a departmental inquiry. That contrasted very strongly with the action of the head of the Taxes Department, who had addressed a meeting at Christchurch in which he strongly criticised members of Parliament. In that case no action had been taken. ~ , Mr J. A. Lee (Grey Lynn) said that apparently there was a law for those who opposed the Government and another for those who supported it. From the Government’s viewpoint apparently political liberty amounted to giving civil servants the right to sing -“For They Are Jolly Good Fellows.” The Russian Tcheka was not in it with the Government when it came to political suppression, . Mr Sullivan said it was only fair to say that the commissioner _of taxes had expresseed regret for making the statements he had made. Mr W. J. Jordan (Manukau): How did he account for the statements? _ Mr Sullivan: It was at a smoke concert. A Labour member: It must have been pretty late in the evening. Mr Forbes did not reply, and the vote was passed.

THE EDUCATION VOTE. Mr Forbes, answering a number of questions raised by members during the discussion of the estimate for the Education Department, said that when the number of unemployed teachers was considered it would be absurd'to train any more at present. Training would, however, he resumed when it was possible to provide employment. This question was giving the Minister of Education.a great deal of concern, and he was doing everything possible to help the unemployed teachers. Replying to a suggestion that larger grants should be given to school committees, Mr Forbes pointed out that there had been no reduction, and that the education boards had a special grant from which they could make payments to assist school committees in cases of necessity. A very fine work was being done by these committees, but it had always been expected that the system would lead to the creating of local interest in the schools, thus securing some help from the parents The vote was passed.

VOTES PASSED. The 'following votes were passed today—Valuation, £35,190; Electoral. £5200; Public Trustee, £248,315; ‘ External Affairs, £81,200; Crown. Law Office, £4984; Public Service Ctfnunissioner, £4725; Scientific and , Industrial Research, £47,000; Education, £2,550,000: National Provident Fund, £84,458; Public Service Superannuation, £7173; and Maintenance of Roads, Public Buildings, etc., £79,000. The House rose at midnight.