PARLIAMENT

Southland Times, Issue 23376, 7 December 1937, Page 8

PARLIAMENT

PETROLEUM BILL DEBATED

House Enters Final Week Of Session

PERIOD OF POLITICAL ACTIVITY FURTHER ESTIMATES FOR CONSIDERATION (From Our Parliamentary Reporter) WELLINGTON, December 6. A week which promises to provide a period of hectic political activity opened today when the House of Representatives resumed for five days’ work before the Christmas recess. The Supplementary Estimates, providing for additional departmental expenditure of £1,613,318, made their appearance and subsequently an interesting debate developed on the provisions of the Petroleum Bill. Extra financial bulk is lent to the Supplementary Estimates this year by the inclusion of salary increases arising from the Public Service reclassification, an outline of which was given last week by the Prime Minister (the Rt. Hon. M. J. Savage). Apart from that the additional grants embrace the usual miscellaneous items and there is provision in the Public Works Fund for a further £500,000 to be expended on country roads and bridges. Approximately half of this amount is to be spent in the Auckland province. When the Petroleum Bill came up for discussion the Prime Minister moved for urgency in order that the House might sit past the normal hour of 10.30. In opening the debate the Minister of Mines (the Hon. P. C. Webb) forecast an early and important development in the search for oil in New Zealand, and stated that considerable overseas capital was available for the project. In providing for State ownership of all oil resources the Bill cleared away a very considerable ob- j stacle to comprehensive prospecting. The entire search for oil would be carried on under licence and on payment of royalties to the Govern- > ment. SHARE OF ROYALTIES DEMANDED The argument against the Bill was introduced by the Hon. Sir Apirana Ngata (Nat., Eastern Maori), who attacked the measure on the grounds that it did. not provide for the payment of royalties to Maoris if oil was found under native land. This, he said, was a violation of the Treaty of Waitangi. The Opposition’s case was built up on these lines with a further demand that all property owners on whose land oil was found should share in the royalty receipts. Perhaps the most reasoned and reasonable criticism of the Bill came from the Rt. Hon. J. G. Coates (Nat., Kaipara). The argument for the Opposition was eventually embodied in an amendment moved by Mr W. J. Broadfoot (Nat., Waitomo) designed to refer the Bill back to the Government so that provision could be made for all property owners concerned to receive a share of the royalties. Immediately the amendment was put forward the Government moved the adjournment of the debate and the House rose at 10.45 o’clock.