BANK OF N.Z. BILL

Southland Times, Issue 25835, 21 November 1945, Page 4

BANK OF N.Z. BILL

MINISTER INTRODUCES AMENDMENTS (P.A.) WELLINGTON, November 20. The House of Representatives tonight’ took urgency for the passing of the Bank of New Zealand Bill. The period during which shareholders in the bank can decide whether they wish to take cash or Governmerft stock for their shares is extended from two to* three months by one of several amendments to"'the Bill brought down before a start was made with the committee stage. The Minister of Finance, Mr Nash, said this, had been done because of the intervention of the holidays, when the legal offices would be closed and because some of the shareholders were overseas. When the amendments were introduced the Leader of the Opposition, Mr Holland, asked if they were a Bill to amend a Bill that had been read a second time. It was an all-time record. The annual conference of the Labour Party had taken place since the Bill was read a second time. He suggested that the Bill be withdrawn until the Government could make up its mind what the provisions in the Bill were to be. The Prime Minister, Mr Fraser, said amid Government laughter that Mr Holland’s suggestion would receive all the consideration it deserved. It was not a Bill on a Bill, but just the ordinary procedure that had been followed thousands of times. Mr Nash said there were five amendments to the Bill. It was proposed to alter the amount that could be paid in stock from multiples of £1 to multiples of £5, and then to pay the cash difference over £5, instead of over £l. The reason was because the interest came to fractions of a penny when the amount was £l.

When the Bill was introduced it was affirmed that it was based on the principle of yield of income, and the Government decided to make perfeettion more perfect, if that were possible. The Bill in its original form provided for the bank to be taken over on November 1, but the half-yearly dividend was declared to September 30. There was. therefore, a gap of one month and the amendment provided for the payment of the dividend for that month. The dividend was to be increased by one half per cent, and would be seven per cent, for the seven months ended October 31. The same applied to long term D mortgage shares in the same way as ordinary shares. At 11.35 Mr Frasei' moved the application of the closure to the short title. The Opposition called for a division and the closure was applied by 37 to 31 votes. The short title was adopted by a similar vote. Mr Holland said that to facilitate the business of the House the Opposition, although opposed to every clause of the Bill and although its members intended to move amendments at a later stage, would not divide the House on each clause. Clause two was adopted on the voices shortly before midnight. Thirteen of the Bill’s 18 clauses had been adopted when the House was left sitting at 12.15 a.m.