SEVENTY-NINE ACTS

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 53, Issue 3829, 4 November 1936, Page 5

SEVENTY-NINE ACTS

PUBLIC, LOCAL AND PRIVATE MEASURES. SUMMARY OF LEGISLATION DURING SESSION. Seventy-nine Acts were passed during the session of Parliament which ended on Saturday. Of this number 59 were pubjic, 13 local and seven private Acts. Details of legislation, together with a summary of the more important provisions of the public Acts, are as follows: PUBLIC ACTS. • Agriculture (Emergency Powers) Amendment Act: Confirms and validates regulations issued under the Agricultural (Emergency Powers) Act. Agricultural Workers Act: Prescribes minimum rates of pay and conditions of employment for workers on dairy farms; also specifies accommodation requirements for general agricultural workers. Appropriation Act: Gives legislative effect to the main estimates of departmental expenditure, the Supplementary Estimates, and the Public Works Estimates for the current financial year. Broadcasting Act: Abolishes the Broadcasting Board, and makes provision for Ministerial control of broadcasting, the appointment of a Director of Broadcasting, and establishment of commercial" stations owned and controlled by Government. Chatham Islands County Council Empowering Act: Suspends the powers of the Chatham Islands County Council to levy rates and empowers the council to collect import and export dues on goods imported into or exported from the island. Civil List Amendment Act: Makes provision for the appointment of Parliamentary under-secretaries. Coal Mines Amendment Act: Empowers the Minister of Mines to establish and maintain central rescue stations in coal mining areas. Dentists Act: Establishes a Dental Council to control the practice of the dental profession and to exercise disciplinary powers over practising dentists. Distress and Replevin Amendment Act: Takes away the power of a landlord to destrain on the goods of a tenant as a means of ejecting him for non-payment of rent without reference to the court. Education Amendment Act: Restores the school admission age to five years and discontinues the proficiency examination and the granting of certificates ot proficiency and competency. Employment Promotion Act: Chan ges the name of the unemployment fund and unemployment relief tax to employment promotion fund and employment tax respectively, abolishes the Unemployment Board, and transfers the administration of unemployment to the Labour Department un der the control of the Minister. Factories Amendment Act: Limits hours of work in factories, fixes min imum .wage and increases rate of pay for overtime. Fair Rents Act: Restricts increases in rents for dwelling houses, with that paid on May 1 as the basis, and enables a magistrate to fix a fair rent cn application of either landlord or tenant. Does not apply to residential flats. This Act expires on September 30, 1937. Family Allowances Amendment Act: Alters the income limitation of persons in receipt of family allowances, and authorises applications for allowances to be made by a mother instead of restricting the making of applications to a father as hitherto. Finance Act: Restores depression cuts in the wages and salaries of public servants, and restores to the 1931 standard the rates of pay of workers in industry working under awards, industrial agreements, apprenticeship orders and contracts ot service. Contains other miscellaneous financial provisions, including provision for the rescission or variation of contracts for execution of works where the cost of carrying them out is increased by alterations in the law. Finance Act, No. 2: Authorises the Government to borrow £13,000,000 for public works, housing and the construction of main highways; validates the appointment ot Mr Mark Silverstone as a director of the Reserve Bank, and authorises the Reserve Bank to underwrite loans raised by the State Advances Corporation. Fisheries Amendment Act: Authorises the issue of regulations requiring acclimatisation societies to contribute out of their license fees funds for the cost ot fresh water fish research. Geneva Convention Act: Prohibits improper use of the Red Cross emblem and the arms of the Swiss Confederation.

Government Railways Amendment Act: Abolishes the Railways Board and restores to the Minister of Railways and General Manager the administration of New Zealand railways and allied services. Hospitals and Charitable Institutions Amendment Act: Makes hospital boards liable for the negligence of their professional staff, and authorises boards' to provide pensions for nurses contracting pulmonary tuberculosis. Imprest Supply Act: Measures by this name come before Parliament at intervals while it is in session, and are for the purpose of making financial accommodation for public services. Imprest Supply Act, No. 2: See Imprest Supply Act. Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration. Amendment Act: Restores to Arbitration Court its former jurisdiction, authorises the court to fix basic tates ot wages, provides for 40 hour week in industry where practicable, the formation of Dominion unions and compulsory unionism. Industrial Efficiency Act: Establishes a Bureau of Industry and provides for the registration and licensing of industry. Judicature Amendment Act: Restores to litigants the right to require trial by jury in actions based on breach of contracts and in actions for the recovery of chattels. Labour Department Amendment Act: Provides for the appointment of a Secretary of Labour, to be administrative head of the Labour Department. Also defines functions of department. Land and Income Amendment Act: Miscellaneous alterations in the taxation law. The most important alteration is a provision authorising the Government to issue orders-in-council

requiring the payment of income tax in instalments. Land and Income Tax (Annual) Act: Fixes rates of taxation for the year commencing April 1, 1936. Law Reform Act: Removes from the Statute Book old rules of law inconsistent with modern conditions. During recent years reforms have been made in the British law by the Imperial Parliament, and this Act makes corresponding changes in the law of New Zealand. An important section of the Act deals with the causes of action after death, and abrogates, subject to certain expressed conditions, the rule that the personal representative of a deceased person cannot sue or be sued in respect of a wrong committed against or by the deceased during his lifetime. League of Nations Sanctions Regulations Confirmation Act: Validates and confirms regulations made under authority of League of Nations Sanctions (Enforcement in New Zealand) Act. Local Elections and Polls (Temporary) Amendment Act: Modifies the law disqualifying defaulting ratepayers from voting at local body elections and from nominating or being nominated as candidates for election to local authorities. Local Legislation Act: Authorising and validating legislation affecting local bodies. Main Highways Amendment Act: Authorises the classification of any main highway as a State highway. Standards of construction and maintenance for main highways are to be determined by the Main Highways Board. Mortgagors and Lessees Rehabilita tion Act: Adjusts urban mortgages to the present day value of the security, and rural mortgages on the basis of the productive value of the farm. Any mortgagor, lessee or guarantor may apply for an adjustment of his liabili ties, but applications for relief must be lodged before January 31, 1937. The Act has the effect of lifting the moratorium from that date except in all cases where relief has been ap plied for and granted. The amount by which a mortgage is reduced is treated as an unsecured debt. Motor Vehicles Amendment Act: Imposes an obligation on motor drivers to report accidents in which they are involved and to render all assistance to the person injured. Provision is made for penalties of five years’ imprisonment and a fine of £5OO foi neglect to observe these conditions. National Art Gallery and Dominion Museum Amendment Act: Reconstitutes the board of trustees of the Na tional Art Gallery and Dominion Mu seum. Native Land Amendment Act: Machinery provisions dealing with Native land development schemes. Native Purposes Act: Contains miscellaneous clauses adjusting claims and disputes relating to Native land. Naval Defence Amendment Act: Constitutes the New Zealand Naval Board and ratifies an agreement entered into between the naval authorities and the Auckland Harbour Board in relation to the Auckland naval base Pensions Amendment Act: Restores depression cuts in all classes of pensions and in some cases increases them; makes provision for invalidity pensions and for the payment of a pension to deserted wives. Political Disabilities Removal Act: Gives political rights to public servants and authorises associations or societies to apply part of their funds for the furtherance of political ob jects. Post and Telegraph Amendment Act: Authorises the appointment of a deputy Director-General of the Post and Telegraph Department, and provides for the appointment of a special tribunal to "consider matters affecting the department. Prevention of Profiteering Act: Checks unreasonable increases in prices charged for goods and services. Special tribunals consisting of a stipendiary magistrate are to determine cases under the legislation. Primary Products Marketing Act: Authorises appointment of a Minister of Marketing, the establishment of a Primary Products Marketing Department, and appointment of administrative officers. The Act gives the Government power to acquire primary products at prices to be fixed from time to time, and to market through the department those commodities in which it has acquired ownership or assumed control.

Protection of British Shipping: Gives the Government authority to protect British shipping in the Pacific by restricting the carriage of passengers and goods between Australia and New Zealand by subsidised foreign lines. Railway Authorisation Act: Auth orises the construction of the deviation between Turakina and Okoia on the Wellington-New Plymouth railway line. Regulations Act: Authorises the publication of statutory regulations, orders-in-council, proclamations, warrants, and other instruments of authority in leaflet or booklet form in stead of in the weekly Government Gazette as hitherto. Reserve Bank of New Zealand Amendment Act: Gives the Government control of credit and currency in the Dominion. It cancels the private share capital in the Reserve Bank, increases the authority of the bank to grant accommodation to the Treasury, and authorises the bank to grant overdrafts for the purchase and marketing ot New Zealand produce. Reserves and Other Lands Disposal Act: Deals with the sale, reservation and other disposition of reserves, Crown lands, and endowments, and validates transactions relating to such areas. Shipping and Seamen Amendment Act: Deals with the manning scale of motor ships and fishing vessels. Shops and Offices Amendment Act: Prescribes hours of work and minimum rates ot pay for workers in shops and offices. It also fixes overtime rates for shop and office assistants. Southland Electric Power Supply Act: Authorises the Minister of Finance to repay moneys owing in London by the Southland Electric Power Board, and provides for a poll of ratepayers in the board’s area on a proposal that (lie board's undertaking should be acquired by the Crown. State Advances Corporation Act: Alters the name Mortgage Corporation to State Advances Corporation, cancels the private share capital in the corporation, and reconstitutes the board of management. Statutes Amendment Act: , A comprehensive measure amending legislation passed earlier during the past session and various other Acts on the Statute Book. An important provision abolishes voting by corporate bodies. Thames Harbour Act: Abolishes the Thames Harbour Board. Transport Licensing Amendment Act: Abolishes the Transport Co-or-dination Board, protects the Railway Department where it acquires or car-

ries on passenger services, and con stitutes the Minister of Transport the sole licensing authority for aircraft services. War Pensions Amendment Act: Increases pensions to soldiers’ dependants, and increases the maximum rate of economic pensions that may be granted to disabled members of the military forces. Wool Industry Promotion Act: Authorises the collection of a levy on wool to provide funds for publicity and wool research, and establishes a New Zealand Wool Committee to promote the use of New Zealand wool. Workers’ Compensation. Amendment Act: Increases compensation rates payable to workers injured in industrial accidents. LOCAL ACTS. Ashburton Rivers. Auckland City Abattoir. Auckland Harbour Board Empowering. Bay of Island Harbour Amendment. 'Hawke’s Bay Rivers Amendment. Motueka Harbour Board Amendment. . Napier Harbour Board and Napier Borough Enabling. Nelson Waterworks Extension Amendment. New Plymouth Borough Land Exchange and Empowering. Sumner Borough Empowering. Taupiri Drainage and River Board Empowering. Wellington City Empowering. Wellington City Reclamation and Empowering. PRIVATE ACTS. Molyneux Gold Dredging Company (Claims Amalgamation). Michael Connelly Appointment Validation. Napier Gas Company Amendment and Enlargement. Thomas George Macarthy Trust. United Wheatgrowers. Whakatane Paper Mills, Limited, Water Supply Empowering. William George David Brown Trust.