PARLIAMENTARY.

Timaru Herald, Volume XIC, Issue 13395, 19 September 1907, Page 6

PARLIAMENTARY.

i'er Press Association. WELLINGTON, September 13. LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL. Thi Council met at 2.50 p.m. SECOND READING. The Dtmecin Suburban Gas Company Empowering Bill was read a second time. COMPREHENSIVE RETURN. Mr Paul moved for returns showing the number of cases in which employers and. ■employees have b:en charged with breaches of awards under the Arbitration —cts since March, 19Q4;' the cumber of convictions and ditmissais; the tinea imposed in each caise;, the number of shragntermm's strikes and the number of ctrikers hi each industrial district; the number of strikers prosecuted; the number of informations dismissed, and! the reasons therefor, and the amount of fines imposed and recovered up to date. The Attorney-General promised to have the return prepared unlu:-s there was some insuperable difficulty in th-' way of doing so. The motion was carried. BILLS PASSED. The Borough of New Plymouth Electric Irfiaa and Waterworks Loan Validation Bill was read a third time and passed. The Nelson Institute Bill was- .reported from committee with ani-ndmeatG, read a third time, and passed. TARIFF BILL. The Tariff Bill was received from the othir Chamber, and the second reading fead for to-morrow. SUPREME COURT BILL. The Attorney-General mord tha seeond reading of the Supreme- Court Ptaetice and" Procedure Acts Amendment Bill, to vali-1 date certain orders made by the registrars of the Supreme Court, who had liea empowered in certain cases to act in place of the Judges of the Supreme Court. Doubts had! arisen is to the validity of the orders.so made, and! the object of the Biil was to legalise the action cf the gistrarsMr Sinclair iraid he was of opini r, ii that the registrar had done acts which the Judges had power to do, but which, nevertheless, no Judge would perform, and the BDI would apparently validate these acts. , Mr Samuel raid that tiri Bill,was only intended to validate the orders of registrars, rjj if tile same had been mar~e oy a Judge. To his mind it was a very rwy cessary measure. i The second reading wac agreed to. and the Bill was referred to the Statutes Revision Committee. A PURE FOOD. «^\ The Pure Food Bill was recommitted for this purpose of further considering certain clauses. The Attoraey-Gerernl moved an interpretation of "drug" as follow.-':—Diug means any wibstauco i«r mixture of substance ns_>d by t.':m - rr, n <:i >. dicinc. whether inteiTKally or vxr.rnal'.y, and includes anaesthetics.—Carried. The Attorney-General moved the clause relating to the c:;!e of bread by w. to read ::s follows:—"!ii Ev:tv person commits an oKeuce who t e'.ls any bread the weight of which at the time if sale fc? less than th.- eelL't represents -i tc: fa?. or 1 ss than the weight whi'.h the buyer oemands : (2) every pt-isnn who i : !I;i ?rv loaf weighing I-.es th m four pounds bnt more than three pounds at the time of .•-a!-.> shall b; de.mel to -epris er.t that it weighs four pounds, unless lie stater. tri'c wight to th? buyer at tli? time of .>■»!»: ; lo) t very peinon who ."-e-'s itny leat weighing 1 s.i than two pnuni!*> bui more ;'-,in one pound at the time of sale, r-hali bo dsemed to represent that it weighs two pounds, unless he states its true weight to tho- buyer at the itime of sale." Progre.-s was reported after eoreiderable diseu:T?ion. The Council rose at 5 p.m. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. The House met at 2.30 p.m. REPLIES TO QUESTIONS. Tn reply to questions, Ministers statnl That "it js intended to bring down an auxrnd'nrt nt to the Fikudly Societies' Act this (session. That it is intended" to bring down the Railways Clarification Bill daring the present 'session. That it is propos a iy remit the charg.of 10s for travelling ex f-n ci; charged by the Tnspe;:tor of Weights ;;:;d Measure., when inspectinj: shopkevpers' weight; ni' asnr.s excepting in ypseial cases. 'I question of returning the forfeited weights and measures will i>- considered in th: ev.T.t of leginhition on the sr.bj.ct being introduced at anv time.

That so fur the steps taken to sterilise all imported bones are considered satisfactory. That every facility is afforded rifle clubs, batik ' defence and private, in obtaining ammunition at the same price as is charged to volunteers. Efficient members of Defence Rifle Clubs are also allowed to purchase 10CO rounds of ammunition per year at very low rates, 5s per 100; at present the bare cost at the iactoiy is £5 Ss 4d per 1000 rounds and, the present sale price to volunteers and Rifle Clubs is £5 10s per 10C0. It is nofc considered advisable to make a further reduction in price. That the procuring of samples of milk for analysis has not yet been earned out in any thorough manner. As the law now stands there are several difficulties. Samples have been collected in Dunedin, Christcliurch, Wellington, Auckland, and Nelson. As soon as the Pure Food Bill now before Parliament becomes law, it is intended to look more carefully intci the question of the quality of milk consumed by the" people. Mr Hanan asked the Premier whether he would introduce legislation on the lilies of the Australian Commerce Actwith the following objects—to protect those traders who correctly describe their goods from competitors who by false or misleading descriptions deceive the public to the disadvantage of honest- manufacturers. who may have established a reputation for a good article; to protect the public by requiring in cases where the proper maintenance of the public health or public interest make it expedient, that the manufacturers shall indicate on their goods the nature of the ingre- | dients or materials of which they are composed; that the purchasing public shall know the actual country of origin of imported goods; that the reputation of the national industries of New Zealand may be maintained and probably increased by insuring that New Zealand productions of inferior kinds shall not be permitted', to masquerade under a description which is applicable only to bust quality. The Premier replied that the work still to b3 done during the session was vorv heavy, and no promise would be given, but" the protection of the public was so important that lie hoped to have suitable proposals prepared during the recess, and to submit them for the consideration of Parliament, next session. That the question of providing schools with miniature rifle ranges is under consideration. THE RAILWAY SERVICE. The Premier, in reply to Mr Okey, stated :• "My attention 'has been directed to the various statements recently appearing in the Press respecting dissatisfaction among the railway employees. These &tater.:;i:ls require, liov.-s\-t-r,\ to be received with gr--.it caution. Where a large staff of men is cor;tcrr.-L':!. Mid: as ill, Xj w Zealand railway stall", which numb;r.-; abaat 11.COO, it must b.- expected that :-ume grievances are br.und ■-<> exist. When, however, these are reported they are gone into as closely as po.-sible arid ! relief is given" It is not correct to say (hat great unrest prevails in the service and the (statement mat " rvMgsn Moiis are being sent in so fin t tii.ii the railway, will be lun by the ini-.-qi. ririit j<l >»r incapable' is a a unwarrantable exaggeration. There ale cases wlure capable laihray officers have taken rp lucrative iio-itio;i--« in other walks of 1-fb::r tiie .same may be said of officers in every other State Department, and also of smart mm ::: private tniplov who from time to time arc offered better positions than those thoy occupy, and they consequently accept the offers. The* great bulk of the men who leave, the railwav service are, however, men who have been on probation and liavo failed to give satisfaction, or who during the probationary period find railway work dirtastef::l and leave to take up other employment. There is no dearth of experienced officers and men in the railway service, and the great bulk of the officers and men now in the service will, I have no doubt, lvniain therein until they are eligible for ivtir ent- under the Government Railways Superannuation Fund Act." s AMENDMENTS AGREED TO. Th' amendments made by the Council io the New Plymouth Loan and V.'ati-r----'"orkt; I-fiim Validation Rill and Nelson Institute Jiill were agreed to. BILL PASS]-.'!!. The Foreign Tribunals Evidence l!iil w-r-: lvrirl a third tirn:- and pa-:-v.-l. Ti> • Koas- rdjotini'.-d at 5.33 p.m. The House rteuuH-d at 7.33 p.m.

THE ASSKSSMKNT BILL. 'l*lio Premier moved 'to pcutpone the.Methylated Spirits Dill, the Coal Klines Act Amendment "ill. and Factories Act Amendment Bill (in committe. ). in o,ieicr •to take the Land r.r.d Iho-ok*- Assessment Bill. Mr Mas.-ey raked an objection to this I'MUL".-''. us h- cniir-iiK'Ti-'d i-ho Premier should hiVv 1 intimated If) him that he intend.d to do so. He (jli- Mai rev) had on noting the position of the Atssrcssment IJIH on the -Order Paper. no>; I,K'"1 ,K '" pared him-'eii for debating J:.- and other members li-- knew wci:* s;:ni.avly placed. The Piemirr said that lion, members on hi; .side of the Houso had as much right to complain as Opposition ■n l b:He cxxplainsd that ibis ivas ttic first time the Ordns of the Day had been u!t*K-d tins session. but it uas not an unusual practice. It was done in every Parliament. He re-minded ill' Massey that in answer to a direct question from the* Leader of the Opposition he 'the Premier) had intimated ihaj/ the Land and Income Assessment Biil would be taken immediately the Tariff Bill was put through. The motion was carried by 45 votes to 13 votes.

Th-3 Premier, in moving the second leading of the Assessment Bill, reminded members that since 1891 persistent efforts had been made to isett-le people on the land rather than allow lands to be held in large estates. From time to time legislation liad been introduced to bring about this desirable object, but notwithstanding these efforts it, had been found necessary to submit three new Biils. The Government were not submitting theseproposals with a desire to ;ncre:;i:3 tlie revenue or to bo liosiik' to the holders of large estates. The graduated land tax had in tlie . past probably been too light for the purpose of closer s-ettleni-snt, especially when the prosperity of the country was considered. . In 1901 there were 262 owner*; of 7,840.000 acres va'hied at £17,457,000, and with an unimproved value of £12,200,000. In 1902 there were 216 owners of 7,800,000 aero?, of a capital value of £16,100.000, and an unimproved value of • £13,000,000. In 1906 the owners had decreased to 200 with a total area of 4,700,000, and the capital value liad decreased to £12,250,0C0 and the total of unimjiroved value to £9,278,000. At the present time tlitre were. 38 owners who owned an area of 3,700,000 acres of land, of a- capital value of £3,200,000 less than in 1901. He pointed out that the purchase of large estates by the Government and the cutting up by private owners had reduced large estates. Referring to the graduated land tax he said that between £SOOO and £40,000 tho same rats as at present was proposed in the new Bill, and continuing from that onwards from 8s per £IOO until the maximum was reached at £200,000 worth of land, the tax was at £2 per £IOO. The loss to the revenue from the subdivision of large estates ranged from. £156 lis lid in 1895-96 to £19,052 17s 2d in 1905-06, or a total for the whole period of £28,186 7s lid. Referring to the fixing of the progressive tax at' £40,000, he pointed out that under these proposals there was an increase of taxation in round figures of £90,C00. If it came down to instituting the tax at £20,000 the total additional revenue would be £4OOO. Ee added that there were properties in the country of less area, than 100.000 acres, and worth more than £40,000; there were properties with an area of less than 400 acres and worth £20,000, and areas of 100 acres worth £30,000. He contended that men in the latter case should not be under the graduated hind tax.. In ; 18S2 the total absentee tax was £658 ■ iind last year the amount- from this source was £4237. In 1592 the graduated land tax was £70,859, which increased in 19C3-04 to £98,682. He contended that under the tax large holders would find it undesirable to continue, and there were under the Bill proposals which lul l nexer been submitted to the Parliament of the colony. In continuing the Premier said that the existing law regarding partnership was ineffective, as bv giving nominal shares in his land to membens of his family, a man could reduce his graduated land tax by onehalf, and the proposals under this Bill would prevent any possibility of these practices being followed in future. Private companies at present were used for the purpose of escaping tire graduated land tax, but these would also be checkmated, if tho legislation in this Bill were earned, as it would prevent any peir.on holding land from gaining a benefit by forming a. portion of his estate into ,alimited company. The Bill would also prevent the evasion of the graduat-so! iand' tax by subsidiary companies, and would also prevent the evasion of the tax fey estates held in trust. ' Tho Government wexe carrying out a land purchase system in face of the very high values that had ruled of late years. tnt urged that large land-owneris 'ehould realise tiiat ii was in the interests of tlis country and' of themselves that they ehould endeavour to get rid of the excels of estates. An inducement had been held out to tha large land-' owner to get rid of his excess land! by an incentive to th-e comparatively poor man to procure land, and the land-owner would realise that he cou'd get 15 p-r cent, of the puichase- money much easier than he could obtain 25 per cent, of t-ba purchase money. The Premier eaifl that it was proposed to deal with flax land under the law as it was at present. . Mr Massey contended -that the figures submitted by the Premier showed that subdivision was steadily going on, and that there was no necessity for the Bill. The Bill-meant increased taxation. He arguod that it was dtisirable to settle tlw country, but he urged that the thing to bo done should be to settle the Crown lands, and if it was desired to cut up the lands of private owners, it should b» provided' by legislation to cut up holdings at the death of an owner, if such holder held 'an excass of land. He agreed that tlie Public Accounts Committee had improved! the Bill, and' he congratulated the committee on having struck out the last clauss of the Bill, which was in effect a clause to cause one person to spy on another. He argued that the tax on standing timber was iniquitous, and tended to the' destruction of our forests. He was pleased to see that tlie tax on islanding timber as originally proposed had been reduced by one-half, but ha contended that there should be no tax on standing timber. His principal objection to the graduated land tax was because it did not discriminate between the man who had a mortgage on his land and the one who had not. He contended that thai number of pe-ople paying graduated land tax was steadily increasing because the valuations put- up the value of land. Men running-" a farm or filation jointly were ■entileed to -exemption up to £3CO, but under this Bill they were not entitled to any exemption, nc asserted that this Bill was driving the people out- of the ci/]ony, and' men were looking 'for land in Fiji and Queen-dand. If they were going to have ii grN.iv-.ited tax 'en land, llun they .'k"ek; i;:nv a graduated tax on inconsoi. It might- be ■said that they had a. graduaieti on income-', but it was nothing in compa.: isnn to the graduated land fax which a man paid who did the right tiling by hi:; country by pntti;:;; his money in land and developing the resources of the' colony. There weT" jnoiv holdings of 10.000 acres and under at the present time than they weiv 10 or 12

yK'. v fji-,n'-iinir-' - In slimv thai tli'-' nuiiib.'i' of lin-ire o-mU-s Imrl. bcL'ii Loiuidcrably ivduced 1892,

the number of smaller holdings inciea.ieel. There was a satisfactory inerwuw of estates up to 7500 acres. Ho added that--100 acres' as a rule were too small for afarmer to get a- living on, const'ijr.enlly sucli a fanner was continually on the. look-cut to add to hie holding. He argued that hundreds of genuine cases Had come under his notice vrhcre nothing like 15 per cent, of the purchase money had been paid; in fact there were, hundreds- of cases where nothing at .ill was paid before a man went on the land, and these cases were genuine. The effect of the Government's proposals, in this clause were altogether against- a small man and he contended that with this clause in the Bill it would block settlement-. The large land owners on whom the graduated hind tax chiefly fell should be allowed two or three years in which to get- rid of their surplus- land. Discussion was carried on by -Mr Laurenson. Mr James Allen, and the Hon. R. McNab till midnight, when Mr Thomson moved the adjournment. The motion was negatived on the voices. * Mr Lang and Mr W. Fraser having .spoken, the I'reimer replied. The. motion to go into Committee was agreed to by 47 to five votes. Clause 1 was agreed to. Progress was reported. The House adjourned at 1.20 a.m.