NEW PUBLIC ACTS

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLI, Issue 20442, 12 June 1936, Page 8

NEW PUBLIC ACTS

FIFTEEN PLACED ON STATUTE BOOK WORK OF PARLIAMENT TO DATE (From Our Parliamentary Reporter! WELLINGTON, June 11, New Zealand’s first Labour Government has not been slow to give effect to the bulk of the promises which it made during the election campaign last year. After 12 weeks in session the House of Representatives has now adjourned in order that the future legislative programme may be shaped, but already an imposing list of 15 new public Acts has been placed on the Statute Book of the Dominion. AU but three of these can be described as Important policy measures. The public Acts passed so far this session are as follows:—Reserve Bank Amendment Act, Primary Products Marketing Act, State Advances Corporation Act, Government Railways Amendment Act, Employment Promotion Act, Labour Department Amendment Act, Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Amendment Act, Factories Amendment Act, Shops and Offices Amendment Act, Fair Rents Act, Distress and Replevin Amendment Act, Broadcasting Act, Imprest Supply Act, and League of Nations Sanctions Regulations Confirmation Act. A survey of these measures shows how they fit neatly into the pattern of Labour’s general plan. Currency and Credit Probably the most important piece of legislation of the session was the Reserve Bank Amendment Act, which handed over to the Government complete control of the currency and credit of the country. Principles for the application of that control have been clearly enunciated in the Primary Products Marketing Act and the State Advances Corporation Act. These two measures give effect respectively to the Labour Party’s policy of guaranteed prices for dairy products and more liberal advances to settlers and home builders. In both cases provision is made for finance to be arranged through the Reserve Bank. The Marketing Act, although not so general in its scope as the amending Reserve Bank legislation, Is definitely a matter of major importance. Under its provisions a Minister of Marketing has been appointed and a new Department of Marketing established with power to take over all the dairy products of the Dominion and arrange for their export overseas at a guaranteed return to the producer variable from season to season. The guaranteed price schemi will come into operation on August 1. The power given to the Government to take over all dairy products and to act as sole salesman for New Zealand’s dairy exports has been criticised as being more sweeping than the original guaranteed price proposals. Power is given under the Act for a special dairy industry ai.ount to be opened at the Reserve Bank, and credits can be made available for the purchase and marketing of dairy products. There is specific power for the Government to carry on accumulated overdrafts in its guaranteed price payments, but in Parliamentary circles at present there is considerable speculation as to the possible effect on the scheme of the recent marked rise in butter prices on the London market. The State Advances Corporation Act will enable the remodelling of the Mortgage Corporation as an entirely State institution to take over all the Government lending activities. Here, too, there is provision for the Government to call on credits which can be mobilised through the State-controlled Reserve Bank. State control has been the principal aim of the Government in its major legislative proposals. Money is now in the hands cf the State and its powers of lending are materially increased while, as already stated, there can be rigid State control of the Dominion’s export trade. Internal Services Internally various national services which were previously conducted by appointed boards have been brought under direct Ministerial control. This aspect of Government policy has been applied to the Railways Board and air transport, unemployment and broadcasting. Another point to which the Government has devoted special attention is the reorganisation of the Dominion’s labour laws. Important amendments have been made to the Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Act, the Shops and Offices Act and the Factories Act, the main objectives being reductions in the maximum working hours, increases in the minimum rates of pay, the fixing of a basic wage, and general concessions to workers. The reductions in working hours will not take effect until September 1. The rent restriction legislation which was introduced and passed late in the session had been described as only a temporary measure, but there, too, was evidence of the desire of the Government to exercise control over the existing situation until such time as its housing scheme puts it in a position of even greater authority.

Local and private Acts have not bulked very largely during the session to date. Only three local Acts—the Napier Harbour Board and Napier Borough Enabling Act, the New Plymouth Land Exchange and Empowering Act. and the Taupirl Drainage and River Board Empowering Act—have been passed while five private Acts which have passed both houses are the Molyneux Gold Dredging Company Claims Amalgamation Act, Michael Connelly Validation Act, Thomas George McCarthy Trust Act, United Wheatgrowers Act and the William George David Brown Trust Act.