FINANCE BILL

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLIII, Issue 20895, 26 November 1937, Page 5

FINANCE BILL

MEASURE PASSES HOUSE DEBATE CONTINUED TILL EARLY HOURS By Telegraph—Press Association WELLINGTON, November 25. The House continued the discussion in Committee of the Finance Bill after the Telegraph Office closed at 2 a.m. The discussion was continued of the clause validating the purchase by the Government for purposes of the primary products marketing department of Picot Bros., Ltd., and also of Picots, Palmerston North, Ltd. At 2.10 a.m. the closure was carried on the clause by 47 votes to 14, and the clause itself was passed by 48 votes to 13. Rapid progress was made after the passing of this clause, and the 61st clause of the Bill, the last in the original measure, was passed by 2.53 a.m. The first new amending clause of the Bill, providing that returned soldiers holding decorations should not have payments made in respect of those decorations computed as income when considering sustenance payments or veterans’ allowance, was passed without amendment. When considering the next amending clause, preventing the eviction of tenants from dwelling houses, the Rt. Hon. J. G. Coates asked what was the real reason for the clause. The Leader of the Opposition ( A. Hamilton) said it was a fairly serious clause to put through on such little notice. The Minister of Finance (Hon. W. Nash) said the purpose of the clause was to provide that persons should not be evicted from their homes without having other accommodation to go to. Both the tenants themselves and the owners of houses would Lave to search fcr accommodation, but if suitable accommodation was available, and a certificate was given to a Magistrate to that effect by a Labour Department official, the Magistrate could order that the tenant would have to vacate a house forthwith. Pressed as to the reaso:'. for the clause bjj the Opposition, Mr Nash outlined several cases which had come under his notice where people who had to leave their homes were living in hotels, and in one case In a tent. Rt. Hon. M. J. Savage: I am getting plenty of similar incidents every day. Mr Nash continued that all that the clause stipulated was that these people would not be evicted without having a place to which t” go. He had seen innumerable tragedies in the last few months. In one case a man had been in a place six years, and never failed to pay his rent, but he had to get out. Whose the Responsibility? Mr Coates:: The estimation made by the Minister might be right enough, but he is inclined to blame the previous Government for everything. He and his own Government are responsible

for the present chaos, through the Inducement they have given for people to come to cities, and the consequent overcrowding of towns. Now they find themselves incapable of dealing with the position. It is time the people affected turned on the Government, which was the real guilty party, although it tried to put the blame on the previous Governments. Mr Savage: For a lot of humbug, the Honourable Gentleman takes a lot of beating. Mr Coates: Did I hear tlie Prime Minister of this country say “humbug”? He is not too bad at it himself. He has promised this and that, and has not carried out the promises. Mr Savage: When you were Prime Minister, you promised all sorts of things and did nothing. Mr Coates continued by asking if the Minister had considered he difficulty experienced by men and women with small children in getting houses. A Government interjection: When did you find that out? Mr Coates: From quite a number of cases which come before me. Mr J. A. Roy said hali a dozen farms he knew of had become empty in the last three months. Their occupants had moved to town. Mr J. Hargest said the clause did put the onus on the landlord of finding a house for the tenants. The landlord might wish to come and live in the house himself, and the tenant might naturally sit back, and say he wanted a certain type of house. Mr Nash: He wanted a certain type of house —that will be safeguarded. Mr A. C. A. Sexton asked if the Crown would be bound in the same way as a private landlord. Mr Nash: There is no question of safeguarding the Crown, which will have to find accommodation, too, before it can evict a tenant. The clause was passed without amendment, the Bill passing the committee stages at 3.10. The Bill was then read a third time and passed, the House rising at 3.12 am.