N.Z. PARLIAMENT

Waihi Daily Telegraph, Volume XXXV, Issue 8901, 7 April 1936, Page 3

N.Z. PARLIAMENT

RESERVE BANK BILL DISCUSSION

OPPOSITION CRITICISM

SECOND READING PASSED

By Telegraph—Press Association WELLINGTON, this day.

In the House of Representatives yesterday afternoon urgency was accorded to the passing of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand Amendment Bill.

The Leader of the Opposition, Hon. G. W. Forbes, protested against, the haste with which the Bill was being put through and said it ended the Reserve Bank as far as the public and those connected with the bank were concerned. The Bill would give the Government power to do anything it thought might be advantageous and he hoped the experiment would not be too expensive. Mr Forbes asked the Government to give the country more information regarding its intentions and said that the Minister of Finance, Hon. W. Nash, had stated that the Government would borrow from the bank and the Bill would give the Government unlimited powers. He asked the Government to state what limitations it proposed to place on itself. He also referred to the influence of the Labour Conference on the Labour Party and said lie wanted to see the position of the people made better, not worse.

"DRUNK WITH POWER" Mr W. J. Broadfoot (Waitomo) twitted the Government members with remaining silent in the face of Opposition criticism. He feared that the way the Government was bullocking the Bill through showed that it was drunk with power. He said that the Government's methods savoured of dictatorship and lie feared that in the present Minister of Finance they had a New Zealand Stalin.

Mr R A. Wright said that the New Zealand Parliament was embarking on one of the greatest experiments in the history of the British Empire without any experience of its own or of any other country. He hoped the Government would not allow any extreme element to persuade it to go in for a highly inflationary policy. After further criticism the Minister of Finance replied at some length, in the course of which ho said that the attack was misleading and vicious ,n:d that the Opposiu m had tred to instil fear and a lack of confidence in the Government in 'he people of New Zealand. The second reading of the Bill was then carried by 51 votes to IS. Last night after the post office closed the House of Representatives continued the discussion on the Reserve Bank Amendment Bill and in committee the Opposition protested against the cancellation of the share capital, but the clause was retained, Mr W. J. Poison (Stratford) this time voting with the Government.

CLAUSES CHALLENGED A protest was also made against the power taken by the Government by Order-in-Council to dismiss a director almost at a moment's notice, and an amendment to delete this provision was lost. Caluse 10 was challenged on several occasions, members considering it the key clause of the Bill, but eventually it was passed by 48 votes to 15.

The clause dealing with authority to accommodate the Treasury to the estimated revenue instead of half the estimated revenue, as previously, was debated at length and the Opposition expressed the opinion that it might lead to exaggerated estimates and provide authority to obtain an unlimited overdraft, but the clause was carried.

Several other clauses were also ihallenged, but all were carried.

Two motions to report progress were defeated, the second one after the closure had been applied.

The closure was applied again when the Opposition showed an inclination to discuss another clause and the committee stage was completed at 7.30 a.m. The House then adjourned for breakfast.