Ministers Answer Variety Of Questions By Members Of Parliament

Chronicle (Levin), 22 September 1949, Page 8

Ministers Answer Variety Of Questions By Members Of Parliament

WELLINGTON, Sept. 2l." Eive suppl&mdntary order papers contaiiiing 80 Mittistdrial replies to' questions as'kdd dufing teeent tveeks, wero Cii-Culatdd- iil the Hditse aiid the diseussion kept ffiembers oecnpied tliroifgh'out the afternooh. Mr. Nash, answeting Mr. K. J. Holyoake (Eahihtua) said s'hies tax exeuiptions were reeently extended to eovef pPaetically eVerythiiig in the -way of priiited books hncl p'apbfs, and racebooks iv'fere novV iiicltided iii the exemptions'. ThiS step \\;as takerl becaus'e of the difficulty in determifliiig wlticb pai'ticular types of btibks and phpefs wei'e liable to thx. Nd stielt difficulty arose as to' birtliday aiul siulilar car'cis biit the question of exemptirig theiti frorn siiles tax would be given early consideration.

Vfet 6 ori EdnkS. Mr. Nash, answering Mr. A. !S. Suthe'rland (Hauraki) said the pblicy of rontrolling advances by trading banks, was an anti-inflationafy oiie wliich aimed at limiting the amouiit of bank eredit issued especially when the afc- • omniodation shoiild be ob'tained fronn noii-bankirig sources. The pblicy ^'as subject to cons'tant review in line witn current econoniic c'onditions, the measure of contro.1 exercised beiiig mereiy sufficient tb prevefit undue extension oi bank eredit. It was not considered that the contfol hindered increased prouuc tion as each case was considered on its uierits. The Governmeht would consider revising or lifting the control nieas ures if at any time tlieir continuation appeared unnecessary or unxlesirable. AT i". Jones, answering Mr. M. H. Oram, said the National Airways Cor uoration had not yet bdeh able to meet the requireiueiits forN the iksue of an air service cei'tiFicate but had, in all of thcinimediately esseiilial respects, fully met the sat'etv requireinents for the issue of such a certifiCate, to »the satis faction of the civil aviation brancn. The corporation shoukl be in a positioi: to qualify for the issue ot an air ser vice eei'tifu'ate iii the iuiinediatifuture. • Absentee Ownefs. Mr. Fras'er, answeinng Mr. J. J. Maher (Otaki) said that ihe Ministei of Lands, in stating reeently that absentee ownership wbuld be graduall;. eliminated by the continuation of tJu policy of encouraging the purehase o. farm land by genuine working farm ers, ' ' was reiterating the Go cernment 's present policy. " Mr. Eraser said no furthef legislation was at present required to implemeiit this policy. Mr. Nash and Gold. Mr. Nash, replying to a qnestion.bv ATr. F. W. Doidge (Tauranga) who had quoted an artiele in' the London Finan cial Times which charged Mr. Nash with preferring that New Zealand shouid borrow what she could easily prodnce herself if he supported the gold producers, said the artiele dealt with devaluation, nionetary policy, balance of trade and the ineffitable dollar problem. The artiele implied that revaiuation of gold would provide in itself a general panacea. "Whether such a resuit would be achieved is open to doubt," said Mr. Nash. The artiele gave the views of aii anonymous contributor, one of iiiany published by the paper. ' ' To impjy that the chaf ge has been made against me as Minister of -Finance by this leading London linancial paper when that paper has reproduced an artiele from an vinnamed contributor, is an exaggeration even in the world of journalism, " said Mr. Nash. The writer did not mention £22/10/- per ounce as quoted by Mr. Doidge but ref erred to £l0 to £11 per oimce or more when referring to equivalent United States dollar price of gold I valiied in the free 'exchange marker. (The artfcie was, of course, written before devaluation took place.) Mr. Doidge, .discussing Mr. Nash 's answer, said gold wouid buv dollars aiiG even at this late stage, the Goyernment shouid agree to permit the sale in the open market of gold produced in New Zealand. This cOuld be done as New Zealand was not a party to the Bretton Woods agreement. Gold could be sold on' the open market for £22/10/- an ounce instead of the price ' of just over £12 announced this w*eek i'ollowing ciOvaluation. The British Empire produced 75 per cent. of the world's gold and if the 40/100,000 _ ounces of gold ■ produced in the Empire last year had been sold at the free market price, there would have been a substantial Saving. Drunken Drivers Mr. Mason, answering Mr. W. H. Fortune (Eden) said the existing maximum peualty for intoxicatioh in cliarge of a motor vphicle, was^ three months ' imprisonment or a flne of £100. The actual penalty in each case . was fixed by the Court subject to these limits. These limitS, of course, did not stand in the way of independent | proceedings for manslaughter or other oftenee that rnight be associated with that of intoxication in charge. Mr, Semple, answering Mr. P. E. Connolly (Dunedin Central) said the Hailways Department "vVould run additional trains to meet the requirements

of Empire Games traffic. Mr. Connolly had nskcd for speeial trains through the South and North Islands to take Hnuth Islanders to the Games. Mr. Hemple said no details of prospective tra&c were yet availabie but the department Was in cloae touch with the Empire Games committee. Mr. Patry, anhwering Mr. E. P. Aderman (New ^Plyiuouth) said ar-, rangeinonts had already beSh made toj pay the additional 5S weokly to social security benefiOiar'ies, annOunced in the Budget to be paid to hospital patient,S. Modern Aircfaft Mr. Jones, answering Mr. T, L. Macdonahl (Wallaee) said the National Airways Corporation was watChing with closest inteiest tlle developmeut in Great Britain of modern coinmefeial aircraft btit it Avas unlikely that jet airliners would be suitable for internat operatiort in New Zealand at' present. They were too iarge to , be operated froffi the fexisting aiffields. There Were, howcyer, propeileif turbine powered air- , craft now being developed in. which- the

eorpoi'ation Would be interested; These | aircraft would offer higher speeds and j greater passengdr comfort but ihe r eCdiibmids of •operatidit miist also be | given careful .consideration. There. liad | bedn insufficieut experience to date on g these aircraft to enable this to be done. Mr. Jones said the corporation I) had the gre'afest confidence in the i future of these new types but they were j still in an early stage of developmeiit |- and were not ih rise on tommevcial ser- | vices ih aiiy phrt of the World. There g were many probldms' to be solved ue- = fore they, coiild fmally be Considei'ed ( for use in New Zealand and it was | therefore not interided to place orders j for either jet ^or propellei'-tui bine ! poWered aii'craft'at present. |l Lcfvaltv to Labour J

Mr. McLagan, answering Mr. Adef | man, said no application for an. amend- j r'nent'to its rules to require a pledge oi | loyalty by its offidials to the Laboni | Party or to aiiy other political party, | had been received by the Registrar oi = Industrial Lnionk from any industrial | union or association. Such ari appli- I cation would be refused by the regis | trar as being contrarv to the principles | of the Industrial Conciliation and Arbi- ( ■ tration Aefc and no amendment to the j Act was necessary. | - Mr. ^derman said he was glad to | have the Minister 's assurance that the | Act would not be amended to allow j trade unions insisting upon a pledge | from tlieir union officials to support the | Laboitr Party. A recent circular of j the New Zealand Engineering, Coaeh- = building, Aircraft and Related Trades | Industrial Union of "Workers, had re- j -ommended to . its members certain | alterations of the rules of the union. s Those alterations had the cndorse- | ment of the national office and ihe j union. One of the proposed amend- | ments Was "to ensure that union ! offiqers lovally support tlie union and ( its affiliations which at present are the j New Zealand Federation of Labour and ! NeW Zealand Labour party. "t Mr. J Aderman said the alteration read: "As j a condition of participating in any | ballot of election for any office or posi- | tion in the Union, all candidates will | give a signed undertaking tn «nm er g lovally anv political or industrial | organisation to which the nnion. may n S affiliated. Refusal to give such ar ( undertaking shall disqualify the mem- i ber from participation or nomination. ! That clearly indicated that union | officials wanted to victimise members g of the National Party who were mem- = bers of various trade unions and had • that alteration been approved by an j amendment of the Act, vietimisation | would have followed on a Iarge scale ! beeause the majority of the r'ank and | file mejnbers in trade unions were mein | bers of the National Party, National Theatre. Mr. Ffaser, replying to Dr. A. M g Finlay (North Sliore) said the Govern | ment had been considering the forma g tion of a national ihektre and he had j already had some preliminary- conver- ! satiolis with interested parties. He was I anxious to proceed with the project at | an earlv date but was Conscious of the = need for a very careful consideration o! { such an impor'tant venture. As soon as some more defmite proposals had been | formulated, there would be a further | discilssion. Mr. Fraser said he would | obtain further information about a plan g of the Commonw.ealth Government to | est;iblish a national theatre in Aus- | tralia. , | Doesn't Want To Be Peer. j !Mr. Fraser, replying to Mr. W. A. x Sheat (Patea) who "had quoted a report I that Mr. Fraser would enter the House } of Lofds and join an Empire council | of elder statesmen in London, said the i statement which appeared in a Com- | munist paper, was a complete fabrica- | tion and lie was sure no "person higli = in Labour eircles in Britain" had lielp I ed to circulate such stupid rubbish. I There had been no proposal for a coun- | cil of elder statesmen. The story of a J prospective peerage was just a sillv lie f published with malicious intent by a Communist paper and there was no possibility of his being offered or accepting admission to the House ot * Peers. "As Prime Minister I am verv pleased and well content to remain peer-. less, " said Mr. Fraser. Mr. Parry, answering Mr. Suiiivan, said every care was taken to prevent Maori antiques leaving New Zealand. A few permits had been granted for the export of such articles and no permission had been given for the reported expott of an historie Maori mere by tlie New Zealand Navv League to thf Navy League of Canada. Mr. McCombs, answering Mr. D. M Rae (Parnell), said criticism of the literarv standard of the recent issue.1 of the" School Journal, presumabiy reterted to siang expressionS in a pub lislied short story. Mr. McCombs said thi3 story had an authentic New Zea land background and if exception wai taken to the slang used, exception Could be taken on simiiar ground to thtpublication -in the journal of extracts from Dickens, Mark Twain, Marrytu

and other classic authors. Use of Salvaged Iron. Mr. Semple, answering Mr. E. B Corbett (Egmont) who quoted the cust of a fai-mer \Vho was refused a permit to use salvaged iron from his own property in repairing buildings nttei' u gttle, said instructipns had been givei to all district building controllers t( exereise discretion in appfoving tb use of secoud-hand ifou by bona fid owners of such material. Assaults on Women, Mr. Masoh, answering Mr. T. P Shand (Marlborough) t said he had n jurisdiction to instruct that heavie penalties be imposed by tlie Cotirts r cases of assaults on women. Mr. Slmn iiad quoted an ins.tance of a young mn beiiig fined £12 10s for such an assault. Mr. Fortune, commeiiting on th answer, said many women throughou New Zealand were cohcerned aboht tfii cases. "Women feel that when niei. - act as animals, they shouid be treated fits aiiihials and a birching wpuld be a ; useful' dStSrreht, ' ' said Mr. Fortune.