THE HOUSE.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 985, 28 November 1910, Page 8

THE HOUSE.

WELLINGTON BitLS DISCUSSED. THE DOCK AND THE MILK SUPPLY. During the sitting of the House of Representatives on Saturday morning to.deal with local Bills,, the Wellington City Milk Supply Bill and the Wellington Harbour Board Empowering Bill were discussed at some length. THE DOCK. «■ In.moving the second reading.of the ■Wellington Harbour/Board Empowering Bill, which authorises the board to postpone the construction of the graving dock,, as a result of the difficulties which had to bo met in its construction, the Prime Minister said it was' estimated that it would cost £350,000 to complete and equip the dock. Further, it would mean an annual charge of £21,875 upon the Harbour Board. To that would have to be added a probable loss on working estimated at £2000 per annum, so that tile board would be ■called upon to find about £24,000 per annum when the dock was completed and in working order. Last year tho board on its operations made a small loss, and it had to be remembered that if the board had to.find this large sum of money it could only do it,by,putting increased charges on. shipping. Tho board, he thought; was, under the circumstances, taking a wise course in asking for legislative powerto abandon a work that wa3, going to Impose such a very heavy kiss upon the board and upon the people whom it served.' Mr. LUKE (Welling* oll Suburbs) s_aid public I opinion had changed very much as regards the wisdom of having the deck at Te Aro. He did not think it was any use insisting on tho board calling on the contractors to complete tho work, which, in his. opinion, could not be carried out' satisfactorily. At the same time ho was,in "favour of provision' being made if or. a dock being constructed.elsewhere at a later date. Mr. Luke pointed out that tho Grainger Street block had in.many cases been taken up. because of the proposed dock, and it would bo a ' question as to whether the tenants had. a claim for damages. He regretted the necessity for. the introduction of the Bill, but would support it. . Mr. D. M'LAREN (Wellington East) approved the Bill.' '.' \ ■" . .: The-second.reading-was, agreed to on flic voices.' i".-.v. '■•■•;>• -•'. ■ • In Committee on the Bill, - ■• . ' • Mr. T.. El TAYLOR' (Christehureh North) moved a new. clause to take tho place.of Sub-Clause (2) of Clause 4, which .protects, existing rights vested in contractors or sub-contractors, Mr. Taylor explained that his clause had been drafted by an experienced lawyer. with much experience in the law. of contracts, with a..view to.safeguarding more effectively: .than, the clause' in the Bill, did -the existing .right's. It was a little 1 fuller than the sub-clause in the Bill, and was. intended to give an assurance to anyone who thought he had a claim that ho could test'his claim. It did not im--poso'any liability on the Harbour Board, or 'the contractors.' It was simply designed for giving a chance of testing, any right anyone might have. The TRIME •: MINISTER said ho could.. ; not : accept;'the /.sub.-clause. The subrciause.in. tie';,Bill was designed to' protect ■' the. right' of • tho workers and everybody else, and was quite ample. Mr. T. E. TAYLOR put a case in which.a man was to supply shingle and gravel on certain conditions., . Unless they were careful they would allow the contractor. to refuse the gravel on the ground that it..was not needed. This iman had actually, taken'up property and installed plant to' allow him to supply gravel. -■.••■ ■ The PRIME'-' MINISTER said ho would.,move an apiendment to protect the right vested in any contractor, or sub-contractor for "tho supply of any material;"i- , ' , ' "..' ' "As an honest man I am inclined to accept that," was the rejoinder, and the amendment "suggested by the Prime Minister was adontcd. Mr. WITTY, urged, that tho right of the worker was not sufficiently protected,, and the Primc.Minister promised to look into this point. The Bill was then reported, with oiks amendment. WELLINGTON MILK SUPPLY. Mr. M'LAREN moved the second reading of tho Wellington City Milk •'Supply..Bill. He said he had had the original Bill made ■ more moderate in character. For instance, tho tuberculintest had been excised as the corporation considered that' a very debatable matter. • ■ • ■■■■■■.■.

Mr. ELL thought the Government should mako tho Bill general in its application. Mr. Massey: Just you try it. Mr. Ell Baid ho would not propose it if it would jeopardise tho passing of tho Bill. . -~

Mr. WILFORD (Hutt) said he would oppose the Bill if it was made mandatory. The first stop towards assuring a pure milk supply'should bo taken by tho Government, and should begin with tho milk on the farms. If he'wero the Minister ho would bring down reasonable regulations and enforco them, no matter what the farmers thought o$ them.

Tho-Hon. T.' MACKENZIE was surprised that there was no proposal. to pastouriso the .milk. The health of tho cows from which the Wellington milk supply waa drawn was, lie added, exceedingly good. Mr. MASSEY said ho knew that a very stringent system of inspection was enforced by tho Agricultural Department in tho direction of assuring cleanliness in milking. Ho thought, however, that the result of the experimorit proposed would bo that tho cost of tho milk to the consumer would bo very considerably increased. As to pasteurisation, some people objected to it and would not have pasteurised milk. Ho pointed out that other cities were giving up what Wellington proposed to adopt. Sir. BUCHANAN urged tho necessity for proceeding with caution, otherwise expenses would bo heaped up on tho consumer to an extent that they could not foresee. Mr. DILLON raised a laugh by a deprecatory referenco to "these fads." Ho had been brought up on milk and ho had never boon poisoned. (Laughter.) The Hon. T. Y. DtJNCAN said tho •trouble was that the peogle who got

the milk would not sterilise it. If they did that there would be no danger.' Disastrous tc Private Firms. In Committee on tho Bill, Mr.. HERDMAN (Wellington North) urged thatit would operate disastrously upon private millc-distributing firms. He moved tho addition of tho. followiug new clause: "Nothing in this Act shall affect any company or person carrying on business as distributors and sellers of inilk whoso premises are declared satisfactory for tho purposo by tho Minister for Public Health." Mr. RUSSELL (Avon) said tho Bill was the beginning of a huge revolution. A Bill of this kind should not be passed to apply to ono pity. The Bill shoujd bo hold over, and next session a Bill that applied to tho whole Dominion should be brought -up. It should be permissivo so that municipalities could apply it if they wished. Would Kill the Small Man. Thero was no doubt, ho said, that the Bill was intended to kill-the small dairyman. " Mr. Massey: There is no doubt about it. ... Mr. RUSSELL said that if a. Bill like this were applied' to the.Avon electorate at least 250 dairymen would be wiped out. • - •' Mr. M'LAREN said he had met representatives of the small dairymen, and they were in favour of the Bill. Tho Hon. T. MACKENZIE moved to amend Subclause (b) of Clause 9 to the effect that no milk intended for salo "unless for consumption by himself or by his household" shall be stored at any dairy between the morning and evening- milking, but should be removed to the milk station. Messrs. "Wilford and Luke urged the deletion of this subclause altogether, on the ground that it would ■ prejudice many dairymen.. This was agreed to. Clause 11, relating to the milk, supplied to the city by railway, was struck out. On Mr. Wilford's motion, Clause, lo was amended to give tho council simply tho ordinary power to recover in a court any charges payable under a bylaw in which default was--made. As the clause stood, it allowed tho council to recover by distress and levy also. The-penalty in. Clause 11 for obstruction, or breach of the Act, was lowered from £50 to £10. The subclauso which provided a penalty for knowingly making any false statement. under tho. Act was struck out on tho..grounds that it was ■ covered by a pre.vious subclause. ..- ; ' ,'.'., The Bill was then reported with amendments. On the motion for the third reading, Mr. Russell moved that the Bill be postponed, • and that the Government should, during the recess, consider'tho advisability or otherwise of bringing down legislation next session of a permissive character, as in tho base of abattiors to all boroughs of a population of over 2000 inhabitants.' Mr. RUSSELL declared that tho Billwas of. a very - drastic character, and marked tho beginning of a revolution in methods. It should . emanate only from the Government. - The amendment was lost by 39 votes to 17, and the Bill passed. NEW BILLS. The Maori Herbalists and Metaphysicians Bill (To Rangihiroa) ' and the Groymouth Harbour Board Loans Consolidation Amendment Bill (Hon. A. R. Guinness) were read a first time. The latter was subsequently put through all its stages. ■ .