"ABSURD ANOMALIES."

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1091, 1 April 1911, Page 6

"ABSURD ANOMALIES."

* ■ HARBOURS ACT. "WELLINCTON-MADE LAW." SOME SEVERE CRITICISM. Yesterday The Dominion reproduced a complaint by tlio "Otago Daily Times" to the effect that owing to defective- drafting of a schedule of the new Harbour Act, certain boroughs in Otago were deprived of harbour board representation. Now comes complaint of another anomaly from Christchurch. The "Press"' writes, under the heading of "Wellington-made Law" : —

"It appears from the discussion which took place at the Harbour Board yesterday that in tho new Harbour Boards Act wo have another extraordinary example of the manner in which the laws introduced by the present Government arc bungled in the making. The new Act. it will be remembered, entirely changes iiie basis on which members of the Harbour Board arc appointed and elected. Parenthetically it may be re-

marked that the Government, goaded on by their Socialistic supporters, are never happy unless they are tinkering at the of...some constituent body, if they 1 do' riot''attack tlio'con- ' stitution itself. Perhaps it would be more correct to say that they are never allowed a moment's peace unless they are so tinkering, and having nfl strength of mind to resist' the 'Meddlesome Mattio' methods of tho others they yield to whatever pressuro is put upon them. Generally the alteration is for tho worse, and probably it will be so in.the present instance. At any rate v.liey have introduced some very absurd anomalies, which we fancy few ,will be bold enough to defend. Tho Act contains a provision giving a vote to each 'payer of dues.' No definition of what is meant by a payer of dues is given, and the Minister charged with the administration of the Act apparently did not know what was meant and refused to give any guidance, referring the board to their solicitor. Three members of Parliament who assisted in passing the . law wero present at yesterday's meeting, and seemed to be as much in tho dark as to what they meant by it as anybody else. The board, acting on legal advice, could only take the literal words of . the statute, and accordingly placed on the list each person and each company paying dues to the board, and gave ono vote to each. Tho anomalies that result are almost laughable'but for the sobering reflection that they are supposed to embody the wisdom and considered judgment of our legislators. The Shaw-Savill Company has two votes, because it has two agents who pay dues. The New Zealand Shipping Company transacts its own business in port, and has only ono vote. The Union Steam Ship Company has only one vote. The master of a small wooden schooner who holds a pilotage exemption certificate has as much voting power as either the Union Company or the New Zealand Shipping Company. There arc some eleven masters and mates in tho employ of tho Union Steam Ship Company who hold exemption certificates, and being nominally payers of dues, each of these has exactly the samo voting power as the company which employs them and is generally understood to pay tho dues on their behalf. It. is another striking illustration of tho little thought which is given to the quality of our legislation. Of its quantity, unfortunately, there is no stint."

LOCAL POSITION, SOMEWHAT DIFFERENT. The position in Wellington is different from that described above. Mr. H. E. Nicholls, secretary to tho Harbour Board, replying to the inquiries of a Dominion reporter, stated that the franchise of payers of dues has been in force hero for some years. Prior to tho new Act, one member of the board was elected jointly by payers of dues of £10 per annum and over, and owners of ships. Tho new Act deprives owners of the right to vote as such reduces tho qualification for payers of clues from £10 to £3, and divides them into two classes. The first class—payers of dues on ships—will elect two members, and there arc only 5-1 of them on tho roll. The other class consists of tho payers of dues other than dues on ships, and there are 469 of them, but they can onl;/ elect one member. The amount of dues paid by those qualified to vote varies from the minimum up to thousands of pounds. The Wellington board does not collect dues from tho holders nf pilotage exemption certificates, and therefore they arc not enrolled for voting at this port.