NEW BILLS.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1210, 19 August 1911, Page 7

NEW BILLS.

TRAMWAYS ACT AMENDMENT. LICENSING 01? CARS. Amendments of the Tramways Act, 1903. and of the amending Act of last session havo been introduced by the Hon. R. M'Kenzie, Minister for Public Works. By tho amendment Act of last year the power of local authorities to license carriages used on tramways was vested in the Minister only,'and it is now proposed that in tho case of tramways conducted undfcT deeds of delegation, tho Minister may charge a fee not exceeding .£2 for tho issue or the renewal of a license. Tho fees are be paid into the Consolidated Fund, and paid over to the local authorities, to whom the original orders authorising the tramway were issued. A proposal is made that land taken for tramway purposes by. a local authority, which has delegated its authority shall be transferred to the person to whom tho authority was delegated, tho latter paying compensation to the local authority. TjOiud transferred in this manner may he sold, the proceeds being retained by the vendors. The provisions regarding land are to bo retrospective. The definition of a< - local authority under the Act now reads: "Tho council of any borough or county, or the board of any road district or town district." .The Governor may license the .construction of a private tramway upoii a Government road, and in this connection the proceduro preliminary to.the granting by a local authority of a license for a private tramway is to bo followed. Several other minor amendments are included in the Bill. SEEDS SALE CONTROL. ' The Bill introduced by the Hon. T. Mackenzie to provide for the control of the sale of seads for agricultural and pastoral purposes is intended to- prevent the dissemination of weeds through the sowing of grass, cereal, and fodder seeds containing weed seeds. The Bill proposes that oil seed sold shall be regarded as intended for sowing unless the vendor and the purchaser agree that it is for some 'other purpose. It prohibits the sale for sowing of any s«d containing an aggregate of more than two per cent, by numbers of tho seeds of gorso or broom, or more than' one per cent, of seeds of Californian thistle, dodder, sweet briar, blackberry, and bathurst burr.- Uncleaned seed is defined as seed containing more than a certain percentage of weed seeds named in a schedule. With each lot of seed exceeding fiyo pounds the vendor is required to furnish mi invoice certificate giving full particulars of the sale and of the wed. The buyer may have the seed tested by the biologist of tho Department of Agriculture, and the seller will be deemed to have committed an offence i£ tho test shows that the seed materially differs ti> the detriment of the buyer from the description given in the invoice certificate. There is a provision that if written permission is first granted by the Minister for Agriculture in each case gorss-seed may ba sold for sowing for fodder or for the planting of hedges. It is proposed to amend the Noxious AVc'eds Act in tho direction of making it applicable only to persons who sow noxious seeds or uneleancd seeds. '