THE LAND BILL.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1851, 10 September 1913, Page 4

THE LAND BILL.

INCOME TAX PROPOSALS EXPLAINED. j- . ' h ' 1 1 ; NEW SCALE OUTLINED. ANOMALIES hemoved.—revenue increased.

The Legislative Council sat at 2.80 . fe-ni. The Hon. O. Johnston, was added to tho Defence Committee. PRIVATE BUSINESS. The Perpetual Trustees, Estato and (Agency Company Amendment Bill (the Hon.«J.,R. Sinclair) was read a second timo.' ' " 1 , 'The Hon. ,0. SAMUEL moved that • tho amendments made by the House of Representatives in the Commercial Bank' of Australia (Limited) Bill be . agreed to'. ' '.' '-- ' - Tho Hqn, ,H. D... BELL moved as an amendment that the Committee on tho Bill be revived, and that tho Bill as amended be referred to tho Committeo for further consideration. The amendment was accepted by Mr. ■Samuel, and it was carried. - H RE-PRINTINC ACTS. The Amendments Incorporation Bill (the Hon. H. D. Bell) was committed, Cand roportcd with amendments. PENSIONS BILL.; PARTY ATTACKS DEPLORED. The adjourned debate on the Pensions Bill %as resumed. The; Hon. G. JONES Baid he presumed tho Bill would meet with general approval, but'-he was disappointed that the Leader of : the Council had not, when he introduced tho Bill, paid some, founder of the Old Age Pension system in New Zealand-. ■ He did not thin Withe very-poor people wh(> would, become in their, old ago could possibly-pay any of;their.'in-adequate-.wages to- a- fund if a oontribu- ' tory system of" pensions were established. ;Suoh;aisystSm would be certain to break down. l _ Tho Bill was,-be said, a "fragrant-of Liberalism," and he sup-ported-it. It was ordained that the enemies of tho pension' scheme should develop, and elaborate it, .and he congratulated the Government on the mea-sure,-but he' accused • ttiem of having : picked thd 'pockets of the ".Liberals. Mr". .Bell:' "And' found them empty. (Laughter.); ;: Y Mr." Jones: You found this Bill in their pockets, Sir. , The Hon. C. H. MILLS deprecated the introduction by Mr. Jones into, his speech of so.much,party matter. ..For his own part, ho was a firm believer in old ago pensions, dnd he'supported'the Bill. : : The Hon. O. SAMUEL said he had, noVer heard a 'speech in tho; Council? which, had given'!'.' him so much pain as that just delivered by Mr. Jones. It might have been in •keeping in an olective Chamber, but in ; a Chamber tho functions of which could not be properly discharged unless all, party strife were banished, it was very much out of place. Ho hoped and beliored that there were not many members in the Council wh'o did riot disapprove of Mr. Jones's frequently recurring attacks of a party nature. He supported tho Bill, ana hoi wolcoined the changes in the law made by the . Bill which removed the objectionable features of the old law, which hail the effect of discouraging'thrift. This was, iho 'considered, a great advance on former legislation. Ho strongly approved of tho grant of tho military .pensions to all vetorans, whatever their means. , Tho Hon. J. RIGG said he was at a loss to understand the indignation of tho hon. gentleman about Sir. Jtones having made a party .'speech. He was 7 inclined to doubt whetner that indignation was genuine. Mr. Jones had an undoubted.'right to make a party speech if ho chose tV>.'do so. Ho thought the Now Zealand War veterans ought' to bo well pleased with the .provision ■ made for them, in, tho Bill. If they, were not, they were very hard indeed to please. - , Tho Hon, CAPTAIN, TUCKER congratulated 'the Government on having introduced into the pensi'ons. law pro-. vision for tho old, war veterans.' Ho noted that the pension could be drawn only ..by the holders of. 'the ' Nw . Zealand imeda]. ;Ho kiiow! there werfc many people in his district, himself included, w;ho wero entitled'to the medal, , but who had not received it, perhaps because they were naturally slow to apply for a decoration. It would have been easy, ho considered, to haVo given tho medal to tho veterans without their liaving to apply for it. Ho believed there; should bo somo system of contributory pensions, by which those who did contribute could draw a higher pension. . There would then be two classes of pensions. The Hon. W; EARNSHAW congratulated ~tho Government.on tho introduction of.' r tjio measure. , Ho had always been opposed to the old ago pensions law-for-two Teasons —that-" it tended to .untli'rift on the. part of tho workers,, and" that'the -scheme was not wide .enough to embrace all tho necessitous cases which Undeniably existed in society. He hoped'that soon tho Government would be able to provido for the relief of cripples and persons broken in health. Ho would like to'seo-. establish-- ; ed'a voluntary system of. contributions to.;a pension from-.which, it. would: be'.possible to draw.'fls.lafgoija-'pension asi£l 10s. or-£2 a. week/ -- .He felt confilertt that tho day.''must : cohie when some such voluntary system would ulti-' mately supersede tho present pensions scheme.' The Hon. J. Barr moved tho adjournment/ of the debate. A LOCAL BILL! TheDuncdin District Drainage and Sewerage Acts Amendment Bill (the Hon. J. B. Callan) was r<!ad a sccond time. The Council rose at 4.52 p.m.