PARLIAMENT

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2225, 11 August 1914, Page 8

PARLIAMENT

ANOTHER BRIEF SITTING REGULATION OF TRADE BILL HON. J. DUTHIE'S VIEWS CONCERNING STATE CONTROL OF PRICES. The Legislative Council met at 11 o'clock yesterday morning:, when ihoMortgages Extension Bill and tho Regulation of Trade and Commerce Bill were considered, as' measures of ■ urgency. MORTGAGES/EXTENSION. On the second reading of the Mortgages Extension Bill, ' The Hon. H. D. BELL said that Clause 6 set out that where by the terms of a mortgage the payment of both: principal and interest was provided by a series of regular instalments, each such instalment, for the purpose of the Act, should bo deemed to consist wholly of interest. Tho Lower. House, in .Committee, had added the words "unless the Court • othenviso orders." He proposed to strike out those words, for* lie thought their inclusion was a mistake. The Hon. It. MOOEE. said that in, the case 'of buiiding societies the monthly instalments were part principal and part interest, '.On account of that the interest was very muoh.". less than it; would have" bsen under other circumstances. The Hon. O. SAMUEL said that the criticisms of the Bill were mainly in the direction of indicating thaf'tho provisions of the Bill -might be extended. That ,could:be conceded, but the Bill did give a great deal of protection. The Bill was limited to cases where there was"security'given for ,the debt, 'jihat made the Bill have a very much less far-reaching effect than was supposed outside. .The Hon. T. PABATA asked whether the provisions of the Bill were limited to the pakeha? • ; ' The Hon. H. D. BELL. replied that tho provisions extended to Maori. and pakeha alike'. Tho, Bill was read a second time. In Cpmmitteo, '' The Hon. H. D. Bell moved to add new clauses as under:— : A state of war exists in New Zealand when His Majesty, is at war .with any .foreign prince or State. All , Courts shall take judicial notice of, the existence or termination of a state of war. ■ . ' , .The new clauses were agreed to; In Clause 6 the words "unless the Court otherwise orders" were struck out. A further new clause: "This Act shall continue" in force until December 31, 1915," was added. . The Bill was reported with other technical amendments, and was read a third time and passed. ■ . REGULATION OF TRADE. The Hon. H. D. BELL-moved the second reading of the Regulation. of Trade and Commerce Bill. . He said, he was aware of: the considerable amount of alarm that was felt as to tho effect of it on trade. He could only say that they were acting, in. accord with other portions of the Empire. It '. would prevent speculation in '.food prices. As to Section 31, providing for the setting up of Commissions of Inquiry, it was said that' this should be made compulsory. .He would,say that it was the intention of the Government to take advice from such a Commission before taking action. The Government would have ,to be trusted with the setting up of the Commissions. The necessity might arise at a moment's; notice with regard to any particular food, and the. Government ..should have the power to" act. Th ß Hon. J. DUTHIE said that the Government in power .must bo supported, but he wished to voice a word of pro-, test at the Government having control of prices. A principle of that sort once past' the' House was apt to arise' again. Under tho provisions of the-Bill, md Hie moratorium that had been passed, conditions had arisen .wtoh must stop ail importation. Did' the Government want that? Customs revenue would bo cut off. Merchants could not carry on their business, for traders would' not 1 take the risk imposed on them.i With all that risk, they were told that a Commission was to be set up to fix prices. At. present there was perhaps more alarm than was justified. Insurance at Homo /was now able to be effected'at £s 55., and. with that there was no reason why trade should stop. . They wanted to get .ships out; trade should be kept going, and no sacrifice should be put upon . the merchants. Insurances "and freights Mould be higher. At the present time mercantile confidence, in the Government was good, but they, should no nothing to break that confidence. What Commission could appreciate what it cost the trader to get his goods in. He found himself that day with £10,000 of'goods afloat, on which it was impossible to get insurance. .Bisks of that sort were uotl%htly/to be undertaken. At this time the Anglo-Egyptian was'laid.,up in, Sydney, trader had to do .without his goods. They, wero told in the bills of, lading that the ships could do that. -Tho Government should, extend every assistance, thoy could to carry on the '. trade of the country. It was vital to: New Zealand that trade should continue.' |In,matters of freight and insurance the Government shonld bo active to assist. The Hon. H. D. Bell: Hear, hear.,, , The Hon, Sir; Dulliie said that to bring about the Act when . bills of exchange could not be given up, and when remits could not be collected, made it' impossible to keep up trade. Probably it might appear light to members not engaged in trade, but a. financial crisis in the country could bo brought about by.very little.'To interfere as was proposed was very serious. The Hon. O. .SAMUEL said that the words of the honourable gentloman wero good as a warning; The : Government could' not hope to pass such legislation were it not for tho present crisis. That a. sacrifice would be put upon all classes was natural; but they must lie prepared to make sacriA ficesl '-Ho had no doubt that it was,only .as a last resort that tho powers conferred by' the Bill would be taken advantage of. The Government was approaching the matter' with the greatest care. ■ Action would only be taken whenit was essential in tho interests of tho people. . The Hon. J. BAK.R thought the Hon, Mr. Duthie, or any other gentleman, was to be congratulated on pointing out difficulties which would arise under' a Bill which was got together-hurriedly. , It was no question of Jncl. of patriotism, but showed that they wero able to consider matters in "-a calm and dispassionate manner. The Hon. E. MOORF. said thathowus sure the Council, was pleased to hear'the. explanation given by a gentloman with the commercial experience of Mr. Duthie. , The Hon.H. D. BELL Understood that the Hon. Mr. Duthie's meaning was that the, power.'held by thd Government would stop'commerce. Ho could not agree-with him;' Ho • referred to the fact that Mr. DutMo came'to him that morning and expressed himself willing to sink his views if the Government expressed the desire. ■ • The Bill, was read a second time. In Committee, Clause 25, dealing with,the suspension of arbitration, awards and statutory provisions; was amended by the inclusion Of the words,■"irfodify or." The effect of the amendment was that the Governor might by Or.der-iii-Council "modify or suspend wholly or partially" such award, Clause 25, as a whole, was postponed for further consideration with the Prime Minister. ■ On ■resuming, tho Hon. H. D. Bell moved a further amendment to Clause 25, to provide that where awards or Acts wore modified or suspended, such modify cation or suspension should be revoked within 0110 month.after, peace had'been declared. The amendment was passed. . A similar amendment was-made to the clause dealing with the fixing of maximum prices. The Bill was reported with amendments, rea'd a third tiine, and passed.