THE HOUSE

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2584, 5 October 1915, Page 9

THE HOUSE

The House of Bepresentativos met at 12.30 p.m.

: The Hon. G. W. RUSSELL (Minister of Internal Affairs) gtfve notice of three Bills, and asked leave to be allowed to introduce them that day. He said, that ; the' Bills .were the Lake Colelidge Water Power Bill, to give larger powers to the local bodies desiring to take advantage of the. scheme, the Municipal Cornora-. tions Amendment Bill, which'would af-fect-the Audit Department* only, and the Rating Act Amendment Bill, to dcil with, a difficulty that had l cropped up in Otago.

. Leave was granted, and the Bills were introduced. ■ ■ : ■ • ■ •

The. Eight Hon. TV. F. MASSEY Kave notice of- the Legislative Council 'Amendment Bill. -

SIR, JOSEPH WARD gave notice of the Cost of Living Bill.

MAKING UP RACING DAYS,

/ THE PRINCIPLE INVOLVED. " : . A. Message was received from tho Legislative Council, , containing amend•'••"H®*'B':)-? '®8 Gaming Amendment Bill. . Ihe Hon. G. W. RUSSELL (Minister ot Internal Affairs) moved ' that the amendments should be agreed to Ho , explained that they were for tho purpose of making up to the Wellington ivacing Club such permits as they might lose; through the occupation of tneir. property for military purposes ■ . Mr. Hornsby: The patriotic nuid' pro ■ quo., ■■ • -. ■ • ■ Mr. Russell: The Racing Club cams to our . assistance when wo urgentlv needed the buildings. They asked for nothing and I do • not think the rej&ed tho member is; justi-

. Mr. Isitt: Well deserved.' / ■ ■■' , ' Mr - Russell: It is unworthy of this House and unworthy of tho hon. member.

ISITT (Christchurch iNorih) siid.that he -'hoped' the amendments -would be Rejected. . They : had ;the ; . example ;of- : - ; th© - Australian- States' in •reducing, the racing days. u ¥ r " l i, SG p ™ se to a point, of order, end said that discussion could only/take fclace on. the amendments. - ' «w r "' that he was only doing , , Inis was a time when there' was a : . .disposition, .to ■ ■ rcduce • TaciUc V, a ? s .' ■ m ■ other . parts of tho Empire. ■ Ihey were thankful for 'tne.. : rpatnotism of: 'members -of the' racing club,: but if ,tho days they 'had. lost were, to -be replaced" it ' was ''not known when: they- would'ask for them,' and there might-bo another two days' racing,.next, year. . :He.also protested': against the amendment'leaving' Sunday I out;,in. computing the 'days' : over which totalisator. permits: should bo granted. He wae heart and soul against giving I Ruy extra facilities to. the .racing clubs, ii: I r; i (Riccarton)thought that'it, was perfectly, right: that the days' i lost should bei made up' t6. the club. Wo 1 had no Tight to' take away '. their privileges.; : Further there was to be.no in*rqaso in the total number of days' lacing, and the Bill was only for the 1 period: of the . war., It was .only doing justice to the racing club. ' V';: " : v-d ■}f r : V- BUICK (Palmerston North) Kaidjie was. not surprised to ' hear the' remarks of, the member for'Christchurch iSorth He had got what was called a ■ rat.

Members: Oh! I; Mr. Buick: Well, a "lank." ■ •• Tllat is vei 7 mu d better. ■ lli,_ Buck said that he felt proud that he was a racing man and-not a wowser. when ; he, saw the action of the racing club m housing the men who \vere sick unto death. He asked tho hon. member what, his, "clique" had <lone for the sick .and wounded? Then the hon. member spoko against' gambldone nothing' but gamble nil his life-gamble on Prohibition,; and 110 ,t been able to .win a stake. ' * r " + (Wairarapa) \vas opposed, to givuig an increase in the racing days because the racing club pve half-drowned men a shelter m the •loose-boxes. Was that to bo the excuse ;l Vel lngton P. aoil 'S Club coming; and askmg for a quid pro quo? If that *as sporty then he was glad ho was not

(Grey Lynn) deprecated wowsenng" m the House, and ifv 11 Ivould onl y bo the ttean?.of making up something that had T 1 ? 6 , !t jras. a mere ,act of jus-thesuS^.^^be.broad-mmded-on: ..f] 1 ";, 4' (Oliristehurch South) said that he did' not think many racing clubs would give up'their property and l h n for payment. If ,was not J together patriotic, on the: part of the , Racln S Club. They tried to ad7B D tago.. : of.their position and get a . permanent day, but' they were successfully: resisted. ' - P, 1 " (Christchuch East) said that the Minister of' Finance had put extra, taxation oil 'racing, and" if we recognised the sport it was only right ; that we should ,let the clubs carry o„ their business. Hundreds of people got their livelihood out of racing here, and "ME, f w e ' itiroly basis } Ve , were un dcr.a sense of indebtedness-to the Wellington Racing , , Jf the club hold its meeting, he had. it on good authority it would be prepared to hand.over all extra profit to the Government for the purpose of better facilities, being provided for the sick. 1 ■

.The Right Hon.'SIR JOSEPH WARD (Minister of Finance) 6aid'that as one "in accord with .the.- proposals of the Minister of Internal Affairs, he would like to say something ,in view of a possible division.. It was a question of returning something that had been taken away.The ethics of_ horse racing and totalisator betting did not come into the question at all. There was no proposal to give an extra day. ' A member: It was made, in another place. .'. . "

Sir Joseph Ward: "Well, I am not responsible for that. Personally I would be m favour of it." Ho pointed out that this was not the time to discuss horse racing or gambliug ■ it was. a matter of. considering whether common justice was to be done to tlie club "wliicii gave un its buildings. Surely after the Wellington Racing Club placed every facility at the disposal of the Government and missed their facing days, it was a proper thing to give 'them the rights that existed, and which, the country took away. That was all that was involved in tho matter. On a division the amendments were agreed to by 52 to 7. The "Noes" were: Messrs, Anetey,

Ell, Hornsby, Isitt, M'Combs, Malcolm, and Poo'.o. BIRTHS AND DEATHS AMENDMENT. Tho amendments made by the Legislative Council ill the Births and Deaths Registration Amendment Bill wore agreed to. .• , THE WASHING-UP BILL. The lleserves, Crown, and other Lands Sale, Exchange and Disposal Validation Bill was introduced by Governor's Message, and read a first time. MINING AMENDMENT BILL. The Mining Amendment Bill was returned by His Excollency the Governor with, a proposed amendment. The amendment was agreed to. MORTCACES EXTENSION. ■ 'Amendments; made by tho Legislative Council in tho Mortgages Extension Amendment Bill, with the exception of Clause Ba, were agreed to. On Clause 8.1 the House disagreed; and the Hon. A, L. Herdman, Mr. 1\ ! M. Wilford,and Mr. B. P. Lee were appointed a committee to draw up reasons. 'Clause 8a" is".as follows:—(a) If the interest pay ablo under. t'ho ; mortgage is} in arrear for more than six. months, and an inspector 'acting under " the powers conferred by the Noxious Weeds Act, .1908, has ;entered on the land comprised in' I he' mortgage after the failure'.'<ir neglect of the occupier to comply with a notice under the provisions 1 of that Act, or (b) if the interest payable under the mortgage is in arrears for more than six months,'and tho mortgagor who executed, the mortgage has ceased to occupy the land ■ comprised. therein, either by reason of his having sold or delivered possession otherwise than by way of leaso, to some other person. • ;

KAURI; CUM INDUSTRY.

GOVERNMENT AID. The Right Hon. W. F. MASSEY moved tho second reading: of the Kauri Gum Industry Amendment Bill, He referred to: two Schemes, put in operation on the outbreak of war, which 'schemes had greatly assisted the kauri cum industry, i The marketfor gum ; 1 had previously been in ' Germany, so that war stopped the sale .of ■ it: almost altogether. I'll© Government' had there; fore agreed to advance a proportion ; of the:'value. against; gum actually won, and had thus saved glim diggers from ; the'necessity' of swe|ling the. ranks* ol the unemployed. The Government 'had also set . a lot of men at work rn what liad': since ; been called : "face-digging'' by which giim lands': were dug over in a face, in order that all the gum might bo Woe; from- them,'''preparatory to the lauds being opened for settlement. The gum won by, this,. digging was more than sufficient:'to: : pay: for the labour. The industry' had been much neglected ill the past, for tho importance' of it could be gathered from the fact, that over' 20. million ■ pounds, worth of gum bad been exported, from New Zealand. Tn the industry . the .State was by far the: largest shareholder,' becauso. nearly all-the gum-bearing lands were the property of the Crown. The. Bill was really a step towards ;.the: Government taking ovor "the gum and controlling it for the benefit of the' State, and for tho benefit of those engaged in it. iThe i Government' held a Considerable: [ tity of-: gum,..and it was now., proposed to seek a market for it in America, and possibly; in Japan. Tho Government 1 thought of sending an agent out ' of i New. Zealand, to exploit these markets', i and this . was: one of tho things the Govi ornnient .would' attend, to", after the session. .A new departure was proposed in the Bill. ~ Experts :had .said /lately that the. kauri gum'''swamps'M'.ithe"north contained a very, valuable.Vegetable oil. ■He had ' been, informed, that one of these swamps prospected recently would return 30 gallons ,of, kauri gum oil to the ton of peat. 'If anything ,of this sort happened' to be tho case, tho kauri gum: iudustry would enter' upon a term' of : prosperity,.: the ' like of' which •it had never yet experienced. The , Bill gave the. Government power to, lease areas of not more" than 3000 acres of land to persons wishing to try to win tbis oil. -A fine of £50 was fixed as the maximum penalty for 'wilfully setting fire,to kauri gum peat lands. V This;penalty was required because thousands of pounds had been lost by the firing of. kauri gum lands in the dry season. Members speaking! on the measure congratulated,: the Government on the intrpduotion of the Bill, and emphasised the need for grading of gum T>y the Government in order to secure to the digger the full value of his spoil. The Bill was read 1 a second time.

FRIEfTDLY SOCIETIES,

OPPOSITION TO: NEW BILL

The 'HON.- J. A. HANAN moved the second reading, of the Friendly Societies Amendment Bill,'which, he said, was intended 'to give societies wider powers in the management of their funds. , There was nothing compulsory in the Bill. It was purely permissive. He ■ knew that some ■ societies opposed the Bill, but. many favoured: it, especially. those which : had consolidated their funds.

, Mr. il. A. WRIGHT (Wellington Suburbs) urged the. Minister to hold the Bill over until friendly, societies could be heard concerning it. This view was supported by other members. It was pointed out, however that as the law' stood at. present the consolidation of fluids was.illegal, having been carried out under rules which, although passed by tho"Registrar, were .ultra vires..-A validating clause was therefore necessary to make the consolidation legal,'especially as unlessconsolidatioii was permitted small societies would be bankrupted by the war. Also, there might be expensivo and vexatious litigation. ._

: Mr.: A. H. 'HINDMARSH (Wellington South) said that it had been represented'to him by a very large society in Wellington that this Bill was a most unjust one. Tho members who were opposing the Bill woro doing it in the interests of the good management of tho societies. . •• - • ; ■

Mr. R. FLETCHER (Wellington Central) said that ; the Minister would be well advised if he held the Bill over till next session, for during the recess a conference of the friendly societies was to be held. The societies had not had an opportunity of-reviewing the Bill. ■He:spoke particularly apainst the clause providing for the'suing of members in arrears with -their contributions.

Mr. A. HARRIS (Waitemata) said that societies with a membership of 47,000 had' either' agreed to registration and consolidation, of funds, or had carried consolidation "out.

The HON. J. A. IIANAN, in reply, thought that when they had the Friendly Societies' Conference they would be able to do good work. Of course it was not to ba expeoted that- the Bill could please everyone. He was prepared to consider allowing Clause 40 to stand. Ho wanted to give lodges the power to decide on consolidation if they so desired. After the second reading he would consider what he could do to meet the objections of some of the lion, members. - Tbe Bill was rend a second time.