PARLIAMENT

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2805, 24 June 1916, Page 11

PARLIAMENT

THE ESTIMATES ,

ENEMY TRADING DISCUSSED GERMAN PATENTS \ ; : , . ' Tho Legislative Council met; at. 2.30 p.m., the Hon. T. Thompson taking the j chair in tho'unavoidable absence of; the ' Speaker. ■ ■' X■' .. The Hon. 0. SAMUEL presented the report of the Statutes Revision Committee upon the Military Service .Hill, with certain amendments recommended in the Bill. -y ' ' Tho Committee stage of the Bill was set down for Tuesday next. The Council rose at 2.38 p.m.,

THE HOUSE

The. House of Representatives met at 2.30 p.m. Dr. A. K. NEWMAN, (Wellington East) gave, notice to iiakV the > Government thoy .will introduce legislation 'prohibiting aliens from'acquiring freehold land in New Zealand. Mr. T. At. WILFORD (Hutt) gave notice to ask tho Minister of .Finance i£ he will, when' introducing his' Bills to give effect to;the Budget proposals, differentiate between, the rate of tax charged on .earned and unearned incomes. Mr. Wilford pointed out that l such a differentiation was made in England. Mr. W. A. VEITCH- (Wanganui) gave notico to ask the Minister of Railways whether it- was true that soldiers who had purchased first-class tickets between Trentham and Wellington had been forced to travel second-class, in order that a first-class cav might. be reserved for.officers;-

THE TAXING BILLS. SIB. JOSEPH "WARD gave notice of his intention to introduco.the Land nnd Inoome Tax Bill and' the Finance Bill. He explained that.these Bills would contain the financial proposals outlinod in the Budget, including the banking legislation., ■

THE ESTIMATES

MAINTENANCE OF ROADS

THE GAMP TRAFFIC

The.House went into' Committee" of Supply on the Estimates, at 3.35 p.m. . , Hailway. Estimates, -were, passed, after 'The Dominion .went. tier-press"yes-terday.) 1 • ~, • :.. On, tho maintenance of roads vote,. .£50,000, • • ■ ■ . ' ■ ■ 'Mr. T. M. "Wilford move to.reduce tho amount % =61, as an-indication that'the road , between Petone and the Trenthnm Camp had been seriously, damaged by too traffic for military purposes. The road " was '.in. an abominable state at present, and the Hutt and Petcno local authorities should, certainly. receive a grant from the Government for' the improvement of ' this main arterial' road. He noted that the Featherston County had received a grant, and a grant should be made, on account of the Trentham work. •The Hon. W. ERASER said ho could not pledge any particular sum, but lie would go and. havo a look at the road, and i£ he could see how a little bit of money could be spent advantageously he \ I would;see how far ho could help.

Dr. NEWMAN complained that the "spoilt child" which absorbed the, major portion of t-his vote vfas; the West Coast, •while the Wellington i district' suffered badly. Miv PEARCB complained ' that very little of this moiiey was spent in tho Tajanaki district. So much money should not be spent in" the HuttuValley when the-'backblo'cks • had means of access at all.: , , Mr. POOLE-sniil ho. thought tho Hutt lioad liad been tut 'up- by the A&ry

profits which had gone along it!' If other' districts had the same income from the business done at Trontham they would bo glad to build hnlf a dozeii roads.

Mr. FORBES facetiously referred, to I'ho Wellington-Hutt Road as a golden road, and said that tltero should be no difficulty in securing ajnple money from rates to attend to the roads in this district. He appealed for a national nolicy in th& upkeep of our highways. It was to have been taken in hand before tho war broke: out, and the question 'should still bo gono on with. The Government should deckle whether it would take over the .main roads or definitely assist tho local bodies in their upkeop. Mr. M'Callum contended that the Government should take over all main roads, and this vote should be at least '.£IOO,OOO, and not ,£50,000. Tho vote was passed at 5.10 p.m. NATIVE AFFAIRS. •

On the vole for Native Affairs, .£2-1,811, Mr. J. T. M: Hornsby referred to a case in which Mr. Chennells (es-Public Trnstee agent at Masterton) anu- .Mr. Beard "Europeanisei" a : certain Maori, and secured possession of some 4000 acres of land.' Under threat of Supreme Court proceedings, they disgorged ,£15,000', but a later syndicate cajne.'into the laid. He contended that this transaction was not to the: credit of the Public. Trust Office, which should be most jealous for its honour, as: the Maori was practically tho ward of the agent, Chennells, and should havo been.- protected. He inauired if somo steps;would'be taken to provide proper punishment. In reply, the Hon. W. H. Herries said that he would consider whethor any prosecution ■ should take place, and he would make any documents that he had available for the Justice Department. Mr. AVitty entered a protest against the Estimates^going- through before'-.the presentation of the Departmental reports.The 'Prime Minister said that the nonproduction of the.. Departmental reports was■not duo to aay d'jsire to avoid producing then). They had met this year some weeks earlier than usual, and the collapse of the Budget debate had upset the Government plans more than anything. If, however, members were-special-ly desirous of having- any particular class postponed to permit of the production of any report, it could bo postponed. This was a very fair offer to make. (Hear,. hear.) . Dr. Newman , asked the Minister whethor the Government would purchase the • Ketatahi hot springs on tho 6lopo of Mt.. Uuapehu. ■ The springs, ho said,had . quite extraordinary healing properties, -.being: different in.. character from any other hot springs, and they were the only: hot springs in the Wellington district. Tho only land; to be purchased to conserve j;he. springs for tho benefit of the people, was a'Small area of somo 30 acres, and he urged, the Minister very 'strongly to ,complete the purchase.The Hon. W.' : H, Herries said that the matter had been before the Native LandPurchase Board for some time, and endeavours had been made to buy the land. A meeting ~of tho_ assembled owners had .been, called, but it lapsed for lack of a quorum. Instructions had been , given to ; the Chairman >of the Board' to call a meeting of owners when lie thought he could get a quorum. The Government would purchase as soon as.possiblo if the price demanded was not too high. The vote was passed. German Patents. On the class, Justice Department, £*90,625, Mr. Wilford moved to reduce' the Patent Office item by =£1 as ah indication of the opinion of the House that all German patents registered in New Zealand should be forthwith cancelled. Mr. R. A. 'Wright supported the amendment.

Ma\ R. M'Callum. 6aid he would like to know more about tho question before ho voted.for the amendment. .He presumed that any' German patents existing in New Zealand'wore' being held as assets by the Public Trustee for tho benefit of the people of New Zealand. Possibly, this, was another symptom of . the Germanophobia they wished to put down.

The Hon. A: L. Herdman. said ho had not liad anything to .do with the Patent Offico.-for a .year, but-legislation passed 'on the,.- outbreak ~af ..war,, gavo '.tho : . Government ; power, to-cancel

all German ,oatonts and trade marks. In any event i» German patent could earn returns for anybody now, and he was sure there woro no German patents of any value existing in New Zealand. Tho Prime Minister said lie, too, believed that tho patents had' ~!>ocn cancelled, but if they had not, he would recommend the Minister to have them cancelled forthwith.

Subsequently Dr. M'Nnb explained that regulations had been made, after the pissago, ol' tho Act in 1911-, allowing appli-, cations to be made by persons for the' suspension in their favour of enemy patents or the'voidanee of enemy trade marks. Very few applications under this bead had been received.

Tho Hon. A. L. Hcrdman said that at the beginning of the war the British people regarded the Germans as a tolcr.ably respectable nation, likely to observe the ordinary laws and practices of warfare. In tins they had been mistaken. The British, however, refused to confiscate enemy property, and therefore did not confiscate patents. The practice with regard to enemy. patents in England was that any person could get a lioense to use any German patent. We wero following tho same practice here. Now, ■ apparently, tho-British Government were prep'ared to .go very much further than they had'previously gone. ■ Ho believed it'was a fact that there were very few German patents of value registered here. Mr. C. E. Statliam said that tho proposal to confiscate, or rather 'to'cancel, all German patents was too drastic. We would thereby at onco destroy valuable assets, for. If the patents woro to bo the property of anybody, tho valuo of {hose patents would disappear.' He suggested that the Government should make use or profit' of the German patents ratjier - than destroy them. Also ho would remind . the r Houso that any question affecting patents . was more or less an international question. Mr. M'Combs added that the Government had done all that _ the Britiw appeared to ' have! thought it necessarv to do. To do what' Mr. Wilford advocated would be ■ not only unnecessary, but foolish. ' i '

• Dr. Newman asked a question about "lysol," declaring that it was a German product, and about Schloss, who is the agent selling it liorc. Mr. Herdman said that Schloss had now no. overseas trade, and was prohibited under "the War Regulations from having any. • Ho said, also, that-lyso' was not of German, but of British manufacture, - and that, the, British Government, having made inquiries about its manufacturers, was satisfied that they were not aliens.. , ■ •

The Prime. Minister said that. H seemed that an .effort was being mado to show, that tho. Government was noL dcing. its duty.- ... ■

•' Mr.- Wilford: I think the Government should havo moved earlier.

Mr.. Massey said statements, ivera often miulet with .tho object , of showing that the Government was not doing its duty. Ho, need not. refer to what had been done by the Government in regard to sending .men to the front; that spoke for itself. . The Government had alsoi done a.great deal ill commercial matters connected with the Germans. It had even anticipated the Paris Conference to a great extent. Before this Conferenco was thought of New Zealand had takou, in himd' the winding-up of German busi licsses in ■ New Zealand. Action, had also been taken, in regard to German trade in the Pacific islands, not only * islands under our control, but also in Tonga.,

Mr: Wilford: I never said that you were not doing alt this. - Mr. Massey said that he was glad in have that admission. Our Act and regulations in regard ■to these matters were similar to those ; n force in Great Britain. Ho lmd .just spoken to the head of tho Patent Office, .who had in formed him. that there was.' very little value in the patents in question. After the passing of the Act, other Government Departments and . privato people had been? communicated with, stating that if they desired the cancellation of any German patents they should make an application to that effect.

Mr. "Wilford: I-'our applications wero made, but only one was granted. Mr. Massey. -said that probably there was an explanation for'.that. It 'seemted that what were referred to were probably li'ot 'so' irach ''patent's "'as ; trrido

marks. He was quite satisfied that the Customs Department was (loins everything possible to restrict German trade, nnd they were proving remarkably successful. There would lie no chance of Germany reviving her trade now or after tlio wai —he would do all lie could to see to that.

The Hon. A. li. i Herdman, replying to nliegations . concerning enemy trading, said that a . very perfect system was now being completed by the British Government for the countering of enemy trade. "Black lists" were received from time to time from the British Government, and also a secrot publication the contents of which were confidential, but the eli'ect of these, measures was sucli that the scheme was now so well organised and so well administered that he could assure tjic House.there was no enemy trading 'in this country—or what there Svas was negligible. / Everything possiblo was being done by the Government' and its. officers to stifle, enemy trading completely. A vote was taken at 10.30,' and the amendment defeated by 33 rotes to 18.

| ' Litigation Procedure. j Mr. Hindinarsh held that the mileage I fees for bailiffs were altogether too higu. 1 Tho 'sum of .£9o0l) was provided, to be refunded to bailiffs. This sum came from tho litigants, and was au excessive burden upon litigants concerned with small debts. It constituted a premium for debtors, ami, formed a , nice source of revenue for'tiio police in country stations,. who often mado pounds a week. Tho Magistrate's. Court procedure re? quired much reform, but no one 6eemed to tiiko any.'interest in the matter.

Mr. Jennings maintained . that, the mileage fees paid to the men in the police force, were a scandal. Ho know of cases where expenses amounting to ,£lO. were incurred upon a debt of less than £o. Commercial people had no right to be able to liso tho police in this way for debt'collecting purposes. Mr.. Witty, objected to policemen acting, as "bailiffs. Outside men should be appointed.. In .any .case, the. mileage fee should be' reduced, for should not bo. taken out. of tho pockets .of people already in debt. < Mr/ Hindmarsh strongly objected to bailiffs for private debt-collecting . companies refusing to leave houses until ; tliey wore paid at, least their, day's when tholie were no .articles sizable, in the house. This was .a shocking pieoe of persecution, and unless relief. were promised ho wonld carry tlio . matter very much further. ... .

Tho Minister said ho admitted that the mileage rates were high. It was, often cheaper to uso tho police than tlio;regular bailiff. He would, however, promise to look' into tho matter, and see what could bo done. He agreed also'that bailiffs should not exceed their powers, and lie would sco that instructions were issued to them as to what were their proi>er duties,, and -see that they were canned 0ut..,. . . ... The Justice and. Customs votes were, passed, progress was reported, and the. House rose at 1.40 a.m. .■