THE HOUSE

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2833, 26 July 1916, Page 9

THE HOUSE

The House of /Representatives met at ..2.30 p.m. ' - , The Eon. G. W. RUSSELL gave notice of his intention to introduce next sitting day a Bill to provide for the censorship of kinematograph films. The Hon. W. D; S. MACDONALD »ave notice of the Orchard Tax BilL' - '■ The Legislative Council Amendment Bill was' received, from' the Legislative Council and read a first time.. ;. ' NATIVE "WASHING-UP" BILL. The Native Land Amendment and Na- : tivo Land Claims Adjustment Bill (commonly known as tho .Native Washing-Up Bill) was introduced by Governor's Message and-read a first time.-' .'-.-. ..--- MILITARY SERVICE BILL. '■■ AN-''AMENDMENT.' '■'■ An amendment to the. Military Service Bill, was-introduced bv Governor's ' Message. ' . The Hon. J., ALLEN said'that the obV. ject of tho. amendment was to remedy, a defect in the Bill. It .had'been, found' that, there'was no.power given by the Bill to insist on the vaccination and in-, oculation of men. It was .essential to tho' health of tho troops, .that'theso precautionary niea'sure's..should' bo taken, and tho amendment "was introduced to enable ■ / the.authorities to vacciuato or inoculate men' without their consent./'-This would remove an opportunity which might bo ; open to shirkers to shirk in this par-ticular;--way—by refusing, -to submit '• to: vaccination or inoculation.- , •.-'• '.'' [ " The amendment was" agreed to. • Tho PRIME MINISTER said "that this was the. last Stage of,-the Bill,' and ho hoped that before many davs the Bill would be tho law.of .'the 'land.

HOW MUCH LONGER? .•'''■ THE BILLS YET' TO' COME. ; :..'! Mr. SPEAKER'ihade au announcement regarding the order of business for the remainder of' the session. • He said that; all business or Bills which had already passed their first stages' could bo called upon and proceeded' with after 12.30 a.m. -'Mr.. G. WITTY asked.the : Prime Minister'to make a statement as to what .new business it was intended to: iutrodncd tins'session.. ■ ' '■ '."- Mr. T. K. Sidey: Wh'cn is"tho 'session going to end? Mr. .MASSEY: J. should liko to.be able 4o ansv;er the .latter riuestion ..by saying that the- session, was'going to. end "this ■ week:. '.■".■ "'_[ ■"':.,'■■' ... '.'■ '■ "■ A member: A~ud : so say all of "us! '.-■ ■ Mr. Massey: Yes,' no "doubt the House is unanimouson. that point. Proceeding, he said that there.was not a'great deal of business to do. Thero was the War Legislation Bin, which was to "be' c'iscussed that evening. The Government was'not- wedded to the.exact form' in which the "Bill .h'ad'"been .'introduced, but.it couldn'ot pledge'itself to accept any new clauses. '." . .'.".'

-Mr. Witty: Will you not accept any new clauses? .' ■.

Mr. Massey: I do not' say that, but members must not ask too much. TVn there was the War .Regulations Bill, which, would be taken-in Conimittee on' the following day, or on' Thursday. He had heard all sorts of rumours as 'to possible delays in respect to this Bill, but he hoped that, members after discussion would be able to arrive at a satisfactory, decision. There would' also be a 'Statute Amendment- Bill.' the-' general and Native "Washing-up" Bills, and two or three..minor proposals, which slioiild not take a great* deal bf time.' ■- , Mi-. Witty:' Two Bills" were .introduced to-day.' They make six or eighty. Mr. -Massey: Yes; 'that is - practically all. so far as I know. '• , ; - ~.:•.

' Mr.. Witty: How- many' clauses are therein the Washing-up .Bill? ■ Mr. Massey said he-thought-there were, about sixty clauses, i. This was.,a. very popular Bill, and requests-for-.the insertion of clauses had been pouring in for pome time.past. , If. there were any differences' of opinion regarding the, clauses relating to local affaire, or if the member for the district.objected to a-clause, •it would not ]>e proceeded with. The Supplementary Estimates and.' the Appropriation Bill would also be coming'along in due course, and that would. : bs prac-

Ucally all the business. He hoped that when the session was over they would be able to look back on a record of good work, especially from the point of view of the war. ■ • ■ ■ Mr. Forbes: Can you tell -us when the session will :closo? \ Mr. Massey: No, I cannot. ;

WELLINGTON RENTS

AND OTHER MATTERS SECOND READING OF BILL. . The" Right Hoii. W. F. MASSEY moved the second reading of the War Legislation Amendment Bill. The first clause, that' dealing with the restriction of rent, was, he said, probably the most important in the Bill. Some people were of the opinion that the proposal in this Bill was entirely new. This was not so. There was precedent for it. An Act to tho same effect had been passed in England, and- the Bill followed the lines of the English Act.' The Bill was intended for the protection of the. tenant. It was not desired that the .landlord should suffer injustice, but all care should be taken at this time that things were not made harder for people of slender means. His opinion was that no such legislation would- have been necessary but for the slate of affairs existing in Wellington, owing to Ihe influx of people causing a shortage of houses.,' It had been brought under his notice that certain landlords were, taking advantage of the shortage of houses to force up rents. . Mr. Hornsby: The same thing is happening in my district. Mr. Massey: Yes,' that is because of the near neighbourhood of Featberston Camp. -"He went on to remark that in other districts there.bad been- no increases. An-hon. member: There have been big decreases. ...Mr.; Massey said 1 that it was not proposed that the oueration of the Bill should bB made retrospective. Ho thought that some additional provisions might have to be introduced into 'the Bill -regarding appeals. On this question he had asked for .a report., and i? necessary,hei would move amendments/ ' Local Elections.' Wtcr referring to' other clauses 'in the Bill,...Mr.'Massey. said that the clause which tproposed • that ■ tho elections .of local bouies should be postponed might -'iccasion some difference of opinion. Mr. M'Callum: Hear, hear. , Mr. .-.Massey said 'that lie' was not very strongly In favour of it, but a request for' tho postponement Had couiu from several local bodies.

•Mr. Witty. This is the Luke relief clause, isn't- it? That i» what it U called outside. .' .-•Mr; Ilasse.v:'l don't think that ii> fair, . get a communication from the Wellington City. Council, but let mo' •say that I--believe Mr. Luke is 'the most popular Mayor in the whole of Now Zealand, and deservedly'so." (Hear,.hear.) I don't think Mr. Luke requires anything, in the ivay of this clause. Rent Clause; Badly Needed. 'Mr.: Cx. WITTY ,that tho restriction of rbnt" clause hail been needed for spine time, and it was needed in other places 'besides Wellington. He }jrged "that'-'the Government shouhl tako over the payment of interest on mortgages of. men enlisting to go on service. He (lid not agree with tho proposal that iho general. elections should be postponed.' Mr/ A, HARRIS said that rents ,had dropped,a. little in Auckland since the war began. Mr.'lsitt: City : goin» back'a bit, eh? (Laughter.) > Mr..-Harris: Oh, no. ■ I wouldn't like to say that. But wo havo a good class of landlords in Auokland. He expressed tho opinion that unless there were strong reasons; not yet disclosed'for postponing local elections, they should go on as usual.■"• H& thought the majority of focal bodies would prefer this. Mr. T. M. WILFORD (Hutt) said he was sorry that the Government had not introduced-the rent clauses of tho Bill long ago, and that in the meantime pri-vate-members had'been Ragged and prevented from introducing a limitation of rent Bill. ' Ha <lid not. believe iu the form of the Bill. The Prime Minister wanted to do i fair thinp, but his method of. setting to work was not the best possible. His own idea was that'any aggrieved tenant should have the right to apn'ly in writing without fee to. a stipendiary magistrate for redress, and' that the magistrate, after inquiry, should grant redress. The present wmild be too inelastic, and would\work hardship on some landlords. B--+-. there «rn« need for the Bill to deal Tvith landlords who had raised their rents since the war bewail.

The Hon. G; W. IIUSSELL-said the purpose of postponing the local' body elections was to prevent any division taking place on local- matters during the war. There were 116 boroughs in- this country, and the elections .would ordinarily take place in April- 1917. In some ■ of. the. larger cities there would be a very strong danger if the elections were helil of the,.big:issues being subordinated to the local questions. The proposal in the Bill.emanated from the, Mayors of the three cities of Wellington, G'iiristchurch, and Dunedin. He noticed that the Mayor .of. Auckland was opposed to it. The Bill did not affect the counties, for the election'of county councils did not vake place until the end of next year. If it should then'be necessary. Parliament could next year pass legislation to postpono the eke-

tions of members of county councils. The saving to the country by the postponement of the elections would bo .£43,400, a sum of such size us to.warrant considera/tion in these days when on ;ll hands economy was being urged. Mr. T. W. RHODES (Thames) did not approve of tho ]>ostponement of local eieotions.

Mr. J. PAYNE (Grey Lynn) sad that the rent restriction proposals in tho Bill ought to have been made retrospective. Ho thought local olectious should bo allowed to proceed as usual. Mr. J. M'COHBS (Lyttelton) pointed out that a landlord could find "a way out" by putting the smallest quantity.of furniture into a house and .letting it as a furnished house, and so escaping the effect of the Bill. He characterised as reactionary the proposal, to postpono the local elections.. Ho wanted to know why if members of Parliament were to be given their salaries as well as their military pay this concession was not also given to civil servants. , The Price of Land. Mr. R, A. WRIGHT (Wellington Suburbs) said that ho thought the present was ■an occasion on which local elections ought to be postponed. Ono of his reasons for ■ holding. this opinion was. that there were 50,000 men away from New Zealand, arid they had .1 right to be considered. Some, of these men would be back before the date on which the elections would be held. He believed that a landlord was entitled to a fair return on his money. Hero in Wellington, while many house-owners had treated thoii/ tenants with the utmost fairness, there had been others who had charged exorbitant rents. It might ;be true that landlords'did not get big interest on their investments, but this was due to the fact that land in Wellington was at very high prices. Land here ■ had always been too dear. Ho would liko to see tho limit of iCIOI deleted, and to see shop property brought under the operation of the Bill. There had been cases of considerable advances in the rents of shops.

Mr. F. MANDER (Marsden) said that some standard of retiirn,'say 5 or 6 per cent, upon capital, .should, be-permitted under the Bill. After investigation he had come to the conclusion that houso property was a -bad investment Appar-, entry. other people had conm to tho same conclusion, and this accounted for the scarcity of houses,, as -people were not inclined to,build. Ten per cent, at least .would be required to pay for a woodon. house. He did -not know what wo)i!d happen; in the ■ future—Government action would probably be necessary. . .'.'-.

Mr. P...C. WEBB' (Grey), expressed pleasure at. the problem of. Tents being faced) but he did not have-much faith in tho proposals of ,tlio Bill. He believed, that rents.coulcLnnd should be decreased, but did not believe these pro-, posals would effect that olid.'' . Mr. T. A. .H.I'IELI). (Nelson) approved of, the clauses dealing.with rent, which ho said wero, very necessary.' Ho was opposed to the principle of postponing elections. ... Mr. A. WALKER . (Du'nedin North) disapproved of tho postponement of tho .local election's. . ; Upon tho houso problem he urged that tho number'of State timber mills' should-bo enlarged in order, to cheapen, the cost of timber. Second Reading. Carried^. Tho PRIME MINISTER''said that the criticism of tho Bill had been 6'o'i'avourablo that no reply was required. Ho proposed to go into Committee, pass tho first clause, and then adjourn." Tho second reading was agreed to on the-voices,'and in Committee the short title, was passed. ; The Houso rose at 11.-55 p.m.