THE HOUSE

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 35, 5 November 1919, Page 7

THE HOUSE

The House of Representatives met at 11.30 a.m., A message was received from a conference of managers to the effect that the Council would not further insist on its amendments to the Howke's Bay liirers BUI. ' ■ ' RESERVES AND LANDS. ). ' THE "WASIITNGiUP" BILL. / The Hon. D. G. GUTHRIE (Minister of Lands) moved the second reading of j tho Reserves and Other Lands Disposal / (Washing-up) Bill. He said he would '< make any explanation of clauses required by members. The Bill was road a second time wnucut debate, and committed. A Scenic Reserve. Mr. Ell protested against the cancel" lotion of a scenic reserve in the Rotorua district. ' The Minister said the reservo had been burned, and was no longer useful for its original purpose. Mr. Ell said that Departmental reports. on matters of .this kind were not reliable. He quoted instances of misleading reports in past years, and suggested that Depart- , mental officers sometimes assisted settlers to lay'their hands upon reserves. Fires • in such reserves, were usually -started by neighbouring landowners, who wished to add ,to their holdings. Every proposal to ' cancel a reserve should be scrutinised , most carefully. Mr. L. M. isitt supported this view. The Hon. W. S. D. Mac Donald said the reserve in' question was full of blackberry, and was a source of trouble to neighbouring settlers. Tho clause was adopted. Te Aroha Sections. Mr. G. Witty opposed clause 25, authorising the .acquisition of the feeeiniple by licensees of residence sites and business sites in Te Aroha township. He said proposals of this kind ougWi not to appear in a "Washing-up" Bill. The people of the Dominion were being deprived of land that would be of great value in future years. . Tho Minister said, many clauses of Urn Bill 'had been brought forward at the last moment, and the Government ! had not had time for full consideration. He would withdraw the clause if members desired that course. , ~\ Freehold v. Leasehold, The Hon. W. H. Hevries said the clause was tho result of the.recommendation of a Royal Commission. To Aro'iia had been a mining township originally, and the sections in question had been let 1 at .£3 and £a a year each. No good purpose was served by retaining the leases in their present form. The Government had been able to purchase a good deal of Native land in the towns'hip, and he saw no reason why tho rest of the township should not be freehold. Tho point at issue seemed to be leasehold versus freehold. The freeholders had w'o'n in the House before, and ho thought they would win again. Sir Joseph, Ward: The question of leasehold versus freehold does not come into --.. the question at nil. Mr. Berries said tho clause had, been before the Government for a long time. It had been lielcl back in an earlier session because it was regarded as contentious. Sir Joseph Ward said the point was thai: such a. proposal should not bo put into a''"Washing-up" Bill. Mr. Herries was entitled to fight for people -' in his own district, •buf'il; was a fiiabny ■ 'thing to try to raise n'prirt.y. issue. Clause Struck Out. , M /' T ' J ) r ' . \ vilfonl sa 'd lie "'as in favour of giving tho freehold to the Te Aroha settlers, but objected to the grant being made in the present Bill. Mr. J. A. Young said Te Arohn had ceased to be a mining township, and tho people who lived there now ought to hnvo a modern tenure. Mr. J. Payne thought it grossly unfair that tho freehold of Crown lands in a rising township should he handed over to private individuals at peppercorn prices. There worn towns in Europe where the citizens paid no rates and received an annual bonus from t!i" municipal rcvonue owing to tho fact that the (own o«'wd its own land. Mr. J. M'Oombs moved to report progress on the Bill. Tho Minister of Lands said ho had already agreed lo withdraw the / clause. He hoped iliere would' be lime 'to bring it down in the form of a separate Bill. Mr. M'Combs withdrew his motion and tho clausn was struck out. A Wanganui Dispute, Mr. W. A. Veitch (Wanganui) opposed clause 10, vesting a portion of Queen's Park, Wanganui, in the Wanganui Education Board as a school eito.

The Minister said that for forty years a Wanganui school hart used an novo of tho park as a playground. The Domain Board now considered tho land was required for public purposes, and wished to recover it from tho school. The clause proposed to retain the land as a school playground. Both sides had appeared before the Land* Cmnmillee. The Borough Council opposed Ihe elause. Mr. Veitch said the elaiiso proposed to confiscate an aero of public domain land. Tho Minister said Hie elause had been put forward by Hie Wangauiii Education Board. The dispute was between Ihe two local bodies. Tho olauso was slruel; oul. A Palmerston Clause. Clause all. aiitlinrisinsj (he Government to take land in Palincrslon North under the Public Works Act. lo bo used for the purposes of a showground, was also opposed. Mr. AV. T. Jennings said the land belonged to » pioneer settler, who d:d j not wish to sell. Tho land was not I .liciJisr lalcen for nublie purposes, but] for the benefit of the Manawntu A. and P. Association. The proposal was ou.raacoiis.

The Minister'said the section in miestion . was almost in the centre of the Pa.lmer.ston Showground. The assoeiotion had olVered to buy the, "land at twice its value, but toe owner, a lady was nskins a fancy price. She was willins to sell, but wanted her own price. The Government proposed to take the b'nd and hand, it over'to the A. and P. Association. ... Mr. T. M. Wilford said the section was enclosed by the showground,' whHi was used as a recreation ground by the people of Palmorston North. The lady was blocking the improvement, of the ground. Mr .T. H. Nash said the Government valuation of the lane." was .£.«10. The association had offered XSOfl. Hie lady wanted d£13,000. , Mr..Wiltv thought the lady was as much entitled to make a big profit as anvbodv else., ~ ' Mr. H. 6. EH s<i'd the section was used for grazing, and the owner lived in Wellington. Public interest should Inivß first coiHi'deralion. _ Mr. W. T. Jennings saw' 'he lady haci offered to part with he land if given some noiehboiiring' land, but this bad been refused. £800 or £13,000? Mr. I>. Frascr said the crux of the dispute was that the value of the section had been depreciated by the association, which had spoiled the access. The association should not be assisted to tnko the land at a depreciated value. Inciuirv was nceoed. A suggestion had been uncle that a plan had been altered. Mr. Nash thought members ivho opposed the clause would change their j views if they visited the ground. There was no road to the section. Tho show- j ground was used as a. recreation ground ■ by arrangement, and the association ] wished to spend some thousands of j pounds on improvements. The outside j value of the seetion was ,MOO.. Tho area \ was about three-quarters of an. acre, nnd j tho owner was actually demanding | .£13,000. , I

The- clause was retained by 21 votes to 12. -;' Clause 53, making available a portion of the Mount Cook Deserve for technical education purposes, was adopted. Eastbourne and the City. Some brief discussion occurred on that "louse in the Bill dealing with the proposal to unite' Eastbourne with Wellington City. Mr. Wilford proposed that before amalgamation could occur «. poll should tie- taken of the ratepayers of Eastbourne. He pointed out that a. poll would havo to be taken in one of tho two places, and it would be cheaper and easier to take it in Eastbourne than in the city. Mr. .Luke at first objected to tho proposal, on the ground that the city could not. agree to allow Eastbourne to vote itself into the' city without tho city's consent, On being assured that this would not bo tho effect of the'amendment, lie withdrew his objection, and tho clause passed, as amended. • The Rato of Interest, Mr. E. A. Wright (Wellington Suburbs) moved to reinsert clause 57, struck out. by the Lands Committee, tho object of the clause being to allow the Wellington Harbour Board to borrow money at 5J per cent. He saxl that it was absolutely necessary that the board 6hould have the money, and it could not get the money at less than 5J per cent. The clause was strongly supported by Dr. Newman. The clause was agreed to on the voices, and restored to tho Bill. Special Rates. Mr. Luke submitted a new claus9 to provide that in the event of amalgamation of any borough with the city of Wellington, all special rates should bo merged in a general rate. He said that the object of the clause was to facilitate amalgamation of .boroughs with tlie city. Tho Hon. D. H. Guthrie, in charge of the .Bill, said that ho had not had time to examine the clause, but if there were no objections to it ho would havo tho clause inserted in the Upper House. Mr. Luke, in view of this assurance, did not press tho clause. * The Palmerston Clause. When the third reading question was put, Mr. G. WITTY moved to have the Bill re-committed in order that the Palmerston. clause dealing • with the acquisition of Mrs. Peters's section, might be deleted. Mr. Witty did not press his motion to a division.

Tho Bill was read a third time , and passed. POLICE FORCE BILL. . The Police.Vorco Amendment Bill was re-turned by the Governor-General to tho House with an amendment. Mr. MASSEY said that tho purpose of the new clause was to allow him to keep a promise made to the Public Service Association by his secretary, on his behalf, that the clanso ranking the polico three monthly serrants of the Crown would-jiot be passed' until the association had had an opportunity of disenssiug the clause with him. He was therefore asking that the clanso bo deleted. The clause was deleted accordingly. ' SHEARERS' ACCOMMODATION. The. Shearers' Accommodation Bill was returned by the Governor-General with mi amendment. Mr. MASSEY said that the effect of tho amendment was to exempt from the operations of the Act small farms at. which no moro than five persons were employed in shearing operations, including shed hands.. He said that at these farms it was a common practice for neighbours to help ono another, or to employ as shearers men living in the neighbourhood. The clause was agreed to and added to the Bill. P. AND T.; OFFICERS' APPEAL. . The Post and Telegraph Amendment Bill was returned by tho Governor-Gen-eral with,an amendment to make the now appeal scheme retrospective to April--1 of this year. Tho clause was agreed to. ROTORUA TOWN LANDS. The Eotorua Town Lands Bill was introduced by Govwnor-Goneral's Message. Tho title indicated that it conferred on Crown tenants in the town of Rotorua tho right to acciuiro the freehold. The'PRIME MINISTER said he wished to get the Bill on tho Order Paper, lie did not l<now, after the discussion earlier in the day-regarding To Aioha land l ; what reception it would receive. SIR JOSEPH WARD (Leader of the Ooposifion) '.'"id he did not understand ivhy such a Bill had been produced on the Inst dav of the session. Mr. Massev: Wo cannot produce all our Bills at'the same time. The Bill was read a second time. HOUSING BILL. An amendment to the\ Housing Bill was introduced, by Governor-General's Message. The PRIME MINISTER explained that if, was a minor amendment, provider for the audit of the accounts of tho Housing Dopartment, and for adjustment of accounts between tho Housing Do-

I partmenf. and tho Finance Department. Tho amendments v.ero agreed, to. FINANCE BILL, Amendments lo the Finance Bill were introduced by Governor-General's Message. The MrNISTFR OF FINANCE explained that tho amendments were technical. They cleared up a lew ! points, and made, clear the intention of I the clauses. • The, amendments were agreed to. | SUPPLEMENTARY ESTIMATES. [ Tho consideration of the Supplenientj ary Estimates was begun at 10 p.m.' | Mr. Ji. (j. •)<) ..ii'ijcxl the (lovi.'i- : ;u-.t;,t i to savomoney by installing lifts in tho Gover.-nuwc Buildings-, Wellington. ,\lr. Mais-y, icipiynig to a 'iwj-.'on,-said that negotiations were proceeding botween the Government and the Union Company regarding steamer communication with tho Cook Islands. A good steamer had been put on already. A fruit store was being weoiecl at iia.rotonga, and the facilities for the conveyance, of fruit were being improved. Mr. 1!. A. Wrgnt urged t/'int ritetors who failed to reply to noiico-i ser.i. them by registrars of electors should be-struck off the rails. This would give cleaner rolls. If the electors did not receive the notices, they would be returned to the registrars. The National Museum. -. ! The Hon. A. Ngala urged the Government to consider the danger to which tho exceedingly valuablo Maori, .collections in the Dominion Museum were exposed. The artiu.es could not be replaced, 'but they were exposed to danger of tire and the immediate threat of dryrot and borer. Mr. IT. G.- Elli said the neglect of tho Government wins inexcusable.

Mr. W. Ji, Field said the national collections, which were quite irreplaceable, might go up in smoke at any moment. No privaito collector would dream of taking such risks. The Hon. J. B. Hino (Minister of Internal Affairs) agreed that the matter was important. But nothing could be done this year. The War Memorial. Dr. A. K. Neivinan asked for information about the war memorial, on which the Government propused to spend ■£100,000. Sir James Allen said that nothing had been settled, .except that tho site would bo near Wellington, When tho 6ito hud been selected, a design would bo prepared. Ho had been in communication with the Mayor of Wellington on the subject. Mr. J. Craigio objected to ,t!u'> expenditure on a centralised war memorial. There would be local war memorials all over the country, and the vote was wasteful. Mr. J. P. Luke remarked that, Wellington would provide its own war memorial, but not the national memorial. Mr. 1.. M. Isitf said that very u-any people were strongly opposed to the expenditure of ,£IOO,OOO on a non-utilitarian war memorial. The country needed all its funds for necessary purposes. The Hon. A. Ngata said the people'of New Zealand ought.to have a worthy' war memorial. The scattering of little war memorials about the country would not meet the ease. There was something more (ban sentiment to be considered. An adequate war memorial would be a national influeiicel

Mr. 11. A. Wright supported the 'proposal. New Zealand did not want a grudging and inadequate war memorial Dr. *k. K. Newman thought that anv war memorial should be utilitarian. The money should not bo spent on a mere monument, Mr. If. E. Holland said that "narrow nationalism" had brought New Zealand into the war. Tho war memorial should not bo.a oead monument, which would be a mere reminder of international hatreds. Mr. Crnigie- asured the House (hat patriotic people all over the Dominion were erecting memorials. A national war memorial would bo seen by only a section of tho people if if. were ulaccd in Wellington. He thought the mailer should be'held over. Sir James Allen: No. Aviation Policy. Members asked for information regarding a vote of .£30,000 for the development of aviation. Sir James Allen said the. money was intended to maintain the existing aviation schools at Christchurch vino Auckland, while the question of policy was considered. Reports had been received from Colonel Bcttington and Lord Jellicoe dealing with aerial dcfence l and the Defence Department was ascertaining if thev could be co-ordinated.