OPPOSITION ALERT

Evening Star, Issue 23696, 2 October 1940, Page 3

OPPOSITION ALERT

RECENT ORDERS IN COUNCIL OPPORTUNITY FOR DISCUSSION SHOP HOURS BILL REFERRED TO COMMITTEE [From Ouk Parliamentary Reporter.] WELLINGTON, October 1. The session was resumed with signs of , Opposition alertness regarding several , questions which have been occupying < the public mind. The request was made by Air Doidgo (Tauranga) that the Government should set aside one day for a debate on many vital questions which had been imposed on the country by Order in Council and of which Parliament had no knowledge until they had become operative. In Britain, he added, there had been four occasions in one week recently when members had criticised the Government for its regulations and secured amendments in the emergency powers which had been exercised. “ Surely the member does not intend to convey that this House has been neglectful in its vigilance,” retorted the Prime Alinister, who added that he would be pleased to give an opportunity tor discussion of the regulations if that was the general wish of the House. It all depended on how long members would agreo to stay and the importance they attached to these subjects. He was all the more favourable to this course because members were not getting the usual general opportunity of discussion afforded by the Address-in-Reply debate.

The hotly-contested clause in the Statutes Amendment Bill in the recent short session, which proposed to give the Arbitration Court power to fix the opening and closing hours of shops, reappeared in the House in the form of an amendment to the Shops and Offices Act.

“ We have heard of it before,” remarked Mr Holland significantly, and the Leader of the Opposition asked if it was the same clause or whether there were any additions. “ Just the same clause,” replied the Minister of Labour (Mr Webb), “but it will go to the Labour Bills Committee for the taking of evidence. The Bill was read a second time formally and referred to the Labour Bills Committee. It seeks to empower the Arbitration Court to fix tho opening and closing hours of all shops, but there is an additional provision for appeal to a magistrate for exemption from the closing hours fixed by the court. Every occupier of a shop, whether employing assistants or not, is deemed to be an employer for the purposes of carrying out tho provisions of the legislation. COUNTY HOUSING POWERS. County councils’ powers regarding housing are wider than is generally understood, according to an answer by ftfr Armstrong (Minister of Housing) to Mr Poison, who asked if these bodies have the power to buy land or to erect houses on areas they owned. Ho also wished to know if the State Advances Corporation would provide finance for these purposes, county council officials having expressed the opinion that the law only allowed the counties to build houses for their own workmen. The Minister replied that county councils are empowered to raise money by special order without a loan poll to purchase land and erect houses for workers of any kind. They could also make by-laws for their letting to tenants, while the State Advances Corporation would consider applications for finance for the purposes mentioned.