PARLIAMENT.

Taranaki Daily News, 15 October 1921, Page 5

PARLIAMENT.

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES LAND AGENTS BILL. NEW MEASURE DISCUSSED By Telegraph.—Press Association. Wellington, Last Night. The House of Representatives met at 2.30 p.m. Replying to Mr. T. F. Hockley (Rotorua), the Hon. G. J. Anderson said the sulphur deposits at Rotorua are being reserved for future use. At present they are rather remote, and the sulphur could not easily be got out. Replying to the Hon. J. A. Hanan, Mr. W. F. Massey said the rates of interest which local bodies were permitted to pay on loans varied according to individual circumstances. There could not be any hard and fast rule about it.

The following Bills were introduced and read a first time.: Dominion State Bank Bill (No. 2) (Mr. Veitch); Hunter Gift for the Settlement of Discharged Soldiers (Hon. D. H. Guthrie).

Mr. Massey announced that owing to pressure of Parliamentary business he must limit interviews by deputations to Thursdays. The Hon. VV. Downie Stewart moved the second reading of the Land Agents Bill, which he suggested should go to the Statutes Revision Committee regarding its provisions. Mr. G. Witty (Riccarton) said the title of the Bill should have been the Land Agents Protection Bill. In previous years he had endeavored to protect the public against unscrupulous land agents, but this Bill protected the land agents against the public, some of the necessary safeguards in former legislation being eliminated. He hoped the Statutes Revision Committee would reject the measure and make way for a proper Land Agents Bill. Sir John Luke (Wellington North) said he did not think land agents “full and bye” were a bad lot, but he thought they should be compelled to put all moneys received by them from sales into a trust account. He further thought that no authority to sell should have any effect unless that authority was reduced to writing. Mr. A. Harris (Waitemata) thought the fee paid by land agents was absurdly low. Mr. A. Hamilton (Wallace) thought the Bill more remarkable for what it omitted than for what it contained. The fee to be paid should be £4O and £lO for branch licenses. A land agent’s commission was much too large, and ought to be specified in the Bill. Mr<D. G. Sullivan (Avon) said there were about 12,000 commission agents operating in New Zealand, and the effect of their operations was to force up the values of property to an unreasonable extent.

Replying to the debate, the Minister pointed out that the Bill only aimed at removing anomalies in the present legislation. It provided that land agents must prove that they were authorised to sell a property before they could sue for commission on its sale. Referring to a suggestion that land agency operations might be conducted by a Government department, the Minister said he did not look forward to the time when all private services would be conducted in such a manner and when practically everyone became a Government servant. The House rose at 11.18 p.m. till 2.30 p.m. on Tuesday.