POLITICAL.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXX, Issue 8456, 5 June 1907, Page 5

POLITICAL.

SPEECH BY HON. J. A. MILLAR. 1 .

LEGISLATION OP LAST SESSION.

By Telegraph—Press Association.

DUNEDIN, June 4.

The Hon. J. A. Millar addressed a meeting in the Princess Theatre, tonight, dealing pretty fully with the legislation passed during the last session.

He said the Government had done everything possible to husband the colony's resources, and had done something towards paying off the debt. He considered that the recent surplus was the result of good work. It was hoped, in the course of time, that the "dead" loan would be finally wiped right out. Reference was also made to the satisfactory increase in exports and imports and the Customs returns, all showing that the purchasing power of the people was in noway reduced. The Government was told that the Land Billjwas going to put them out,, and Mr Massey had attempted tocreate the impression "that the Government were attacking the freehold. There was not a line in the. Bill attacking the that of a man holding over £50,000 worth of unimproved value. The question was not that of freehold versus leasehold, but that of endowment or na endowment. Despite any statement made to the contrary, the aggregation of large estates was going on. Recent events showed that 'the defects in the Arbitration Act were caused by the delay of the Court to deal with disputes. This delay must, be avoided in future, and he proposed to ask Parliament to authorise the creation of a Wages Board, instead of the present Conciliation. Boards, to deal with disputes as. they* arose. The Arbitration ' jurt would I remain, and the right of appeal to. I that body would be granted under [ certain conditions, j With regard to the cry that the inj crease in wages had been swallowed up by increased cost of living, he granted that, but asked where the people would have been if there had been no increase in wages. He considered that there was no justification for the rise in the price of flour,- as there was none for a Melbourne firm being able to sell kauri cheaper than in Christchurch. This was the work of rings. He recommended a Board of Commerce and an export duty io solve the difficulty. He intended to bring down improvements to the Workers' Compensation Act, and proposed to increase the amount payable for death to £6OO, so as to avoid unnecessary litigation. He would submit a schedule for the value of lost or injured limbs. The workers would get greater benefits than under the existing Act, and while there wo;iid be no increase in the premium , there woujd be a great saving of legal ex-, penses.

He wished to make himself quite clear as to the Saturday half-holiday controversy. He had been practically forced to administer the law in this direction. It was his duty to do so, and he would always endeavour to see the law carried out as closely as possible.

Under the Shops and Offices Act he intended tD v introduce legislation to feal with Chinese laundry partnerships, which evaded the Act, and steps would be taken to see that employees at laundries were employees in fact.