EMERGENCY POWERS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 31 May 1940, Page 6

EMERGENCY POWERS

GOVERNMENT PROPOSALS DEBATED Full Control over Persons and Property PRIME MINISTER ON NEED FOR COMPULSION (By Telegraph.—Press Association.) WELLINGTON, This Day. An extension of Hie powers contained in the Emergency Regulations Act passed last session “in order to secure that the whole resources of the community may be rendered immediately available when required for purposes connected with the defence of New Zealand” is to be effected by the Emergency Regulations Amendment Bill introduced in the House of Representatives late yesterday afternoon. A start was made in the evening with the second reading, which was moved by the Prime Minister Mr Fraser.

The Bill authorises the issue of regulations requiring persons to place themselves, their services, and their property at the disposal of the State as may be considered necessary or expedient for securing the public safety, the defence of New Zealand, the maintenance of public order, the efficient prosecution of the Avar, or for the maintenance of supplies essential to the life of the community.

EXTENSION OF ACT. The application of the principal Act is extended to the Cook Islands and Samoa, and is made retrospective. The Act is to remain in force til* September 30, 1941, but its operation may be terminated earlier if the necessity for it has come to an end. If it had wished the Government could have taken all the powers it I needed to marshal the human and material resources of the Dominion under the Emergency Regulations Act passed last session, said the Prime Minister. Mr Fraser, when the Bill was introduced. Since the principal Act was passed, however, the Government had been convinced that power for the compulsion of persons was necessary, and it considered that in the changed circumstances the honourable thing to do was to come to Parliament to seek the extra authority. “This is an ‘all in’ authority that the Bill seeks,” the Prime Minister said. “It means that the powers conferred will be used for the prosecution of the war effort when required.”

Opposition voices: “And as required. (Laughter.) Mr Fraser: “There is a cackling of thorns under a pot to describe that laughter.” The point he wished to make quite clear, Mr Fraser added, was'that the power it wanted was there, and the Government felt that in the present crisis an efficient war effort could not be made without compulsion. It was a question of abandoning concepts in an hour of emergency. Sacrifices of liberty must be made now for the sake of the greater liberty of the future. ALL POSSIBLE HELP. “The Bill is a short one and its importance is in inverse ratio to its length,” Mr Fraser said, in moving the second reading of the Bill. The necessity for it need not be laboured because of the general admission that the Dominion, together with the rest of the British Commonwealth, was facing the greatest crisis it had ever encountered. Mr Fraser said he thought there was a feeling in the House that everything possible should be done to help the Mother Country, to ensure that men were available for internal work and that the work was carried out effectively, to ensure that the resources of the country would be used in the interests of the Dominion and that adequate men were forthcoming for defence here and overseas. “Compulsion was never intended when the Emergency Regulations Bill became law, and so in the opinion of the Government it is only fair that the House should have an opportunity of expressing an opinion on the whole question of compulsion, and to empower the Government to enforce compulsion when and where required. That applies to everything. Obviously it would be unfair to apply it to human beings if it was not applied to the accumulated wealth and property of the country.” To use the powers contained in the Bill haphazardly would make for chaos, Mr Fraser continued. The conscripting of industrial plants without having the matter well thought out would simply make confusion worse confounded. There was no intention to rush in in a riotous fashion to use the power prescribed, but the Government needed the power to enforce the needs of the country when they arose. “There is a demand swelling up from the people that in a struggle like this there should be ‘everything in,' ” the Prime Minister added. “After the Bill becomes law, and indeed even now they have been framed there will be regulations to set up machinery for enforcing the measure. No time will be lost in doing so right away.”

OPPOSITION ATTITUDE. The contention that such drastic powers as those contained in the Bill should be entrusted to a Government representative of the whole nation and not to a party Cabinet was advanced bv the Leader of the Opposition, Mr Hamilton. He said a united Administration. with Parliament standing by, would give greater relief to citizens, and assure that co-operation so necessary to the country’s war effort. Mr Hamilton said the Opposition endorsed most heartily the sentiments expressed by Mr Fraser. That, however, would not modify his opinion of the Bill. More drastic powers had probaoly never been submitted to the New Zealand Parliament. They were certainly more drastic than those contained in last year’s emergency measure. On that occasion the Opposition had allowed the measure to go through withcut much discussion, but it felt that it should discuss the present Bill more fully. He understood that the mam alteration was that persons were included in the amending Bill.

A BLANK CHEQUE. “Powers such as those contained in this Bill will be freely given and obeyed if there is confidence in those asking for and administering them, said Mr Hamilton. “They give the Government a blank cheque and must only be used in cases of extreme necessity. The war has now been on eight or nine months, and the Government should know exactly what exua powers it requires. , If the Government wants conscription it should introduce a Bill providing for consciiption. Instead of taking Order-in-Council powers the Government should by now be able to say it it wants powers to conscript men, banks, freezing works and so forth.' Mr Fraser: “That is exactly what it does." •■The Government," said Mr Hamilton. "is really taking unto itself power; to legislate by Order-in-Council. We will give the Prime Minister all the help he needs to handle the profiteer and the slacker and if the Bill is for that, course well and good. The uncertainty of what may happen is causing anxiety in New Zealand today. The granting of such extreme powers does cause uneasiness in the minds of a large number of people, and that in turn leads to a lack of effort. Why not remove these doubts and let the people know the worst or the best? “It is difficult to expect unanimity and a maximum effort when there is doubt in the public mind. The British Government did not take such drastic powers till it had first unified the control of Great Britain. Before it asked for such powers it first of all formed a National Government and brought in representatives of all political parties. Britain was unified in control before the powers were asked for. and the people were immediately satisfied because all their representatives were in th Government to administer them. That was an important phase of the procedure in Great Britain, and it was very essential if the Government wanted to get unity and willing submission.

“Such powers depended on the united will and willing submission of the people, and without that the maximum effort was impossible. The taking' of these powers ■at Home followed the formation of a National Government, but here we are being asked to give them to a party Cabinet. That is disturbing. Such powers are better taken by the representatives of a unified people, and it was in that spirit that I approached the Prime Minister here. The Opposition had no other intention than to help in the war effort.”.

The Minister of Finance (Mr Nash) and other members took part in the debate, which was adjourned at 10.30 p.m.