THIS YEAR'S LEGISLATION.

White Ribbon, Volume 32, Issue 375, 18 September 1926, Page 3

THIS YEAR'S LEGISLATION.

(Hy our Legal and Parliamentary Superintendent). There lias been 30 little t'nie to consider any legislation brought before Parliament this session, that our W.C.T.U. members may be pardoned if they have failed to keep track of the various measures. Some of these are of special Interest-to women, and for that reason, l must ask for space to e?plain their significance.

The first of these measures to be passed was the Amendment of the Justices of the Peace Act. This contains a clause which provides that a woman shall not be disqualified by sex or marriage from being appointed to the office of J.P. This means that at long last, we have won what we have asked for and been denied so often.

Very great importance attaches to the second of these measures, the Guardianship of Infants Act. which makes a number of changes in the old law. The most important of which are (1) That it gives the mother, on the death of the father, the same rights of guardianship as the father has on the death of the mother, and (21 It further enacts that in the erase of the marriage of an infant, the mother's consent as well as that of the lather is necessary. The old law' required only the father's consent. The actual conditions provided for are:—where both parents are living togfther, the consent of both; if the parents are divorced or legally separated, then the consent of the parent who has custody of the infants; if one parent has been deserted by the other, then the consent only of the one who has been deserted is required, and so on, the conditions being the same in regard to both parents.

The Amendments to the Destitute Persons’ Act are in the dir action of making it more difficult for any person to evade obedience to a maintenance order. Maintenance officers have now to take proceedings to compel pa.wnent without waiting until instructed to do sc. At present, these officers are employed only in the four main centres, the new law allows a maintenance officer to be appointed in connection with any Magistrate’s Court. It is a matter of regret that Parliament again failed to make provision whereby a man committed to gaol for non-compliance with a maintenance order may be empolyed upon remunerative work, and his earnings applied to the support of his family.

A measure which lies created a good deal of interest is the Family Allowances Bill. This provides that where a workingman has a family of more than two, and the total weekly income is less than £4 per week, an allowance of 2/- per week may be made in respect to every child undei 15 years of age, in excess of two, but the total income including th» 2/- must not exceed £4. It is more tha.i probable .that in the long run this will not prove to be any advantage to the worker, but the bill does recognise an important principle in that the allowance is |u»id to the mother.

Those branches of the W.C.T.U. which have from time to time made objection to the nature of various advertising posters, will be glad to know that the Cinematograph Film Censorship Amendment Hill gives the Governor-General in Council authority to make regulations for the censorship of posters and other advertising matter in connection with the exhibition of films, and for prohibiting the display of any such matter that is of an objectionable nature.