PARLIAMENT.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLIX, Issue 249, 19 September 1929, Page 4

PARLIAMENT.

YESTERDAY’S BUSINESS.

PRIVATE MEMBERS’ DAI. ,

Yesterday was private members’ clay in tlie House of Representatives and several bills were discussed. In addition, departmental reports were laid before the House for consideration.

LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL. DISCUSSION ON “TALKIES.” j Per Press Association. ! WELLINGTON, Sept. 18. ' The Legislative Council met at 2.30 , p.m. to-day. Hon. G. M. Thomson moved that I the Government be asked to take into ' consideration the' desirability of establishing a censorship of “talkies,” with the object of preserving the purity of the English spoken language and. at the same time consider the question of checking, as far as possible, the presence of unattended children at cinema entertainments. The mover quoted opinions as to the effect of American talking films on our speech and severely criticised a picture which was recently shown throughout ' the Do- ’ minion, which, he said, frankly bored him and made him wonder at the intellectual and aesthetic capacity of the audience that could enjoy such stuff. The female voices, he said, . were high-pitched, with a strong nasal I twang and drawl. At the same time, ‘ Mr Allan Wilkie’s Shakesperean show , was poorly attended. ) Hon. J. B. Gow seconded the motion. \ Hon. W. Earnshaw urged as a more practical measure that the quota of English films should be increased as 1 against American. Hon. J. Barr did not see any great danger in children being influenced by American speech, but ne considered that a stricter censorship of films and posters was necessary. j Hon. G. J. Garland advocated more encouragement for British films. j Hon. T. K. Sidey said it was not' considered practicable to establish a censorship of “talkies,” for technical - reasons. The law did not provide power to enable the matter to be dealt with. It was doubtful, too, whether it would be possible to check the attendance of children at picture shows. He felt sure that the Government would do everything possible to en- ‘ ■ courage British films, and he promised to submit a resolution to his colleagues , with a view to seeing if it would bo : possible to increase the percentage of i British films for exhibition in New 1 Zealand. I < The motion was amended by the mover urging the Government to make ! an increase in the quota in favour of 1 British films and in that form was i carried unanimously. ) The Council rose at 3.30 p.m. until;! Tuesday. ,] i i 1 < 1 1 ] 1 1 1 1 1 1 ( 1 i i 1 < 1 1 1 ] 1 1 i

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.

EARTHQUAKE RELIEF FUNDS,

The House of Representatives met at 2.30 p.m. to-day. In reply to Mr G. C. Black, tho Prime Minister stated that at the last meeting of the Central Earthquake Committee the closing date for the receipt of applications was extended to August 31 and the committee decided that it would not be necessary tb hold a meeting until after that date. It was tentatively decided to hold a meeting on September 4, but as applications had not been received from district committees by that date, he deemed it advisable to postpone the meeting. “The position at the moment is that only about 12 applications have been received from Westport and none from Karamea,” said Sir Joseph. “About two-thirds of the applications received by the Murchison Committee have been considered by that committee and forwarded to the central committee and the bulk of the Nelson applications are also in hand. The' original intention of the central committee was to deal with all applications at the one time, in order that the fund might be equitably distributed, the idea being that the distribution could only be undertaken

when the total assistance required was .known. “However, as this seems to j be impossible of fulfilment, I propose to call a meeting of the committee on SepI tember 25, when the position will bo 1 considered.” 1 REPLIES TO QUESTIONS, j Mr H. E. Holland, pointing out that public servants in the employ of Australian States are granted three months’ leave of absence without pay to contest Parliamentary elections, and are only required to resign in the event of their being elected, in which case they must resign before taking their seats in Parliament, asked the Prime Minister whether he would alter the law this session to "give New Zealand public servants the same rights. ; Sir Joseph Ward replied that inquiries would be made into the system obtaining in Australia and, when the Government had the whole of tho facts before it, it would give the matter the fullest consideration, j Hon. W. B. Taverner, replying to ! Rev. C. Carr, stated that the matter l of imposing a duty on artificial silk | piece goods, if of British origin, and jof increasing the duty on such fabrics, if of foreign make, would be considered when the tariff was being revised, i Rev. Carr asked the Postmaster- ' General whether it was intended to constitute radio broadcasting as a Government monopoly. | Hon. J. B. Donald, replying, said I that he w r as not in a position at present to indicate what the Government’s policy in reference to the control of broadcasting would be when the term of the present contract with the Radio Broadcasting Company expired in two years’ time, but an assurance could be given that the interests of listeners-in W'ould be properly safeguarded. PROTECTION OF WIVES. Hon. T. M. Wilford (Minister of Justice) made a statement in reference to a question recently submitted by Mr J. McCombs, who asked “whether, if the law is that a man may beat, ill-treat and starve his wife and, provided she can run away and does not do so, the husband cannot be convicted of an offence, he will have tho law altered, so that the plea that she could have run away from her own home will not defeat the ends of justice.” Hon. T. M. Wilford said that he had promised to obtain the opinion of the Solicitor-General on the subject. That officer had advised that the law was not as assumed in the question ■and had stated that in the case of a man beating his wife lie could be charged with assault, as in other cases, and, if convicted, punished accordingly. If he failed to supply her with adequate means of maintenance, she might apply to .a Magistrate under the Destitute Persons Act for an order that he pay her a reasonable sum for her maintenance. If ho were guilty of persistent cruelty to her, she could be granted summary separation, maintenance and the custody of any children. The law appeared, therefore, to give the wife ample means of obtaining redress for any ill-treatment by her husband. In the case which had probably caused the question to bo ashed, proceedings had been taken by the police under a section of the Crimes Act designed for the protection of persons who, by reason of mental or physical defect, or ill-health, wero dependent on others and unable to withdraw themselves from such care or to provide for themselves. It had appeared, when proceedings had been instituted, that Mrs Elinsley had been in that position. In tho Supreme Court, however her evidence itself had shown that she had had relatives to whom she might have gone; that she had had both opportunity and means to do so if she had wished

and that neither her mental nor her physical condition had prevented her from doing so. It appeared that she had preferred to remain with her children and submit to harsh treatment, rather than live apart, with the risk of separation from them. The question of proceedings for assault, had been considered in that case but owing to the lapse of time (some seven or eight years) since tho last assault that could have been proved, and the indefinite nature of tire evidence, it had been considered that such a charge could not have been sustained. DEPARTMENT OF INDUSTRIES. The report of tho Department of Industries and Commerce was presented for consideration. Several members criticised the report on cash order trading. The Minister replied that the report was designed to lot the public know what they wero paying for tho benefits they received. It had not been intended as an attack on the cash order system, and the recommendations had been in the direction of lessening tho cost of those who took advantage of the system. The evidence collected had shown clearly that the rates charged were generally too high. POST AND TELEGRAPH DEPARTMENT. When the report of the Post and Telegraph Department was presented, Rt. Hon. J. G. Coates urged that the services of tho department should be developed more fully in tile country districts. He also asked that broadcasting stations should be employed to transmit news to ships at sea. Rev. C. Carr criticised radio broadcast concerts and asked that an endeavour should be made to secure a higher grade of items and a wider range or entertainment than at present submitted by the company. He suggested that the Government should take over the broadcasting stations when the present contract expired. Mr J. A. Nash said that he did not agree with the latter proposal, but lie considered that the Government should set up a board to control the programme provided, though ho defended the quality of the programmes submitted at the present time. Mr E. J. Howard expressed the opinion that a vote should be included in the estimates for the purpose of providing a special station for transmitting to ships at sea. It would not be fair to ask the existing broadcasting stations to undertake such a service. The House adjourned at 5.30 p.m. and resumed at 7.30 p.m. The Licensing Ainenmdent Bill (Mr H. G. R. Mason) was read a second time pro forma and referred to the Industrial and Commerce Committee. The commtitee stago of the Rent Restriction Continuance Bill (Mr P. Fraser) was postponed foi six weeks on Mr Fraser’s motion, the Rent Restriction Continuance Bill (No. 2) having been passed previously. THIRD READING. The Marriage Amendment Bill (Mr Mason) was put through the committee stage, read a third time and passed. WORKERS’ COMPENSATION BILL. Mr E. J. Howard, in moving the second reading of the Workers' Compensation Amendment Bill, said it did not contain all that Labour wanted in connection with workers’ compensation, but it did meet the immediate demands. The bill contained live principal points. At the present time, a worker had to be incapacitated for three days before he was entitled to compensation and the bill reduced this period to two days. He hoped that the time would come when compensation would be paid immediately tollowing injury. The second provision sought to grant full wages, instead of the present 66 2-3 per cent., to injured workers. Another point referred to the present stipulation that medical and surgical expenses should not exceed £l. The bill asked for full medical and surgical attention. Tho fourth principle dealt with compensation for partial or complete incapacitation and sought to do away with the present basis of payment in accordance with the wages of the injured worker. The bill asked that compensation should be paid to the worker or dependents regardless of the average weekly wage. The last point was designed to do away completely with tho “common employment” principle, under which the worker was restricted to compensation to the extent of £IOOO.

He referred to separate cases in which two men in different places met with the same accident. One man was killed immediately and his dependants received £2500 damages. In the other case, where the man lingered in agony for three weeks beforo death, his de-

pendants were established to be entitled only to payment under the Workers’ Compensation Act, because death was not immediate. The limit under this Act was £IOOO and in this particular case, legal costs, etc., after the case had been taken to the Privy Council, reduced the amount which the widow received to a very small sum. Mr Howard was continuing the ad--1 vocacy of his bill when a vigorous “Hear, hear” from the public gallery surprised the House.’ Mr Howard (without looking up) : I’m glad to hear I have some support from somewhere. The stranger: From a worker. Mr Howard: I’m sorry, Mr Speaker, I thought the remark came from the , floor of the House. The interjector was removed by the police. MINISTER’S STATEMENT. Hon. T. M. Wilford said that he was in favour of amending the present Act by removing the limitation of compensation to iiiOUO and by providing for | full medical and surgical expenses in' case of injury. Mi- W. I>. Lysnar stated that lie did not agree thaf the employer should be called upon to bear all the responsibility in case of accident. He thought that the bill should go before the labour bills committee, the mover had apparently only one object, namely, to secure an advantage tor the workers' and did not consider the elfect on industry. Tile bill would have farreaching effects. Mr W. E. Parry said he considered that an employer should be fully responsible for an accident to any worker in his employ. He complained that mere had been cases in which workers or dependants had been deprived of compensation because the employers had not insured them and had become insolvent. He claimed that this emphasised the need tor compulsory insurance by employers, as contained in the bill. He urged that such insurance should be made a State monopoly, as it was not right that anyone should profit from a worker’s injuries. A State monopoly, by eliminating commissions and other expenses, would leave more money available for payment as compensation and the increases sought in the bill would not cost the State a shilling under this system. Mr T. W. McDonald said that there were, in his opinion, sufficient good points in the bill to justify it being read a second time. He could not, however, subscribe to all the principles it contained. EXISTENCE OF ANOMALY. Hon. W. Downie Stewart said he agreed that an anomaly existed in the present law, as was evidenced by the two cases Mr Howard had mentioned. He thought it was likely that more legislation would follow the introduction of Mr Howard's proposal, and in these circumstances workei'3 might lose, rather than gain. He understood that Mr Howard was agreeable that the matter should go before the labour bills committee and Mr Stewart thought that it was the best course to be adopted. Mr H. E. Holland (Duller) said the remarks of the Minister of J ustire had caused him to hope that the bill would be taken as a Government measure. Mr Howard was hampered by the rule that no private member might introduce a bill that involved an appropriation, and for that reason he had had to exclude the State from the liabilities which it was proposed to place on other employers. If adopted as a Government measure, the bill would not require this exclusion. Hon. W. A. Veitch said he thought the bill, as a humanitarian measure, would receive the sympathetic consideration of the House. He would like to see it go before the labour bills committee. He added that humanitarian proposals at present before the Government would, if all passed into law, cost the State £1,000,000 a year and the Government had to keep that fact in mind. In conjunction with one other member of the Ministry, he had given a good deal of consideration to the question of workers’ compensation, and he anticipated that when the bill was before the labour bills committee he would receive a number of valuable suggestions. He trusted that the present bill, after it had passed through the hands of the labour bills committee, would be received sympathetically by the House. The bill was read a second time on the voices and referred to the labour bills committee. The House rose at 10.30 p.m.