.jpg)
The Cyclopedia of New Zealand [Otago & Southland Provincial Districts]
[introduction]
The functions of the Legislature in New Zealand are numerous and far reaching. The state is the largest owner of land and receiver of rents, and the largest employer of labour. It owns nearly all the railways, and all the telegraphs and telephones. Under the land transfer law, Government officers do a great portion of the conveyancing business of the colony. The largest life assurance business in New Zealand is also a state institution. Even more interesting is the institution of the Public Trustee, upon whom devolves the care of intestate estates, and whom anyone owning property in New Zealand may appoint as an executor. One of the most noteworthy of the New Zealand labour laws is that which is designed to settle labour disputes by means of judicial arbitration, instead of the old-world methods of the strike and the lock-out. The Land for Settlements Act, the system of Government advances on mortgage to farmers, and dealing with the unemployed through a special department of labour, are the outcome of recent legislation. The colony has also attempted the solution of a problem which has baffled all but two or three of the governments of older countries, namely, provision for the aged by means of an old Age Pension scheme. In addition to the making of laws, the Legislature has ample power to regulate its institutions, and to adapt them from time to time to the growth and progress of the colony, and to its varied requirements. The various branches of the Civil Service are well represented in Dunedin. A number of the Government offices are within the Post Office Buildings, but the Telegraph and Telephone, Customs, Life Assurance, and Public Trust departments occupy handsome separate offices.