HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

Ashburton Guardian, Volume XXI, Issue 5454, 24 August 1901, Page 3

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

Wellington, August 23 Tita House met at 2 30 p m, The Rhodea Trust Bill passed its final Bfc*g«3, The Second Hand Dealers Bill, Opium Prohibition Bill, and Evidence Further Amendment Bill, were introduced and read a ffrat time,

&.u Imprest Supply Bill for £&08 ( 000 was introduced by Governor's message*

Mr Hereiea complained that the Lands t Railways, and Mines reports had not yet been laid oa the -table, and aaid Is was impossible 60 properly debate the Financial Statement without them.

Mr Laos rtfarred to the uselessnesa of the PabUo Petitiona Committee, pointing out it waa very eeldom that reoomtneEdationa tn&da by that Committee were given effect to by the Governments Sir J Ward said that the Lands and Railways reports were being prepared as rapidly ac possible, and Government hoped fco present them 60 the House within the next three or four days. Wibh regard to Mr Lang's complaint, he said the petitions that wera referred ta Government had to be mrsially analysed and supervised, as in tome oases Oomtnitteei were inclined to be too generous. Mr R McKeezie thought the Snanoi.il debate should be postponed till theae reports were'brought dowo. Several other membera urged it w*» not fair to aak the Houae to criticise the State' meat until members wero in possession of thu faHeist information.

Mr G W RusbsU said if these reports were delayed by a block in the Government Printing Offioc, it should be brought up to date and properly equipped with $11 modern appliances. Mr Seddon said it waa quite true the printing office had nod the linotype, but he would prefer to find work for men rather than displace them by theae labour saving appliances. On the motion to go into Committee of Supply, on the BiU, Mr Fisher moved as an amendment " That the order given by the Minlatef in charge of the Sovernment Printing Office directing the Government Printer non to issue reports of members speeches from Hansard ia an infringe* meat of rights and privileges of members of this Koubo,* Aa this notice of motion was not ob the ord@r paper, it waa ruled out 0! ordert

Mr HftllJonea thereupon moved, "That in the opinion of this House it is desirable that members speeches be reprinted by the Government Printer as hitherto."

After a short debate, the motion was agreed to on the voices, and the Bill waa put through all its stages without amendment. On the motion of Mr Hall Jonea, the Hospital Norses Registration Bill was iteoosntnltted in Committee.

The Minister moved to amend clause 4, * who niay be registered,' by doing &w»y with tbe provision that the matron of & hospital ia which & nurso lias graduated shall be herself a certificated nurse.

TbSewss agreed to without debate, aacl the Home roie afc 5.30 p m

(The House resumed at 7,30 The Hospital Nurses Registration Bill was read a third time and pawed, under the title of The Nurses Registration Bill. The Rotorua Town Council Validation and Extension Bill was put through its final stages. At 7.60 the debate on fche Financial Statement was opened by Captain Russell, who commenced by referring to the abseneo of returns necessary to enable them to properly discuss the financial position of the colony, aud to verify the figures in the statement. There wae through the statement a subdued tone of irony—a complete tone of insincerity, and he anid the Premier had trusted the people very little, and in every department had carried on a policy of bribing the people. The great increase in the public debt had caused the very gravest alarm throughout the colony, and if there was odh one man more than another to whom was due thai; alarm it was the Premier

himself. Ib was the duty of the Premier to have taken steps to allay the alarm caused by his own statements, as there was every reason to believe he was accurately reportedMr Seddon—l did not- report them, and there was no reporter present* Captain Russell said it must have been brought to the notice of the Premier, and if

he knew it was inaccurate he ought to have

had It corrected. The figures eftheFioenoial Statement were snob as to lead anyone to think there was eerious danger ahead, and it would have been far better, instead of making a large inoreaae in the departmental expenditure, to have taken other slips to prevent what fas himself suggested—an increase of taxation* There was, he went on toaay, & falling off of £24,148 in the Customs returns for the June quarter, or at the rate of £100,000 a year, although th%t wan the quarter which was the least likely to ebow a shrinkage. Ib appeared that the Premier had endeavoured to mislead the House by saying thtio the increased expenditure was due to the Roy-» 1 visit, bu'; it must be retrembered thr.t the visit took plaoa six weeks or ho after the end of the fiaaneial year, which was very little affected theceby, and yet in spite of that, the Premier r< - ferred to the elasticity of the revenue, H4| believed at do time since he bad been a farmer had prices been so low, and the reduced spending power must result in a general end all round reduction of Cuatoma and railway revenue, Ho quoted figures in support of hia contention, that the railways were being lunafea losg, and pointed out that as most of the railways' loan money oo'et 4 per cent., and aaiSways wero only required to pay 3 per cent; an injustice was being done to the oountry Concessions, it appeared^ were being made irrespective of any true finance, aad were due merely to a desire to in some way bribe the people. The impression the Statement gave was that it was the laab the Premier would bring down, end that he wanted to show how mnoh better things are paw than when the presenb Government carfe* into office. He showed, however, that the progress of the railways during the ten years previous to 1891 was greater ia proportion to the money borrowed than for the vat ten yeare, while tha difference was still more marked as between the past three years and the three years previous to the present Administration coming into office, Despite the heavy expenditure by the Government the popu. Ution had not JHoreascd, and he believed the Government had unsettled every industry and done unconscionable harm generally by their folicy, The money they were now borrowing for tha compulsory purchase of estates would be better employed in opening up fresh country, instead of driving people off land which was already settled and payiDg rates. He could not see how, if bhe existing line!! of steamers could not make the Cape trade pay, the Government would achieve any greater measure of success, but it was possible the question of cool storage at the Cape was worthy of consideration

Mr Napier, who followed, eaid that Captain Russell had accused the people of New Zealand of aooepting bribes, and he sub' mitted that the accusation was an insuifc to an overwhelming majority of the peop!e of New Zealand. He gave credit to the Gr >vernm<mt for having inoreaaed the salaries of able men in tio Oivii Service as against the reduction carried out by the Atkinson Government whenever bad times cam\ Captain Bubsbll was urging the cessation of public works—(Captain Russe'l —•No')—and the running of the railways on commercial linea, That was the poltey of the Opposition, to make public services earn Buch profit that taxation would be lightened and they would escape legitimate contributions to the exchequer, which they were aow paying through the graduated land tax. As to the railways earning 3 per cent, and being run on commercial principles, that policy meant; that the railways couid not be used for opening up the country. Tha primary object of our railways ought to be to open up the oouotjry, whioh must result in a considerable advantage to the State, As to the '.cocease io the public debt durtag the past year, naora than half of it was directly producing interest), and a great pajit of the remainder was expended in psrmae-at works which formed » very large asuatt He defended the vote for the expaDasa of the Dttoal visir, and justified the increases in the Education and Defence votes. He hoped some practical proposals Would be submitted for seoarlog the parmanency of the San Franoisco mail service, and advocated the speedy construction of the North Island Main Track railway, Mr Jab Alien urged that the Premier's own words in hia Statement meant that unless care waa exercised the salaries would hays to be kept down. Bribery had bsen incited by the Premier in going to the constituencies and urging that they could nob expect assistance unless they supported him. As to the Government being willing to pay for ability, he could give a long Hsb of men who had left the eervioe of the oulony because the Government had nob paid them sufficient for their work! Referring to the surplus, ha said they must deduct £70,000 excess of

liabilities this year over last year, besides which the Government had for yea-8 been putting loan money into the revenue aide of the accounts. He believed the Premier made the remarks to the West Coast deputation, because every word was borne out by the Financial Statement, The Premie; preached prudence and economy, yet the Budget said it was proposed to make An increase in the expenditure of £284,000* Ha pointed out that laat quarter there was an excess of £362,000 expenditure over revenue. The exoeas had never been so great* We were now unable to faoe the London money market, and the Premier thought! he would exploit New Zealand and Australia* Since 1891 the actual borrowing had amounted to £12,549,000, and the Premier knew it was time to consider whether that pojicy of heavy borrowing ought to continue* The most serious matter in the Statement, however, was that there ought to have beon a bihooe of £143,000 in ways and means of t'le Ti.blio Works Account cm the' 7'3lst March last, but that balance was not there;

The debate was interrupted at 10*30 o'clock, and the House adjourned till 10.30 a m on Tuesday