POLITICAL INTELLIGENCE.

Press, Volume XL, Issue 5858, 23 June 1884, Page 3

POLITICAL INTELLIGENCE.

(Bγ Tblkgbjlph.J

VWROX OTTB OOSBXSTOHBXHT. |

WELLINGTON, June2C. After their defeat of last night the Opposition have been t*o much occupied to-day with mutual recrimination over the tthmder which they now see they hare made, to think of any more organised efforts with which to astonish the political world. Consequently, after Mr Seddon and the other West Coast members had been allowed to air thsir local grievances to-day, tiie House got into Committee of Supply and

the Premier made his financial statement. ■- One would think, as it merely proposed to provide temporarily until after the general elections, there would not be very much in it to criticise. However, a number of gentlemen who consider themselves authorities

on finance have ben delivering themselves of their sentiments, and thus the afternoon , - and evening have been spent. The House site again tc-morrow, and is is hoped that tae wll tax i plaoa to-morrow. Some of the information in the now famous Domesday Bcok has been forestalled and laid on the table of the House to-day. Prom this it rppeara that the number of small occupiers of land is very much larger, and that of large landholders is very much less, than is generally supposed. - There are in the colony no fewer than 14,740 persons and twenty-six companies owning pieces of land between five and 100 acres znarea, and 14,248 persons and nineteen companies owning pieces varying in size from 100 to 1000 acres. On the other hand, when we come to larger blocks the numbers <bop off considerably. Owning tracts between 1000 and 10,000 acres in extent there - are 2466 persons and eighteen companies. , Stare are only 215 persons and nine commutes in possession of land of 10,000 acres aad under 50,000 acres in extent; while in aegard to blocks of 50,000 acres and over the names of only fifteen persons and eight companies appear as owners. From the information attached to the

Colonial Treasurer's st&temect, it is pos- -' efl>le to give the exact indebtedness of the ' colony as a whole. The net debt of ' "tte eoiony, after deducting the sinking fund, is .£29,574,902, involving an payment for interest and sinking fund of .£1,548,651. The <3ountiea, Boroughs, Boad, Town, Biver, aad Harbor Boards of the colony owe £4,193,995. In regard to private indebtedness, it appears there ia a sum of --' «£80,016,461 owing on. mortgages, of which JSIS,OIS ] SO4 is foreign capital and - .514£97.557 colonial capital, while exclusive «f mortgagee the debts, deducting the taxpayer* o& the property tax returns, amount Tto £13.Q4Qy000, and by non-taxable persons to about £1,500,000. This gives a total public indebtedness of and a private indebtedness of about £44,556,461. It may be interesting; to mention that •faring the year 1883 84 the number of persons who paid their properly tax was ' 25,460. The taxable property returned las grown from J£72.,500,060 assessed in 1879 to .£85,000,000 assessed in 1882. The

"»»lue of the total real property in the colony is set down at £101,000,000 in ISS3, « against .£93.000,000 in 1880. No fewer than 2045 taxpayers paid the ■ tax on sums under .£IOO, excluding "tts exemption. In 18S3 2674 persons paid «i £100 and und«x jE2OO, and 2189 on iSJQO and nnder JE3OO. Coming to larger I find that 112 person* paid on

Rms between .£50,000 and J2100.000, 44 oa. *nouats being .£IOO,OOO aud JE200,000, and S3 on .£200,000 and over. To put it in - another way, no fewer than 869S pay under £1 5s p«r annum in property tax. ■»Nile going to the ether extreme 543 pay •£62 JOa. The tax on the large properties of je200,0(K3 would amount to ao leas than which sum, no doubt, the owners are Perfectly able to pay. WELLINGTON, Jane 21. ". The eying moments of a Parliament , *Sard little usually that is either diverting - <* edifying, and this particular case £9 not ■•a exception to the general rule. In some Wq«ects the death bed scene has rethat of Sir John FaLstaff. That "'W'nigible old sinner, ifc may be reT »e«ebered, " bahbled o' green fields," the ' has done little else but babble **£>aa fields, concerning which Sir George has J oimd out some great grieTanees i?*^ 6 c&>n tsith the system of leasing. 'Sfaneb, however, as Mr Bollestoawas ?2L» ahoy tiiat the system was origi- ***** b J Si? George himself when Super-

intendent of Auckland, the Knight of Kawau got rather the worst of the en-, counter. Mr Bollesfon evidently had his feelings .deeply stirred by Sir George. Grey's attacks upon him, and went so far as to say that the action of the hon. gentleman was simply taken to prejudice his (Mr Sollescon's) election, and was neither honest nor upright, ithis produced a little "scene," which afforded practically the only relief to the monotony of the day'e proceedings. Mr J. C. Brown rose to order, amd some hubbub ensued, in the midst of which Sir G. Grey, in a voice tinged more with sorrow than with anger, moved that the -words be taken down. The motion waa put to the House, and the solemnity of the occasion evidently produced a great effect upon Mr M. W. Green, who enquired in trembling tones what would be the effect of suok a portentous resolution if it were carried. When theroarsof laughter excited by. this innocent query had subsided, Mr Speaker gravely explained that it would then be for Sir Geo. Grey to make another motion to deal with the conduct of the hon. member for the Avon. The resolution was then put and lost on the voices. As is generally known, the House met specially to-day with a view of pushing on business, with a view to proroguing on Tuesday. This being so, hon. members seemed to vie witk each other in trying who could waste the most time in discussing the kauri gum fields, Otago dummyism, the case of the unfortunate Mr Walker, and almost every other subject under the sun. At times there was no quorum in the House, but fortunately no one called attention to the fact. Meanwhile, the Legislative Council was anxiously waiting for the Appropriation Bills to be sent up, adjourned from hour to hour for that purpose. Had they known how the Lower House were amusing themselves at the time I doubt if even Legislative Councillors would have been proof against the temptation to use profane language. An explanation of the extraordinary loquacity of members on the last days of the session has been furnished to mc. It appears that their object is to address their constituents through " Hansard." Constituents, however, dent see "Hansard' , as a rule, so how is the object attained? The answer is, so I am informed, that members obtain, free of charge or at a nominal expense, hundreds of copies of their respective speeches from the Government Printer, which they scatter broadcast en return home, thus impoverishing the local ' printer at the expense of a long-suffering country. In regard to the debate which took place on the financial statement there is little to be said except that one more proof was afforded of the incompetence of honorable members generally to discuss finance. Mr J. Holmes, who had made some [rash statements on the subject, in particular, received such a slaughtering from the Colonial Treasurer that he is not likely to forget. In conclusion, I may add that it is still hoped to prorogue on Tuesday. To do this, however, a Bitting on Monday will be necessary* The report of the Librarian of the General Assembly Library, which was presented to Parliament to-day, shows that the additions from all sources for the present year were 1526 volumes of all Bizes and on all subjects, and the total collection close on 24,200 volumes. Additional accommodation seems to be urgently required. Stock was taken during the recess, and there were only ten volumes or so of those in the Library three years ago of which the Librarian was unable to find traces.