The Clutha Leader. BALCLUTHA: TUESDAY, SEPT. 16, 1902.

Clutha Leader, Volume XXIX, Issue 1553, 16 September 1902, Page 2

The Clutha Leader. BALCLUTHA: TUESDAY, SEPT. 16, 1902.

It is expected the present Session of Assembly will close in the course of 4 fortnight or three weeks. With it: will en'l the Fourteenth Parliament of the Colony, and shortly thereafter the country will be in the turmoil and excitement of a general election Members already manifest an impatience to get home to their constituencies before their position can be jeopardised by the blandishments of new wooers for suffrages. Jtidgj ing from present indications, the com. ing election will bring out a large number of new candidates. for polity cal honours, and some keen and ex. citing contests may be expected. Mr John White, solicitor, of Dunedin, has bsen the first in Otago to take the platform in this election, the seat for Chalmers being his aim. Mr White addressed a meeting of olectors stPort Chalmers on Thursday evening, when he very clearly and definitely explained his political position, giviti? very strong and convincing reasoijj for his attitude. Ho announced himself as an opponent of the present Government, but would support sures which he • considered would be beneficial come whence they might. He would not harass the Ministry by senseless opposition, but in tho event of a direct vote of want of onli lonce ho would Vote against the Govern, ment. He recognised that while party government existed, every candidate must take a stand for 01 against tho Government; Independl euts were impossible. Independen Liberals seemed to him to be met who will not make up their minds on way or tho other, and waited to sa which way the cat would jump. E was in favour of an elective executive; that the country should command tfy services of her best men irrespectiw of the party, and that Pariiamen should be supreme, not the Cabinet Regarding the present system, Mr E G. Allan, the present member, haj mid " Members sacrifice their convictions in order to support their party," and Mr Soddon, when sneaking on the Representation Bill in 1887, said: " I do not think I shall able to carry the amondmont, because then is a subservient majority following the hon. gentleman at the head of tht Government, rightly or wrongly, anl it matters not what the question mat be the hon. gmtloman will telP then that if they carry an amendment ii will mean that ho will have to rotira and under that threat, held over then night after night and day after day we lind hon. members going into th< lobby and passing measures agjiitui which they have conscientious convictions " Mr Soddon had now the set vile majority which followed and sup ported him, whether they believed hi was doing right or wrong. Mr Whitt opposed the Government on th< ground of their unsound finance piling up public debt and increase 0 taxation. He quoted the words of th< late Mr Ballance on excessive borrow ing, and from Mr Seddon's budget 0: last year in which he urged the abio lute necessity of prudence and econo my, and that the National oxpenditun should be cut down to tho loweS possible limit consistent with effici ency. Mr Seddon then adde L 1,716,79!* to the public do">t, whic then amounted to L 49,59 L ,245 Thi was an increase of Ll 2,000,000 froi the time when Mr Ballanco advise true self-reliance Last year tho del was increased by L! 5,279,880, and 0 March SI stood at L 51,837,631. K White asked his hearers to carefull consider these figures: In 1892 Job Ballance borrowed L 081.898, and tb debt stood at L97,G75,20G ; in 19C i{ J. Heddon borrowed L1,716,7 ( J1 and the debt was L' 18,557,751; i 1902 Mr Seddon and Sir J. Wat borrowed L 3,279,880, and tho del was L 51,887,681. This year 190S 1 03. Sir Joseph Ward had take power to borrow under loan for publi works, land settlements, and otM Acts, L 4,490,000. This braught tt total indebtedness to 31st March nes Lr)6,327,631. Instead of tho wis and prudent policy by Mr Seddon, Sir J. (

Waul said it would bo ruiffl ous tn "goslow," and his folio" ors supported him in increasing thj public uebt by over four and a hu millions. In his Financial Statement Sir L G. Wind said the expenditure last year was abnormally larger, being L 5,895,014 or L4lG t 2ll in excess oj 11)00 1 which l.'illeryear was in excess of the previous year. I.uteri est and sinking fund bad gone i)|j L58,82y. The estimated expenditure for the current, year is L') 1,119 in ex-j cess of last year's expenditure. Id* terest and sinking fund is increased by L 89.000 ; thus in two years interest and sii king fund have increased by the large sum of L 147,323, this ifl l crease representing 3s lOd per head o| every European man, woman, child in the colony. The Governj ment taxation now amounts to hi m 3d, and the local taxation to LI Isif

—a total of L 5 4s per head of the ~ population. Mr White believed the disaster Mr Ward feared from a " go 3low " or diminished borrowing policy was a jstoppage of public works and discharge of the men which would mean the dismissal of the Ministry from office. Mr White severely criticised the construction- and' management of the railways. Since 1896 the sum of L 1,826,000 has been spent in-the construction of 1 ailways and at present L 1,825,831 were lying in unopened lines. During the 10 years the Government hnd been in office they hrd only constructed 16 miles of the North Island Trunk Railway. There were still 140 miles to construct which was supposed to be completed in two years. There bad been terrible waste in the work ; for instance the Government

received a tender to complete the Mokohine viaduct in two and a half years at a cost of L 48,000. The Government decided not to accept the tender, but to have the work carried out by co-operative labour. The work has been in hand for six years and was supposed to cost Ll 10,000, but the Minister declined to give the exact figures. Dealing with Defence matters, Mr White pointed out that the expenditure had grown from L 56.570 in 1894,t0 L 198.184 in 1901. The total sum voted last sesaon was L 447,000 He strongly condemned

the Government treatment of the returned troopers in not promptly paying them. No member of the Ministry neglected his own pay, yet they failed to pay the returned troopers which he considered an outrageous scandal. He reviewed the circumstances in connection with the South

African trade, pointing out that the Government were no nearer having a direct line of steamers than they were two years ago and if the colony had not lost the trade, they had now every chance ot losing it. He advo- r cated that the Legislative Council should eilher beelective orbeabolishgd. He favoured land settlement in every form, the best form in his opinion being freehold and every man should have an opportunity of converting his property into a freehold if be wanted to. He favoured free education right through from the public schools to the University and was in favour of Bible-reading in schools ; not teaching, but daily reading of

the Bible by the teachers and the daily repetition of the Lord's Prayer. He approved of old age pensions and would like to see the amount

raised to 10s a week. He would

stretch a point to favour local industries in. every form In conclusion Mr White asked the electorgto apply the following three tests to the election (1) Good government, (2) sound finances, (8) pure administration and to vote for the men they believed would best carry them out. Being first in the field, Mr White has thus appropriately supplied a key note for the coming election. Should this note be followed, and the tests applied, the election will result in many much-needed reforms and usher in the dawn of a brighter day for many in New Zealand.