REPLY TO THE PREMIER.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 335, 23 October 1908, Page 8

REPLY TO THE PREMIER.

SPEECH BY MR. J. ALLEN. THE LAND QUESTION AND TAXATION. (b; telegraph—pfess association - .) Stirling, Octobor 22. Speaking at' Stirling to-night, Mr. J. Allen devoted a large portion of his speech to a reply to tho Prime Minister's speech at Palmerston North on Monday night. The Prime Minister, lio said, had referred to Mi. Massey's criticism of the audit system. Mr. Massey had criticised the fact that the revenue of certain departments was not audited by the Auditor and Controller-General. Mr.-Massey had also more than once made reference to the "tags." which were continually appearing in the accounts. Iho answer 'to tno I'remier's criticism that lie had a clean balance-shcet now was this: that owjn" to tho criticism of the Opposition, Parliament had recently brought the revenuo of those departments vritlnn tho control''of ,t-ho Audit Department. Further, Parliament amended the law to permit tile accounts to be passed without the tags, and that was why they were not there now: Mr. Massey and other Opposition members . also wanted details of expenditure, and constantly complained that the public accounts of the colony were not _ rendered till just about the rising of Parliament. Land Policy. : Sir J. Ward's references to , tlia land policy of the Government wero entirely misleading, if the sentences were read by themselves. For • instance, _ there , was the sentence, "All Crown land in every district is opened under the;. optional system, wnichis cash occupation with right _of purchase and-renewable lease," which, if read by itself, was misleading. Sir J. Ward knew as well as any 'other member of Piarhament, who knew anything about it, that 80U,UUU acres of Crown land'were now tied up as available for lease only. He (Mr 1 . Allen) could not understand why Sir Joseph Ward Lad so framed his speech. The Premier also referred to ■ the fact that undei the renewable lease 482 persons had taken up 181,000 acres, but from his figures it was easy to see only 69,000 acres of the ordinary Crown lands had been taken up, and the balance was under, the Land for oettlements.Act. 'The answer,' to that was that , it was a small number of persons as coinpared with previous years taking up land, and, further, that they/had no other system under which to take if, and had to take it under that or not take it at all. Sir Joseph ; Ward aiso said that power was given to the lease-in-perpetuity holder to purchase under the Land Bill, but ' it might be taken for ' granted ' that the only occasion . on which the lease in perpetuity holder, would .go,purchase was when tne present .value of his land had fallen below that at,which he took it up. If 'he then bought it would be a loss to the State, and'ho (Mr. Allen) did not think that could be commended. The Mortgage Tax. Then, he couldn't understand the Prime Minister's statement about . the mortgage , tax. He said ,if it were taken off a man would borrow and pay interest for the sake of escaping his land tax. Did he mean to say that the man would escape the graduated land tax? He knew perfectly well that the imortgage tax was not deducted from- the graduated land tax. With respect to the ', ordinary, land tax, would any man be foolish ; enough to mortgage his land to • permit him to escape the small amount of tax that he might be able to escape under the circumstances?- Further, if that were so why did ithe Ministry of .which Sir Joseph Ward was a member begin the reduction by taking a farthing off the mortgage tax? . Taxation. Then he came to the question of taxation per head. Sir Joseph Ward's answer ■to Mr. Massey's criticism on the point was, he submitted, no answer at .all. To quote the fact' that the rate of Customs was reduced was quoting what everybody knew, but that did not get. rid of the fact that under the Customs tariff of last year, although there were very large reductions made in some ■things, there were increases made in others. The great list of preferential duties that the Prime Minister increased in number last year all added to the taxation, and Sir Joseph Ward could not deny that the rate of taxation'upon some classes of boots, upon hosiery, and other lines, was increased. The fact could not be denied that the Government taxation, together with local taxation, now amounted to £6 3s. 3d. per head, or a rise of 9s. 4d. per head between 1906 and 1907. - It mighty be true that part of this - . was due to'the increased) spending power of the people. It was also due to increased valuations which returned more taxation even though the rate was not increased'. Parliament. Buildings. With regard to the Parliament Buildings "and the Premier's criticism of' Mr. Massey's statement that parliamentary buildings and Government buildings would cost half a million, he could not understand the Premier's statement, and thought ho must have been misreported. Sir Joseph Ward said the estimated cost of the new;parliamentary buildings would be £180,000, Government House ■ £25,000, and Government Buildings £200,000. Then he finished his statement by saying: "So that the expenditure for the three buildings, assuming that the whole of the parliamentary buildings ,-were erected on the Government House site] meant a total sum of £225,000." . Surely this must be a misprint, because he made' the total of the three £405,000, and he ventured to say when it was" all completed it would be nearer half a million than that sum. Other Matters. Sir Joseph Ward's-remarks on the "gag" clause .were amusing. Now he said he did not intend it to be a gag clause. What, then, did he intend it for? More, he said, was put into the clause than was intended. Well, no one could tell what the Premier intended, but there could be no shadow of doubt that the clause did away with the freedom . of speech of individuals and freedom and comment by the press. Sir Joseph Ward's reference to the mining and agricultural industries was a laboured attempt to justify the attitude of the Government towards these two industries. When it came to expenditure of money appropriated to help them, these industries suffered _ more than any" others by way of non-expenditure. Tour- . ists and health resorts, got more than was voted for it, but mining and roads for settlers got a great deal less than was appropriated. - Mr. Allen also dealt with a number of other statements by tho Premier, and at the close of his remarks was accorded a vote of thanks and confidence.