OUR PARLIAMENTARY SPECIAL.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 7416, 13 July 1895, Page 3

OUR PARLIAMENTARY SPECIAL.

THE CUP 0E SHAME

FILLED UP.

THE TREASURER ADMITS THE SPEECH HIS COLLEAGUES

CHALLENGE

'TIS SWEET AND PLEASANT TO LIE FOR ONE'S COUNTRY.

"FORLESS THAN THIS MEN HAVE EEEN SENT TO PENAL

SERVITUDE."

[FBOM OTJB SPUCIAI BBPOETEB ]

[by tbleskaph J

Wellington, Last night.

The galleries of the House were crowded to-night when the Colonial Treasurer made his promised explanation regarding the prospectus issued from the Agent-General's office iv connection with the million and analf loan. Mr Ward was in good form, and iv the half-hour to which, he was coDfiaed delivered a telling speech in defence of the Agont-Goneral and his own actions in regard to the loan. At the onieet he said the reflections which had been made should not have been made without fall and ample information. It was regrettable that an aspersion had boen made for the purpose of injuring men's characters. It was asserted that there were false and misleading statements iv the prospectus, but he did not propose to reply to these till the hon. gentlemen on the other side had expressed their aoinments on that circular. He would take this opportunity of referring to the statement ho had made before the London Chamber of Commerce with regard to the three million securities.

Capt. Kussell said this very afternoon the Premier had assured member thut no reference would bo made to this subject to-night, but ttiat an opportunity would be given to debate it on Tuesday (Hear, hoar).

Tho Premier suid there wis a misanderstanding.

'Ihe Treasurer, resuming, said he had been reported as having said with reference to the early collection of the land tax last year that instead of the colony being hard up it had three millions of unpledged securities in London. He quoted at length from the report of his speech. He had wired to tho J. gent -General whethor his statement was correut, and had this morning received a wire statiug that it was practioally correct. The amount of unpedged securities at the time he spoke before tbe uondon Chamber of Commerce was £2,900,000. Ho detailed how that total was made up, and claimsd that thoae securities were all available and negotiable if an emergency had arisen. When it was disseminated throughout London that tho oolony would have made default if the land tax had not been collected early, he scorned tho idea, and pointed out that it was a baseless aspersion. They had at that time £272,000 in cash at their bankers. The securities had been sent to Loudon at a time when there was a chance of a financial crisis amongst certain institutions, and for tho purpose of maintaining the credit and honor of .Sew Zealand when there was a grave fiuanoial crisis throughout Australasia New Zealand was on the verge of that crisis, and it had been averted by tho bold ttops which were Uken. When tho position was made safe, those gentlemen took upon themselves to discredit what had been done, but when the history of the colony was written thoy would look with shame upon what they had said and done. The statements maae by the hon. gentlemen in Opposition in connection with the financial position of the colony wera detrimental to everybody in New Zealand. Proceeding rapidly, the Treasurer claimed that the conversion operations had resulted in a saving of £466,000, and were operations of which any country in the world might be proud. The representatives of a leading London paper told him that they held letters from New Zealand to prove they had been collaring sinking funds. It was discreditable that such false statements should be made to damage tho credit of the oountry. He was ashamed of nothing he had done in London in oonnection with this loan. The Agent-General h*d made no misstatements. Tbe .agent-General had erred on the side of modesty in reference to the surpluses, having understated them by £175,000, extending over five years. Bis time being up he had to stop, (cheers ).

Sir Robert Btout having congratulated tho Treasurer on his rotura, said he was glad he had oome back, for there had b.-en nobody on the benches who had been able to give the House any information on financial matters. Coming then to serious business, £ir Robert Bbid be charged the statements m*de by Mr in .London with being untrue. J'he

Treasurer has given no apology for them. He had given no explanation of them The statement that there was lying in London at that timo tb r 3e millions' worth of unpledged securities was deliberately untrue.

ihe Speaker interposed, and said he did not think members should use so strong a statement against a Minister of the Crown.

Sir iiobert said he did not know what word to use to exprass himself. He was sorry to say tha statement was not proved by the papers laid on tho tablo of the Houso by the hou. gentleman himself. Last year tho securities tho Treasurer had mentioned were not unpledged securities available under the Publio Revenuo Act for tho colony's use, and altogether they did not amount to two and a-quarter millions. They weie fie savings of invt-tora in tbe Government Insurance, Posb Officb, and Publio Trust Departments. It was damning to the honor and credit of New Zaaland to make such misleading statements. The prospectus issued by ihe Agent-General, ho said, paragraph after paragraph of it was wide of the truth ihe opening paragraph led to the falsa implication thut the money was to be lent on freehold tecurities, and that leasehold properties were not to be Ounsidered. As to the publio debt, he contended that a more mis'ead-ug statement was never penned, and had it buen the ease of a publio company, tha Judge would have characterised it as a bogus prospectus for a bogus company. The Eoudou publio were lod to believe that the increase iv the public d«bt was £1,457.361. instead of £1,894,830 The net debt ought to have been fumUhsd anyone reading the circular would be led to believe that there had been a deorease oi interest and sinking fund, whereas there had been an increase. Sir Robert then entered into a detailed criticism of the statement contained in the _ gentGeneral's circular If the credit ot" tho coiony could not stand the brunt of honest criticism, it would be better to have no oredit They should go to London to state the truth, tho v.hole truth, and nothing but the truth, and there could be no justification for patting anything in to bolster up a credit if they did not possess it Tho colony cou.i not maintain its oredit and raputatiou if they were to have a circular iesue.i. If he (air Robert) had been in the habit of making such statements as the Treasurer had made in London, he would blush to stand before that douse {Ironical laughter.) The colony could not afford to have iis credit injured by such misleading statements as he had just referred to. (Applause).

Tbe Minister of Fduoation said tho debentures referred to by the Treasurer were all debentures whioh could have baun usod to stave off a national crisis As to the ap • peal for the poor deluded Britinh investor, the House might be surprised to know thit there were only thirty successful tenderers, all of whom were astute London financiers. The Colonial Treasurer had been treated on his return by his assailants mora as a notorious criminal than a statesman, who had done a service to his country. After doing such a great service to his country, he found himself assailed not by the Knglish money lender or the envious Australian, 'out by his brother Now Zealanders, the men who should have applauded and thanked hi—l.

Mr George Hutchison blamed Ministers for not treating the question with that seriousness it demanded. The Colonial Treasurer took the role anticipatad from him He bluffed the House and attempted to bluff thoooutitry during Mr Ward's absence from the colony. There had been no justification by his friends for the atuty mouts he had made, except thiit ho had been The '.treasurer him.-elf had neither claimed to bo etiisreported, nor had he attempted to defend himself Had the Treasurer frankly told the British investor that the "unpledged" securities were the savings of those who had put their money in Government Insurance, Public Trubt, and Post Office, what would ttto money lender have thought of a Treasurer who came to them with such securities ? His htatemeut led thorn to believe it was nothing but freohold securities which were offorud. .Then was it competent for he Publio Trustee to send securities to Loudon? What engagement had he in London ? His eugageim .is were all iv tha colony. The Oolonial .treasurer was chdiiman of the fublio Tru-tt Board, and ho had no doubt directed that those securities bo rent to England bimilarly, what right had tho commissioner of publio sinking funds, insurance commissioner, and the post offico, to send securities to London when their engagements were all in tho colony, with those who had invested their tavings with those departments F Wo doubt it had been done at the direction of the Colonial Treasurer. What right had he to say th)se securities were uupledged when they belongod to widows aud orphans in the oolony, whose funds were locked up in those departments ? It was as well to say the Government could seizo tho money iv tho banks, nud oali it uupledged as to call these unpledged securities. Was it to be supposed that the /Agent-General would go to the Bank of England with these securities and ask advances against them, securities whioh belonged not to the Government, but to the depositors. For less thaa thie men had.

i beoa sentenced to penal servitude and j dragged out du-honored lives. 1 Ouprain i ussall complained that the j Treisurer had ev-.idod an explanation in

i defence of the ciioular a'l through, whiU 1 tho,-fi wan studied deception contr-itt'jd with j Mr Ward's ttafc-ment ia London, and that j thi-y were not in kok of funds ax the time tho land tax w-s eol'-eo.-ed. lit- read his (thf ' rißf-urt-i's) re-iim-ks when introducing thfi Land T>ix iiiil, when hufiuid the colony bad not suflicicut money in > ondon to meet tho interest, and that it h-id only £47,0(;0 of d«be_tuf,.P, which was a true e'.oiy. ilo concluded by moviug ia addition to the motion that tho circular bo referred to the Public Accounts Commisriioner for iuvestigalion - .-- 'ihe Premier, in a very heated speech, said he could ouly tako the amendment as a voto of censure on the Colonial Treasurer and th* Government. The figures iv the circular had been taken from public dooumtnrs. The fiuanciers at Home were well able to tako cave of themselves.

Mr Duthie expr.bsed surprise that the Treitsurt-r had ntt the manliness to accept tho responsibility of the circular. Mr Allen said that if at any time thoy culd not meat the interest in London, aoeording to the statement of the Treasurer they could call upon those who had deposits in the Government Insuranoe, Post Office, and Publio Tiust Office, and yield their savings to meet that interest, A temporary advantage had been secured, but the colony would suffer for its misrepresentations when it again became necessary to go to the London money market. The other gpeakers were Messrs Montgomery, Sewman, McLachlan, G. J. Smith, Mackintosh, Flatman, Bell, and Masaey. This day. The debate was continued until aftsr two o'olook, when a division was taken on Captain Russell's amendment, which was lost by 37 to 16. The Treasurer made a spirited reply. He taunted his oppononts, who posed as disciples of truth, with being responsible for the animadversions east upon tho credit of this oolony. Mr Duthie, when in Eng. land, had been guil : y of making such statements.

Mr Duthie : That is not oorrect. It is utterly untrue.

The Speaker: You must withdraw it. Mr Duthie : I have said nothing derogatory to the colony.

ihe (Speaker: You will disobey the chair ?

Mr Duthie: I can't help it,

The Speaker : I cannot allow you to disobey tho chair. I will be sorry if you do not withdraw.

Mr Duthie : Well, I will say it is contrary to faat.

Mr Ward, continuing, said he would not asperse the characters of his opponents as they had tried to asperse his character and that of tbo Agent-General. These securities in London were absolutely locked up, and it was impossible to use them except in the case of a national crisis. It had not been ihown that they had made reokless misstatements, as had been ohar/ed against him, but he had succeeded in ameliorating the effect of the damage of ttatements made against the colony (Cheers). 'ihe motion to lay the prospeotus on tho table was carried, and tho House rose at 3 a.m.

A. iiOOLKS, OHEMIST, has reoeived diroos from ijtearus and Co. a supply of their Famous .iieadacae Wafeiß and fy cyders. Those nr& prompt and effective in their action. A. EOOL3S, MASONIC PHARMAOY.

lam positively selling off. Everything must be sacrificed. Paperhangings, Scrim, Calico, Tacks, Oils, and Colors. Brushes, Varnishes, Mixed Paints, Enamels, Gold Paint, -'heet and Plate Mirror, Glass Shades, and stands. Immense Variety of Pictore frame Mouldings, Cardboard, cat Mounts, &c. lam taaing Work Very low to use up my block which is very heavy. Woodcook's Oil aud Color Stores, Dnlfcou btreet.

Zealandia brand of Boots and Shoes, also Staples and Oo.'s brand of Boots and Shoes. These names are well ana favorably known as colonial makers. Come aud see our prices for these before purchasing elsewhere. Patterson and Co., Central -Stores, Emerson street.

Who is Blooker P I don't know, but I do know that his oocoa is the best iv the market.

Prior to stock-taking the whole of my Stock of Trimmed and Untrimmed Millinery will be cleared out regardless of cost. FnANK bfi__.LK, CASH DRA?EK, E_tEii_ON STREET.