HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. Yesterday's Afternoon Sitting. The financial debate.

Evening Post, Volume XL, Issue 9, 10 July 1890, Page 4

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. Yesterday's Afternoon Sitting. The financial debate.

Dr. FITOHETT, resuming the debato on the Firianoial Statement, reviewed the ColonlalBeoretary's spoeoh oftho previous sight, and oompared the Freetrade snpporterß of the Government,— who quite lately cursed the Ministry and everything belonging to them— to minute joints in the tail of the hon. member (or Wakatipu (Mr. Fergus.) With the Premlor absent, and none of his colleagaoa able to do anything nntil they had consulted him by telephone, their adminig. tration waa a mere travesty of representative • government. As there seoniocl no proapoqt of Sir Harry Atkinson being able to resnmo +JkAi plaoe in the House, he appealed to MinUtora to go to the country for the sake df Parliamentary decency. ' Mr. QOLDIE f onnd f anlt with the Government for not having hastened their oft?rom!sed. classification of the Civil Sertioe. 'ouohing npon recent appointments to the aetvioe, no alluded to the sons of Messrs'. G. 6. Cooper, and Haielden, and Lient.-Colonel Hnme, h,eada of departments, aa being" tfow - evidently 1 parts of the governing families of New Zealand, who mnat be provided for by the State. Aa to Colonel Hnme, it seemed thai the Government had to tend Some for a man to take the Inspectorship of Prisons, instead of appointing the moat deserving of the head gaolers within the colony. Now that . they had him, it appeared that he waa ospable of doing ao much work that the inspectorship of Volunteers and the Commisiionenhip of Police had been added to his duties'. To ascertain hia salary three entries in the Estimates had to be searched, and it then ' appeared that he waa drawing .£2OO a year more than Ministers themselves. Again there wu the scandal exposed by the Evtsnimq Post of the 18th Jane, by which a man wai smuggled into the Treasury Department after a few weeks' sorvioe in the Police foroe— thua violating the Civil Service Act —and plaaed in a permanent berth over the heads of several iunior Treasury oftioers. In the light of these facts was ill surprising that there waa in the de* partmentiu buildings a seething mass of indignation against a Government 'whioh pat into the Governor's month about three yeara ago a promise that merit would receive its reward. Even the late Stout- Vogel Government had done much more towards placing the Civil Servic* on a proper footing than had the present Ministry, in apite of all their promises. He found fault with the plaoing of the sohool buildings vote under the control of the Minister for .Eduoation, as tending to extravagance and partiality, in that the money would not be apent whero it waa moat needed, but rather where the greatest preaaure oould be exerted. The steps taken to abolish the Pnblio Works Department had been altogether misleading, for many of the officials had simply been transferred to a newly • created oranoh, having the oare of pubho buildings, while others were distributed amongst other departments. He reviewed the Premier's political oareer of the last few years to show that his professions of economy had always been inconsistent with hia praotioea. Indi oating how, in his opinion, savings oould be effeoted, he olaimed that the cost of maintaining children in industrial schools oould very readijy be reduced by 48746 per annum ; thap in tho Prisons Department— in spite of Colonel Hume's English experience !— .£9390 per annum could be saved; that native * iphoola— which now ooat £7 la per aoholar ai against £3 15s in tho oaae of the primary schools — oonld bo administered by the Boards at a cost of £5000 leas than waa spent by the preaont separate department j that all increases now propoied in salaries over 4150 should be strnok off, amounting in the aggregate to between £4500 and £5000. Again, it was improper to set down in the Estimates to large a aum as nearly £100,000 for contingenoiea, to be probably apent in salaries for men the House knew nothing about. Instead of money being voted in this blind' fashion there should be a vouoher shown for every item. It would be possible to reduce the capitation grant for primary edtaoation, but that should only be done as a last resource. Tho ooat of inspection, for example, waa capable of very considerable reduotion, and ao also was that of sohool buildinga. Ministers, also, ought to be able to reduco their allowances, whioh last year exoeeded'the statutory limit of £1000 by £606. Perhaps it would be said that holding theae opinions he otaght to be found on the Opposition side of the House. But the fact waa that he had no faith in either party. The only thing to be done was to make an appeal to. the country and lot a new Parliament, whioh was in touch with the public, take up the work of Mr. FISHER thought the prime fnnotion or tne Opposition just now waa to convince the oountry first of the utter helplessnoss and incapacity of the present Government. •?d? d I "BP^™t^-»»H*n«i>lk«l been ohangedlmtoa disorderly rabble, whioh ought to be turned out of doors aa quiokly as posBible. Public i toga* had, undergone great change since the House waa elected, and the ma]ontyofOieHonße,whoreaJlyWreBented that publio feeUng, wasover-ridden bya bare majority whioh did not. The only proper course, therefore, waa an earlj> appeal to the elootors. Touohing upon the Federation question, he expressed the hope that the delegates to the next convention w6uld be sett, from the Parliament, and not from the Goy«rament-that U would comprise the Colonial Secretary and the leader of the OpPOfi^n. The only fault ho oould find with the aotioo of the delegates to the last conference was that they went rather far in expressing the intention of New Zealand to hold aloof from the Australian federation. It was rathe*, iunwiss. to do anything to endanger the making of reciprocal Customs tariffs, .On the subjaot of taxation, he found that 4} million aores of land wore held by absentees, banks, and, companies. These should b« made 1 to bear thejr sharo of the oolony's bnrdens.' Having alluded to Cap. tain Buasell as the oourfeous and pleasant member of the Ministry, he passed on to epe&koi " £b« disooorteoiuKsncl nnpleaaant Ministers,"' and >sked. whither itwas not now, evident Mr. Hialop's denial the other day that two members of the Government owed tho Bank of Ne«r ' Zes-' land £60,000 .was premature and , untrue. Would the Minister now repeat the afate> mentt-^H* aoouaed the two member* of the 'Goferwcnent with having made mis■UtottftatsJMftsasion about the publication pi We uaapartni boVrospondenoe, aud assnrad the House that had he known they wquld have indulged in auch •bomioable intrigues loinedthehrGoieinmerit. . Warmly condemntag , the ladTanooS 1 to the New Plyttionth Harbour Bo*rd,haatated thit H waaivident tha^ ao long «a the present Government held power the Taranakf Province wouW have its hand in the Tress.i,ry till. As to the exoossiye expenditure of last 1 year on Ministerial ■Jlowanaer, he qutstioiied whether either the BBnisUra or the Controller-General ahould ,£6OO. The desire of the Opposition in tho

ldto "Nd-c&nfiderico THohon " was not to Beouro office, but simply. to_ obtain an appeal to tho' constituencies ana lot thorn decide wheth or °^ liot *^° QOT3rQ OT3rn * .raentipariy repreientfed their viows. ilf the oitfcona of WollinKton declared that they did not wi»h"him (Mr. Fitter) to rppreßMt tbett, he would accept their verdiot witli ptrfeot ctiuaniinity. Un<. what ho did desire waa tho chance to submit himself an 1 hw position' to' their arbitrament. The Financial Statement, in bis opinion, was a very linßoientiGp Budget baßcd upon a very unreal aurplun. The Colonial 'I'reaanrer profetmed to be anon-borrowei, but hia. whole scheme was really baßod npon borrowing. .There iyhh ovidonco in the doonmont itself Of anal antborshipV flHpooially in tho diversity of opinion as td tho Btato of trade )n tho colony.' Quito lately ho had travelled through tho oountry, and ho asked anybody who s 'oho»e to go amongst the working classes and see for themselves whethor it was true, as stated by the Treasurer, that as a body they were wellhousod, well-clothed, and well-fed. Why, overy publio man waa besieged day by day with applications from persons who could find no employment— and this too not amongst tbo thriftless classos. He oould find fifty of such men to-morrow, and all of them honest and willing to be indu»trious. In showing' that no real surplus existed, Mr. Fisher Htated in pasning that he held in his band * letter sent to a contractor aßking that hj« aoconnt . should not be presented until aftor the end of tho financial year. The outsUmlini? liabilities of tbowlony amounted to £152,000, bo what wrb the use of Ulklnfr about thft alleged net surplus of £33,000 when that sum had to be provided for. Tho continuance of tho primage duty waß not really auked for on aooount of school buildings, but simply to provide for the ever-growing interest charge, whioh Ministers always kept oartfully iii the book-ground. He condemned tho system of apparont petty surplnsea as being calonlated to lull the publio into a feeling that tlioro was no occasion for watchfulness over the colony's finances. Where, apart from these snrplnaoß, was tho Ministerial policy? The hon gontloman'a remarks were interrupted by the 5 SO adjournment. .Evening Sitting. Mr. FISH BR, resuming his speech at 7 30, (aid that the evening papers contained further correspondence, whioh seemed to indicate that fresh efforts were to bo made to Saddle the oolony with the liabilities of the New Plymouth Harbour Board. He hoped the Houao would sot its faoe against any »ueh course. The credit of tho oolony would not suffer if this wero done, for the AgentGeneral had given his opinion that any effect upon its atookß by default of the Harbour Board would be only transitory. The bonds of the Board bore aoroas their faoe a distinct statement that the colony was not liable. PrpoeediDg with his oritioism of the finanoes, ho pointed out that tho interest-chargo hod increased during the year by £61,108 t and not only awallowod up all the property tax and Customs revon'uo, but also all the registration and other fees, amounting to £38,700. Ho ridiouled the Ministerial expectation of another Burplus next year, and enlarged upon the seriousness of the drain upon the colony for payment of interest, and submitted that it was foolish to shut one's eyea to the position. Rotronohment to a far greater oxtont than the £50,000 now demanded, but it could be done without flying to the Civil sorvantß' salaries. In view of the known ' withdrawal of capital from the" 'oolony, the Treasurer's vision about "substantial progress," and "the i drain of prosperity," was plainly absurd. The Colonial Secretary's statements of the emittiation returna were all very well so far as they went, but betwoen February, whon the flow of Exhibition visitors had ceased, and the end of May, the colony lost 2431 persona. The returna for June were not yet available, but ixb he spoke there were 400 people in steamers alongside the Queen's •Wharf about to leave the colony. Within five years Now Zealand had lost 18,500 souls in the interobange of population with other colonies. The only remedy for the difficulties of the oolony was retrenchment in tho proper dirootiona— by lopping off uaelesa expenditure, such as that on worthless aurvoya in Taranaki provinoo (made in the effort to superaede tho North Island Truuk Railway), and the expenditure upon the Kaihu Valley Railway. Concluding, Mr. Fisher said the oountry would never prosper while the present Government remained in offioe, with its primage duty and property tax, and its refusal to retrench, and ho thotefore urged an immodiate appoal to tbe oountry. (Cheers.) Mr. SCOBIE MACKENZIE dissected Mr. Fishor's speeoh at some length, and described it as showing inoonsiatenoy run riot. Alluding to Mr. Hutchison's ohargea against tho Government, ho agreed that if Ministers had ao far prostituted their positions as to favour the Bank of New Zoaland or any other institution at tbo eiponso of the oolony, they ought to be swept oS the benohes liko bo many oobwebs. But after reading the proofs of Mr. Hutohison's speech he found that there was nothing in the ofaorgeß beyond tbe faot that certain Ministers had been indebted to the Bank. He depreoated the politioal snobbery and pnrse-pride whioh made comparisons between those who were rich and those who had the misfortune to possess overdrafts, anS olaimed that there waa no reason why a man who had a debit balance shonld not be as honeßt as tho most wealthy man 'in the oonntry. He defended the re-imposition of tho primage duty, questioned the sincerity of Mr. Ballanco'a demand for further retrenohment,,,and asked how that gentleman could expect the Government to abolish the property tax, seeing that he and hia colleaguea (Sir Robert Stout and Sir Julius Vogel) had boen unable to do ao when in office. Mr. Maokenzie also approved of the land administration of the Government, but thought that more land might have been thrown open. The surplns could not be used for reduoing our debt or taxation, and so for practical purposes was no Burplus at all. He was not altogether satisfied with the Finanoial Statement, because, though it indicated that there was to be no more borrdwing, no proposal was made for winding it up. Concluding, ho felt oerta<n that tho people of the oolony would realise the necessity of keeping the present Opposition out of office. The country wonld know that .there was no need for a second session this year j that if one oame about it would be due to the efforts of that potty whoso policy wag miaohief whon in office and obstruction when out of it. (Cheers). Mr. JOHN MKKNZIK having oritioised the last speaker'a remarks, proooeded to condemn the land policy of the Government, blaming thorn especially for having killed the perpetual lease eyhtem. It waa impossible for the Government to oarry on any business in the prosent House, for their party wonld not allow them to do so. Ihe sooner therefore they got six months' auppliea and dissolved the House the better it would be tor all parties. Mr. WITHY (having announced that as he would be unable, for some years at any rate, to take part in publio life, bia speech could not be regarded as a manifesto to his constituents) analysed the transactions of the last three years to show that the Government had retronohed only to tbe extent of £174,500 instead of the £290,000 they olaimed. They had honestly tried to keep their pledges to economise until last yoar, when they began to go uphill again. Mr. Withy aocepted hia share of the opprobrium attaching- to members of the "Skinflint Committee," and spoke at length in support of his aotion. ' He- was opposed to the continuance of the primage duty, and if tbe expenditure had not beeninoroased last year by £71,000 there would have been no necessity for ill. In this, as in some other respects, ho approved of the amondment moved last week by Mr. Ballanoe, but remembering tho mismanagement of the StoutVogel Government, ho could not do anything that would tend to put that party into power. At the same time he confessed that he was not satisfied with the present 1 Government, and that it was a vory difficult matter for him to deoide whether to vote* to keep them in or not. , Mr. R. THOMPSON moved the adjournment of the debato to 2.30 to-day. An amendment by Mr. SEDDON to make the adjournment till Friday was lost, and the original motion oarried. The House rose a few minutes before midnight.