HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.

Evening Post, Volume L, Issue 41, 16 August 1895, Page 4

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.

TeSTEEDAT'b AITIRNOON &ITTINQ. THE FINANCIAL' DEBATE. Mr. M'Nab said he did not approve of the operations under the Consols Act. He warmly praised the administration of the Agricultural Department, and thought much Motion would have been avoided if the Advances to Settlers Act had not come into operation til] after 3 tat March. Mr. M'Gniro condemned the Budget as misleading and fiotitions. The policy of the Government had stopped enterprise and robbed people of their^self-reli&nce. The Hon. Mr. Larnach said there was little either good or ill in the Budget, and he disagreed with tho tariff proposals altogether. If further revenue was required it should have been got by a graduated stamp duty on cheques and receipts. The proposals of the Budget would do little good to industry. There should be much more done for the mining industry, especially in the way of establishing large water rpserves To meet the unemployed difficulty there ought to be enclosures and sheds near the railway stations at the chief centres, to which the trains could run in stone in bulk and firewood in bulk, to be broken and cut up at a ruling wage, so that men out of work wonld know they could get work there wet or dry at a certain price That would prevent men coming to want, and afford a degree of relief At present every difficulty met miners who desired to Bettle down on land. The railways should assist the mining industry. The working of the Advances to Settlers Act was producing much difficulty. The Board and the Commissioner were officers with already too much to do in other departments. If the system was to be a suooess there must be an independent Board, and a. separate department. He had communications from the Tuapeka Farmers' Union showing that tho present system was neither reasonablo nor just. The Treasurer was to be congratulated on what he did for the colony in London. Mr Ward h«d said that members had olaimed that money conld not be raised at 3 per cent , but there was one member (applause) who had not only said this was possible, but showed exactly how it conld be done (Applause) There had been no acknowledgment of this member having pointed out the way. (The Premier—" Oh, yes. 1 !) Well, none from any Minister. (Applause.) (Mr. Larnaoh had read from Hansard his speech of last year on the Advances to Settlers Bill, which has been already quoted in the Evjwino Poet.) The same member, in 1878, was the first to anggest that the Bank of England should not as the oolony's bankers. He was laughed at then, but he was able to convince Sir Penrose Julyan, and the result was an interview of the loan agents with the Bank, whioh after three days accepted the colony's banking ; and that was the first time one of the colonies had its business nndertaken by the Bank of England. (Cries of " Name the member.") Well, it was the member for Tuapeka. As to the Bank of New Zealand business, Mr. John Mnrray was 3?% If-t?^ w « h ?? £ c wanil ge d to foist the liabilities of the Bank on to the colony. There was one of two alternatives «s aresult now. They must either put the Bank and the Assets Company in a satisfactory position or wind them up. After Mr. Murray had accomplished his mission he very Boon took himself qnt of the colony. With him it was 8k transit gloria mundi. The Government talked of our having been experiencing *! period of " financial rest "-that was financial decay, financial senility, financial rot. The Government should oome down boldly to borrow ,£5,000,000 (sensation) to complete unfinished works. The country was now losing, money by these works being unfinished. (Mr. Dnncan — Why stop at JE5,,000,000?) Well, it would be a beginning, and would last out this century. The country was ripe for n. more progressive polioy, and wonld not thank us for this Bip Van Winkle Btyle of liying. The Treasurer was quite right in oaUing the securities " unpledged " if they ' were not pledged by the Government. They could pledge them if necessity arose. 'Jhe kindest thing he oould say of the Budget was that the mountain had been in labour and had brought forth a mouse. Evening Sitting. Mr. Tanner said that with the present system of finance they oould look to the disappearance of tho sinking funds in a few years, and then, nnless they adopted thr polioy suggested by Mr. Larnaoh, they would havß to enter on a period of drastiu retrenchment, whioh might have to include tho oessation of public works and of assistance to local bodies. The increase of the ptzblio debt through a long period was alarming. The country was already bearing neavv burdens, and expenditure was mereasing year by year, so that a deficit niußt come in the near future unless there wbr oareful administration. He strongly advooated a thoroughly protective tariff. The highest duty should be on woollen goods, and the heavy importations of prison goods should be oheoked. Small remissions would never reach the consumer, and he wonld vote against the remissions on tea and kerosene. The treaties were dangerous experiments, and the Canadian treaty particularly objectionable. The Government had oome baok with a swamping majority to secure land for settlement of the people of thetgwns, and if Ministers longer delayed giving effect to the de B ires of these people ttey would have to deal with them. Mr. Button warmly oritioised various pro- - Mr. Stevens highly commended the Treasurer for his achievements in England, freetrade was a fallacy. It would be a bad \ day for New Zealand if the critics of the " tariff snoceeded in getting suoh a policy ■ adopted. , * ■ Mr. Bell said the Treasurer waß initiating , ft new departure in connection with local bodies. He proposed to take .£27,600 of ] •inking funds. The Act of 1881 abolished I waking funds, but that of 1892 re-created them. If this Act had not been passed the position would have been that when the aSfl' "S.?™ £° yeMB henoe - th « Public debt wouldhavebeen increased by ,6858,000 with nothing to show for it Ti»»«t i Of .this sinking fund under the Act of lOT 4 tod worse than that, he proposed to ££tft n d 1 T /°" e / er Assurance Fund into the Consolidated Fund without reducing the debt. The effect of all this was that for •very Joan whioh the Treasurer gave to a lowl bodyhe got an annual two per oent Into the Treasury, and at th« end of the tern the publia debt of the colony was increased by the amount of the loan. It was not* question of Party, bnt a question of preventing the creation of, a preoedent and a praotuse fraught with great danger to the polony. «. M «r Ma ! li S. Ba J£ he oould not cordially Mmpliment the Treasurer on his Budget. 3S& SLSSSSF"* **" r6POrt Of the

ookod upon the tariff proposals of the Government aa opposed to the working classes, t was time the Government-serionsly faced ;ho unemployed difficulty ana its s olution. ] The debate was adjourned on tho motion ( jf Mr. \t. M'Kenzie. The House rose at 12.50 p.m.