HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

Evening Post, Volume LXXXVIII, Issue 107, 2 November 1914, Page 3

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

IMPREST SUPPLY. The House continued its sitting after The Post went to press on Saturday afternoon. Considerable debate took place as to the ' condition of the electoral rolls and the system under which they are being prepared. Complaint was also made as to the delay in the publication of the last quarter's accounts, in regard to which Mr. G. W. Russell argued at length that the Government's finance had gone to the bad by a quarter of a. million (as between revenue and expenditure) during the last financial year. The expenditure side of the accounts had, he argued in considerable detail, shown a great increase in the last twelve months, both in regard to general and railway revenue. He also ventured the remark that there is no chance of the cheap money scheme being bi ought into full operation until Sir Joseph Ward is again in office. In all the essential features the finances had " drifted " under the present Administration, the expenditure for the last year being £1,085.000 more than that of the last year under Sir Joseph Ward. Reform had absolutely broken down and the expenditure had increased at a rate the Government was unable to control. While during the first six months of this current financial year the increase in revenue had been J0329,0Q0, the increase in tlto expenditure hod been £461,000.

In the ctfurse of subsequent discussion, Sir Joseph Ward ridiculed the idea that the smallpox scare was the leason for tho small area of Native land settled. Hon. W. H. Herriee : You ca-n't dispose of Native lands by the , owners without holding meetings of Native owners, and yon couldn't hold meetings of Native owners when Natives were not allowed to travel. The Leader of the Opposition went on to argue at length and in detail that the backblocks had been neglected by the Massey Administration in respect to expenditure on roads and bridges as compared with the work done by its predecessors. Although the Government when in Opposition had made a great point of the fact that the then Govern- j ment had not fulfilled its duties in that respect. The Prime Minister controverted this view, contending that the land had been settled at a satisfactory rate, considering the amount of Crown land available. First-class- land was very scarce, and was not easily available. Incidentally, he accused the Opposition oi obstructing the progress of business at this late stage of the session. " I abhor the drivel we have had to listen to during the- past few weeks," he said, and he also stated that the chief reason why the Government was not able to expend all the money voted last year was because of obstruction by the Opposition. Money voted could not all be expended by the 31st March; otherwise there would, be nothing to spend during the winter. Sir Joseph Ward : You used to declare that we should do it. Mr. P. C. Webb said that ever since the present Government hacT come into power there had been nothing but strikes and turmoil, and he strongly criticised the methods adopted in the fdrmation of the new unions at Huntly and on the waterfront. MINISTER'S EXPLANATION. Replying to questions raised during the discussion, the Hon." James Allen explained with -regard to the complaint that the public accounts for the quarter had not been published one month after the end of the financial quarter, that the returns had not been returned from the Audit Department. As to the excess of expenditure over revenue for the first six months, he would ask the member for Avon to wait until the end of the financial year, when the position would be quite satisfactory. The same complaint had been made the previous year, but the surplus k at the close of the financial twelve months was £426,006. He twitted the previous Administration with cutting down the Advances to Settlers grants. The figures for the past seven months, continued the speaker warmly, showed that, war and no war, £711,540 had been authorised for settlers. An Opposition member : How much have you paid? The Minister replied that no less than £839,600 had been paid out. The Public Trustee had, in the last three months, paid out in loans £798,308, and loans of another £36,300 weie contemplated subject to valuations being made — a total of £834,608. " I want to know now where the criticism is as to holding money?" emphatically remarked the Minister. Continuing, the Minister stated that in one year under the Ward regime the taxation had risen from £4 5s 6d to £4 l6s lid, the next year to £5 3s lOd— an increase of 18s 4d in two years. In 1913, the first year the present Governxinent came into office, the increase had been from £5 3s lOd to £5 7s 2d, and the following year to £5 10s. " This is absolutely a complete argument in regard to the Advances Department and the taxation per head," added the Minister, as he resumed his seat.«k FINAL, STAGES. The Bill was read a second time, committed, and reported without amendment. When the third reading was moved, Sir Joseph Ward accused tne Minister of being hysterical when quoting the figures he had just given to the House. Did he not know that, with the sanction of Parliament, the Ward Government had voted money for a Dreadnought and for the system of universal defence? He accused the Minister of making unfair use of the figures to show that the taxation per head had increased. The Minister had announced that he could not ' raise a loan of £3,200,000 in London, and yet he gave it out to the world tha-t he was advancing millions from all tha leading departments. At two minutes to midnight the Bill was read a third time and passed. The Prime Minister said he proposed that the House should resume again at 11 a.m. on Monday, remarking/ in reply to an, interjection by Sir Joseph Ward, "I will put the programme through if the House lasts until the middle of December.*' The House then adjourned until 11 o'clock on Monday morning.