MAJOR ATKINSON'S SPEECH.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume I, Issue 24, 3 July 1880, Page 2

MAJOR ATKINSON'S SPEECH.

[Specially Telegraphed to Star.]

(fbom our own correspondent.)

Wellington, Friday night.

, Major Atkinson's speech, last night, was by far the best that has been made this session. He tabled a return from the Treasury Department, and certified to by the Audit Department, showing that J8919,000 was in the Treasury when he left office in 1877. To set against this, there were liabilities of .£982,000, some of which have not accrued, and consequently the " continuous Ministry" left a real surplus of about .£IOO,OOO when they left office. During the three years, 1874-77, .£282,000 of Treasdry bills were only issued, and all in aid of th*> provinces, under three different ! Acts. L'e quoted Mr. Ballance' ; statement in IS7B in proof of the financia' soundness of the colony when the " continuous Ministry " left office, and attributed the present financial difficulties to the new departure taken by Messrs Ballance and Macandrew in 1878, who were depending on an absurdly over-estimated land revenue of two millions a year in their financial and public works statements in 1878. During the two years the G-rey Ministry were in office, they received from the Treasury, and spent in hard cash, £11,243,000, and left liabilities ttehind them of .£3,000,000 — equal to a total expenditure of .£15,000,000. Major Atkinson said that the -whole staff of the Treasury would be placed at the disposal of Mr. Macandrew to prepare any return that he wished for to disprove the figures which he quoted. Sir Julius Vogel's despatches showed that the Grey Ministry had also trifled with the credit of the colony in London, and if the telegraph cable had broken down in July, 1879, the interest on the piiblic debt could not have been paid in London. After the end of this month, Ministers will cease to draw full salaries. Local finance had been avoided, but would be dealt with when bills on the subject were introduced. He claimed credit for rednctions in the estimates this year amounting to .£IOO,OOO, as compared with 1878, and promised that each Minister, when the estimates were in committee, would propose further considerable reductions, involving, of course, some curtailment of the public convenience, and it would be for the House to decide whether they should be carried out. He defended the Property Tax against the Income Tax, on the ground that the latter taxes a man's energy and industry, whereas the property tax only touches property. An income tax was equally inquisitorial, and just as difficult to collect. The real springs of industry are the brains, bone, and sinew of the people, and the land and the farmers are the real producers of the wealth of a country. He hoped that the Property Tax valuations would save the expense of all lical bodies' valuations. He promised to reduce the Customs duties as soon as the i state of the finances would allow. The ' great aim would be to induce settlement on the land, and he promised next year to introduce a bill to prohibit entail, and to deal with the disposition of hereditary estates, so as to hinder the acquisition of large tracts of land by individuals. Mr. Ballance's statement, that the beer tax will bring in instead of the estimated .£BO,OOO, wa6 not borne out by the reports of the collectors of the new tax, which, judgiug from present appearances, was unlikely to come up even to the estimate. In conclusiou, Major Atkinson proposed that the House should seriously address itself to the Estimates, cut down the public works expenditure to a very moderate limit, extend the loan expenditure over two years, and let Ministers get at the work of retrenchment as soon as possible, by passing a few bills, and concluding the session. He promised that always, while he was Treasurer, he would tell the public, both inside and outside the colony, the whole truth in financial matters, as he had perfect confidence in the soundness of the colony. It should be the wish of the people to be honest, economical, thrifty, j and to practise the self-denial needed in the present crisis. Mr. De Lautour replied to Major Atkinson yesterday, in a very mild speech, and attributed the extravagance to the Local and General Government being jumbled together. He favored the system of a modified provincialism. The vote on the no-confidence motion gave 45 votes to the Government and 30 to the Opposition. When the Estimates came on for discussion, Mr. Reader Wood proposed some serious reductions.

A caucus is to be held to-morrow to consider Mr. Wood's proposals. Mr. Conyers has issued an able defence against the imputations cast upon him by the Civil Service Commissioners, and Mr. Lawson has undertaken to do likewise.

The Commissioners seem likely to get much the woret of it.