PARLIAMENT

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume XLVIII, Issue 8052, 4 August 1904, Page 3

PARLIAMENT

m '':[ HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. V . V ;• WEDN^3J7^i3UST 3. . '"'', FINANCIAL DEBATE. „. During the evening sitting, Mr witheford advocated a vigorous policy of opening up Crown lands in the North Island, ana rejnarked that it would be better to give settlers money for seed and so on than vote them £15,000 1 fdr •> statue in London which very few New Zealanders could ever see. It was not fair to buy land at boom prices in ,ihe 'South Island while there were millions of acres of Crown lands which ought tor be first settled. H«.was afraid th» : Government would delay a vigorous land settlement policy until prices had fallen and until there wa* no money left for roads or for tbe, Assistance of settlers. That would be a.qasjs of locking the stable /door after the'feovse had been stolen. ' Mr Millar, , replying to Mr Herdman's remarks on the' public service, declared that ,our civil service was as good as, and cleaner than, any- civil service in any other colony. If • there was to bo » change they should see that no appointment whatever was made without examination. Bef erring to th« financial transactions 'of the Government, he said i w* could .not control thW London market: None of th« colonies, except Canada, had floated a loan on better terms than New Zealand, and no blame could ' lfo on the Colonial Treasurer for doing wnat'he was forced to do by circumstances over which he had no control. Tm last census-return* and Labor Department' reports completely disproved the statement thaf<catntal"was not being invested in manufactures in the colony, and bje declared that no capitalist need be afraid of our- labor laws if he were pre- j parW to do a fair thing by his work- j m«n. Dealing with the Budget figures, ho. urged that • the . expenditure was in- • creasing out of all proportion to the needs of the country. He believed there could be large retrenchments effected, which would enable us to largely construct our public works out of revenue. Until a fo»n could be floated on; the London market he advocated a policy of carefulness, ilk view of the prospect of a fall in prices • of produce. The cost of putting people oh the land under the. Land for Settle- \ n>ents scheme was' altogether out of proV portion to the return. . Some different ivjßtem should , be. d* vised. One waj Would be a graduated tax on large estates, . which would result .in there being more land for tale than, there was a demand ' . for. He considered that in some . re•peets the Budget ,was misleading. Sir William Russell said that Mr Mil- ' lar's speech showed how improper was the , Government method of bookkeeping, ' Which was a hollow sham, designed to coni ceal the real state of affairs from the pub He, A g«dasted tax would not burst Up the large estates, but would frighten capital from/coming into the colony, and 1 pjref ent the jsUtea from being settled. Be- ' sides, the more burdens they placed upon • the. land the more they prevented' people . from going on the land. The Budget, he Want on to say, contained no statement of rioiicy, which might be explained by the fact\ that the Premier had no policy of His own, and was awaiting the mandate of the people on every possible subject. He dealt at length with the railway administration,! and condemned the system of charging wear and tear to capital, instead lot to revenue on the railways, which he asserted were being run at a loss. The concessions did not benefit the consumers, but only the merchant and importer, while the country as a whole 1 were users of railways, and nonusers had, to pay Jor_the cost involved. He 'gave comparative figures to show that the .earnings of our railways < were not increasing in sufficient proportion to the increased expenditure. Turning to defence matters, he quoted the report of the Commandant to show that' there was no organism in our -forces, and Jhaji the various companies were poorly equipped, and he blamed the Premier for not having accepted the advice' of res"ponsibn> and com- . petent officers. Mr Flatman was. sure that the country was over-joyed with the Budget. He combatted Sir William, Russell's criticism on the railway administration. On the land question, he contended that if the freehold j . were sold for cash the money would only be frittered away, and no permanent advantage would accrue to the colony. There was too much sentiment about the freet hold. ■ In defending thejand for settlements system, he pointed but that the large estates which had' teen taken by the Government could pay for themselves. In a very few years the money could be utilised either to secure mon estates or to pay off the loans whiqh had been raised to boy the estates in the first instance. Very few' settlers, w,ere responding to the excitement the leader of the Opposition was trying to raise on the land question. He urged that the strictest attention should be paid to tree planting. Our timber would be used up in time and we \ could not afford to import from other parts ;ot the world. ••.-.,, ; • The debate was adjourned on the motion of Mr McNab.. . . • Th« House rose at midnight.