PARLIAMENT

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume XLVIII, Issue 8965, 3 August 1905, Page 8

PARLIAMENT

WEDNESDAT, AUGUST 2.

The House met at 2.3u p.m. Mt Flatman carried on the financial debate until the 5.30 adjournment. The House resumed at 7.30 p.m. The financial debate was carried on throughout- the evsming, the speakers being Aicasrs Duthie, Graham, Vile, Biuldo, Kirkbiide, and .Mander. SOME OF THE SPEECHES. Mr Duthie said the prosperity of the colony largely depended on its export tracte, pnd the development of the colony generally, and was also due in a great meaeuie to the expenditure of loan money during the term of office of the present Administration.. It had handled over ninety-seven millions, and he wanted to ■know what there was to show for it. The amount, of railways built was quite inadequate ior such a large expenditure. The country itself had been developed by private enterprise, and the construction of roadd -had by no means kept pace with the development of the .country. The burden.? imposed on the people were enormous, ■and these- burdens would tell very heavjjy on the progress of the colony. iWith legard to the surplus, he contended that had not the revenue been in excess of the estimate." and had the full appropriations been expended, there would have been a shortage of £264,680. For yeaars past the revenue had been very-greatly under-estimated, a fact which pointed either .to gross ii.capacity or" a deliberate purpose to deceive. He went on to draw attention to- the position of the Government Life Insurance [Department, pointing out, that its business had not increased as ifc should, and the figures of the department called for enquiry. He considered taxation should be cut down by half a million, which could be done without injury to the- colony, and would be of great benefit to the people. _- . Mr Graham complained that the- leader of tb© Opposition had not touched the , . Finaaxaal Statement to -any extent. He '•' denied, as stated by the Opposition, that TcnewaJs and repairs of railways, etc., y/eve impropeTly charged to loanß, instead of revenue. The leader of the Opposition and hk fellow members on the Opposition benches trotted out this complaint every tension, not because they believed it, but. because thqy wished to influence people- who might believe that all railway Tepaiis were charged to loans; but tl»s had been refuted over and over again. He / combatted Mr Duthie's ..analysis of hi6t « « year'fi surplus, and contended that the-siir-plus claimed by this . Premier was a j?euuine one. He defended the Government against Mr_ Duthie's charge of nob 'removing taxes, and claimed that sinco 1895 the remissions of taxalion totalled £1 750 goo. » .

~7slr Yxte complained tlrat the money rot-" ed list year far roads and bridges hadbeen wrext^iiacd to the "tune. of nearly £ll9,«00, and contended that that had

% - 'txeen-done for the pnrposd of leaving a .v- bigger roads aaid bridges balance (at the J^i- «spensa o£ the back blacks), fo-*- election '' "" 7 ' y enr - ' Tyming to another subject, ho "j ' said the high values of land had bean about by*- over valuation, and he ;t}?^£vibese -high, valuations -had

and said tine people of the colony weTQ living in a sort of "Fools' Paradise,' financially. " Mr Buddo claimed that the land for settlement poli<y of the Government had been a huge GUcctss: He urged that provision ehould be made to place the workin"- classes on the land under the Land for Settlements /vet. The Government should cut up some of the very best land in the colony into small areas. He believed that none of the colonies were paying sufficient towards the up-kcep of the British Navy. Mr Kirk bride urged that science Tather than the Government, was at the bottom of the development of our industries and the progress of the colony. The Opposition party, h? declared, had never belittled the prosperity of the colony, but they had belittled the contention of the Government supporters that the prosperity was due to the legislation of the present Government. He made the point that tho colony had every year a surplus which neither reduced out debt nor diminished taxation, and he went on to say that, on the contrary, our debt was increasing by two millions a year, and the official lear Book showed tlmt the taxation was steadily increasing.