PARLIAMENT

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LII, Issue 9187, 6 September 1906, Page 5

PARLIAMENT

I [PRESS ASSOCIATION.] WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 5. The House met at 2.30. FINANCIAL DEBATE. Mr Hogg opened the debate for the day. He reviewed the budget favoTauiy, and complimented the four previous speakers. He criticised l parts of the new land policy unfavorably, regretting particularly the proposal to abolish the 999 years' lease, and denouncing emphatically the new lease of 66' yeans a 6 virtually freehold with all ite evils and none of its advantages. He expressed confidence in the present administration of the land, eulogising the Crown rangers in partdcu-. lax. The freehold tenure be denounced and read lists of owners who, by subdividing, their properties and) continuing to work them together, were cheating the revenue of large sums annually. The Premier rose to reply at 3.40. He said that, if the wishes , of the other side for the introduction of the Canadian postaudit system were given effect .toj theywould find a delay of at least a year in the making vp 1 of the accounts, and they, would ddscovier that there would) be no check whatever on the expenditure/ As ■to the' .suggestion of the other 'Side that the; public accounts are not properly^ kept, ■that he characterised not only as wrong, but as a reflection .ion 1 the officers, who all had a large discretion), in these /matters. Coming to the criticism of the determination of the Government to avoid the London money market, be wa& surprised the Leader of the Opposition was not aware v of the special . circumstances which* without any reflections on our' credit, made that course advisable. He detailed these circumstances, among them the action of the Midland reHway, debenture holders and the block caused by other operations. He } maintained that the raising of half a mili lion in Victoria after that was a very s>uccessful^c^efa^cp^ aaid» foe v s^r rttie 'sjfijne qf tiheifl^totioifvof fog second^ half a f ntillion an Amstxalia. The one had l yielded < 2d o^er par and the other 2b, as against the Victorian flotations wt a 'discount of £4, 2b Sd. In- theee matters, he contended there ought to be no such thing as party coniderationß. In criticising the conversions in operation,' the leader of the Opposition had failed to observe that the same assets, namely, the wealth of the whole cofctay, were -just as much behind the converted loans as behind the original issuee. > .In the matter of loans, he would like to know what the hon. member wanted. Did he want to diminish the million annually raised? ' , Mr Massey : No. , * I The Premier: Then I would conclude that the hon. gentleman must be in favor of reducing the Lands for Settlement' policy? Mr Mas3ey : No. The Premier : Then I would want to I know what he would like to see reduced — roads, bridges, telegraphs, of what? The hon. gentleman, he knew, would not reduce any of ihese. The fact was that if the hon. -gentleman -were on the Treasury benches .he would also be a squanderer ,anti a waster. Ho thought the hon. gentleman ought not to attempt to deceive the .public an that way. As to the manner ;of repaying Treasury bffl&at due dates, the Government proposetF -to "'rjby them off gradually out of consolidated revenue, without creating special funds. Speaking l -of>tn&idete6j he 'expressed 'the pleasure he had experienced in hearing the speeches of last night, and particularly that of, his colleague, the Minister for ••Ldnds. ''He'-wentr-toi to declare, emphatically, in Oonnectdon- with the land policy, that the Government would have the cruj cial question settled at once, and if any one imagined the Government intended ( %to shelter themselves under generalities and postponements they made a great mistake. They proposed to take the full responsatwiity of their policy, and they wanted to do so immediately, and if necessary would be ready to take the' sense of the conntry on it. The Lands for Settlement policy was an impossible position. It was impossible to go on borrowing three-quarter&''of a million a year for the , purpose. Four aood a half millions of borrowed money had been spent on these lands, and nothing had been dono to stop tho increase -of that debt- of three-quarters of a million, a year. The continuance of such a state of things was not to be thought of. Noticing an interjection, the Premier said that be knew that his lot© chief, were he present that day at the head of affairs, would be acting .precisely in the same way 1 -as the Government Hon. gentlemen opposite, for all their talking, had never done anything. They had taken care to evolve ,no scheme. (Voices interjected: "Wasdh's scheme.") Tbe Premier declared that tfeey did not themselves believe in Wason's scheme, or they would havo made use^of it. He went on to point out the ad\intages of the land proposals, and stdited that the Glasgow system was growing in popularity all over the country under the influence of somo of the most intelligent and practical men in the colony. M6re freehold lands were under these proposals to be offered in one year than all the land left available on the hands of the Crown. Th<>Ee was tho security of a good lease in the proposals, as well as the freedom to remain with the present leases, and there was the .opportunity of escaping under proper safeguards* from rents and restrictions. There Would be, in addition, krfge endowments, growiag in value annually, for providing for great departments of the public service. There was a prac ticable policy,- fit to cope with and settle the pic-blem ol the land question. The other side could not get any higher than the useless proposal to change one tenure for another. The progress and prosperity and well-being, of this country required the really literal and useful. Of these two propositions, ho recommended the clear, detailed, well-thought-out scheme which the Governm«nt had had the courage to place before the country, to the statesman- , like consideration of the House. Mr Massey raised the question of loans fo Incal bodies, and said there ought, to b» subsidies also, and as a right in cases of need. „ The Pronn«.r said the Government would be glad to always kelp to auy eacbent within its power, but\the question of finance must be considered, as there is a i limit beyond which subsidies are impossible. After tho supper adjournment, the Minister for Justice, replying to complaints,

defended the law dealing with the offence of short weight. Ho declined to disease any case -of the same in the House, and m&ist<!d it was a matter for the particular authorities to attend to. The Premier announced in the matter of woi kmen's homes that his colleague had "reported that the homes at Petone were being- let at rents of 9s and 11s 3d a week. ' THe- feist item of the Estimates passed, and the resolution reported to the House. 1 The' Premier gave notice to move next • day the abolition of the half-past nine adjournment. ' •' • - ■ The House adjourned at, 11.30 p.m. i