PARLIAMENT OUT OF SESSION.

Lyttelton Times, Volume LXI, Issue 7231, 3 May 1884, Page 6

PARLIAMENT OUT OF SESSION.

♦ ME W. J. STEWARD AT WAIMATE. The member for W annate met his constituents in the Oddfellows' Hall, Waimate, on Thursday night. His Worship the Mayor (Mr S. W. Goldsmith) occupied j the chair, and there was a large attendance. Mr Steward, who was loudly cheered on coming forward, commenced his address I by referring at length to the events of last I session, first giving an account of the amount of work done. The Parliament, he I eaid, sat 58 days of an average of seven I and a-half hours, and 162 Bills were introduced ; of these 77 were passed, including 1 13 new measures, 27 local, seven consoli- ! dating, and two Appropriation Acts. He criticised the most important of the new Acts. The Bankruptcy Act was on its 1 trial, and if it proved a failure, although it was the product of the united wisdom of the different Chambers of Commerce, they might have to consider the question of doing without any Bankruptcy Act at all. The Land Boards Enquiry Act, for which the Colony had primarily to thank the member for Moeraki, had proved useful in the matter of putting down dummy ism, but, in his opinion, the Land Boards should be made elective, and so directly responsible to the people. He spoke with approval of the Prisons Act, which would prevent for the future the abuse of power by visiting justices in extending the terms of imprisonment, and also of the Native Land Laws Amendment Act, which had protected Native owners from grasping members of the legal profession. He next referred to the Middle Island Half-caste Lands Bill, which, he said, definitely settled some. claims which had been pending for over 30 years; Land was intended to be granted at Waitaki, but it was afteri wards found that this land had been dis- [ posed of. The Native Minister had now promised to set aside another block. The Mining Companies Act, Chattels Securities Act, and District Railways Act, were next referred to. The latter, he thought, was a fair measure, owing to the clauses relating to re-classification, which he had supported. The difficulty of dealing with this district railways question would, he thought, be reduced if all lands benefited by railways were specially rated. If that were done, the final result would probably be the taking over of district railways as Colonial lines, and the repeal of the various District Railways Acts. Of Sir G. Grey's Confederation and Annexation Bill, which was awaiting the Royal assent, he said the. object was quite different to the proposals of the Sydney Conference, as it aimed at facilitating the annexation to New Zealand of certain islands in the Pacific, and involved no surrender of legislative or administrative control on the part of this Colony. He hoped Sir George's Act would receive the Royal assent. He spoke feelingly of the fate of the School Committees Election Bill. This he had carried in the Lower House twice, and was only defeated last session in the Upper Chamber on the casting vote of the Speaker. Sir W. Pitzherbert's action, he ventured to assert, was contrary to precedent, and also extraordinary, as he was aware there was a majority of a full House in favour of the Bill, Mr Campbell having stated that he had voted against the Bill in error. In another case the division-list, under similar circumstances, was allowed to be corrected. He had introduced a Bill to amend the Licensing Act, one of the clauses of which he thought would have had the effect of making prohibition orders effective, instead of as at present—a farce. ' He would make the election of Committees triennial instead of annual, thus avoiding ,the present cost of £14,000 a year. The Bill could not get through the Lower House, owing to the cumbrous Standing Orders, but the Hon Mr Wilson, to whom he had entrusted it, carried an almost I identical Bill through the Legislative Council without material alteration, which again could not be reached in the House of Representatives. A Bill to provide for payment to Coroners' juries, which he had introduced, was also blocked out. He proposed to renew previous efforts to procure an amendment of the Standing Orders, so ! as to do away with the present unsatisfactory state of things, namely, by enabling Bills which had passed one Chamber; or the second reading in either House, to be made Suspended Orders, and proceeded with next session of the same Parliament, as if no interruption had taken place. He next referred to the Affirmation Bill of Sir George Grey and the Government, and gave the Government credit for respecting the will of the House, when Mr Mason's amendment to substitute the word "shall" for " may " was carried. He did not blame the Lords for not accepting such a radical change, in the absence of any expression from the country. The question would come up at next election, when a genuine reform would, ho hoped, be effected. Mr Rolleston's Land Bill was next dealt with. This important measure met with the approval of a large majority of Parliament, the clauso repealing the "ght of purchase, under the Act of 1882, oeing the chief stumbling-block m the Council. He was in favour of giving tho perpetual leasing system a fair trial, although ho did not see his way to extending the principle to all Crown lands. Ho, with others, had urged the claims of Boroughs not endowed, when tho Bill was being considered, to remedy the cases of those places which had been proclaimed Boroughs, after the repeal of the endowment clauses of the Act of. 1876, and too early to come under the operationot'O'Neill'sAct. Heandhisfnends were successful in receiving an assurance that provision in this direction would be made in a future Bill, and that certain landß in Boroughs would not

be alienated during tho recess. After tho session this promise was overlooked by some misunderstanding, and ho had to return to Wellington to prevent an area in Waimato from being put up to sale. He intended, during next session, to make renewed efforts, witli a view to getting Waimato, and other boroughs similarly situated, better treated in the matter of endowment. He had supported tho Plurality of Votes and Hours of Polling Bills introduced by Mr Barron, a member of tho Opposition. Ho entirely agreed that no man should bo allowed to vote at more than one electorate, and that the hours of polling should be extended to 8 p.m. If tho Plurality of Votes Bill became law, he saw no necessity for the leasehold franchise or any than tho residential qualification. After referring to his action in matters of local concern, Mr Steward spoke of party movements. He quoted Mr Montgomery's resolutions on Decentralisation, and Mr Swanson's to reduce the departmental expenditure by £50,000. The former, he said, wore lost by 52 to 42, and the latter by 50 to 41. He did this to show two important : facts, viz., the opposition of the GovernI ment to the proposed reduction of departmental expenditure, and tho true value of their present professions of economy and the need for Decentralisation, at any rate I in railway matters, as shown by the action of the Government in raising the railway tariff to the prejudice of Canterbury and Otago. He next referred to the Intercolonial Conference at Sydney, characterising the Federation proposals as chimerical, and expressing surprise at Major Atkinson's support of them. It was premature now to think of Federation, and when it did come up for consideration, it was, in his opinion, doubtful if it would be advantageous to New Zealand. If Major Atkinson's celebrated scheme of com- j pulsory insurance was a hundred years in advance of its time, the Federation scheme was fully ten years too soon. The appointment of Mr Mitchelson as Minister of Public Works, and Mr Johnston's resignation, and the latter's retention of a seat in the House and Ministry, to keep out an opponent of the Government, next came under notice. Mr Steward thought Mr Mitchelson's appointment had not a little to do with the increased railway rates on grain. He then spoke of the recent speeches t of Ministers at Christchurch and Dunedin, criticising adversely Major Atkinson's remarks about depression "extravagance in the necessaries of life," and " the sinking of a quarter of a million in bogus mining speculations," as causing the present unsatisfactory state of affairs. The two principal causes, in his opinion, were the existence of a great landed monopoly and the want of means of employment, the nonsettlement of the country through the enormous blocks of land held by a few largely causing the lack of employment. The action of the Government in raising the railway tariff on grain, in order to make up the deficiency in the revenue, was, in his opinion, politically immoral, in that it was a breach of constitutional law to impose taxes on the people without the consent of the representatives of the people. The opinion of Parliament was not only not obtained, but the action was contrary to the expressed wish of the Parliament of 18S2, resolutions being then carried in favour of reducing the carriage of grain and agricultural products. He admitted that Ministers had acted within the letter of the law in this matter, but contended that the spirit had been, broken. It was like an attorney, with full authority, acting contrary to the known wishes of hi. 1 ; principal; and in giving Ministers power to alter and vary the railway tariff, it was never intended to allow Government to impose taxation by this means, much less to put a tax on a particular part of the Colony and a particular class. That, however, had been done; and the alteration was so made and timed as to seriously affect the grain producers of Canterbury and Otago. He estimated that fully £30,000 would be extracted from Otago and Canterbury farmers, when prices for grain were exceptionally low, and an indifferent season had been experienced. The tariff on wool, he admitted, had also been raised, but not until nearly the whole of the season's clip had been shipped. The lines of the North Island should be made to pay a better percentage, and not make the South Island suffer for the losses of the former. On March 31, 1883, there were 451 miles of railway in the North Island open for traffic, and 907 in the South. After chargirg 5 per cent on cost of construction, and giving credit for net earnings, he found that the loss for the year on the North Island lines was £102,355 7s Id, and on those of the South £61,068 14s 6d; or nearly £227 per mile in the North and £67 in the South. Thus the former should earn £l6O more per mile before matters were equalised. The gross difference of loss (North Island) amounted to £72,160; and as the loss was borne by the Consolidated Fund, three-fifths of the sum named came out of the pockets of South Island taxpayers. In addition to this, the Government now proposed to s,dd to the burdens of the South £30,000 under the new tariff. Such action was manifestly unjust. The total cost of the lines open on March 31, 1883 (omitting shillings and pence) was, North Island, £3,584,809; South Island, £7,158,857. The net earnings were North, £71,378; South, £289,147. The percentage yielded upon cost was therefore £1 19s 9d for the North, and £4 0s 9d for the South. Common justice required, if an increase was necessary, that it should be on lines which were yielding less than two per cent, in- ' stead of upon those yielding over four per cent. After quoting additional figures to prove the unfairness of the tariff, Mr Steward said he was willing that the South Island lines should be made to pay 4 per cent, but the Northern lines must do the same. He was in favour of managing the railways by nonpolitical Boards, but would.let Parliament fix the amount to be earned, so as to prevent unfair manipulations of the tariff, to the detriment of the South. (Applause.) Last year Major Atkinson opposed the cry for a reduced expenditure, but now only advocated economy when compelled to do so. He did not agree with the Premier in the matter of pensions, as he thought civil' servants should be treated the same as I j those of a mercantile house. He would ' keep faith with those now entitled to pensions, but decline to allow any for the future._ He bolieved £50,000 could be saved in the departmental expenditure, and he was glad Major Atkinson was now of that opinion also. It was said southern members knew little of North Island affairs. This was true to a certain extent. He was well acquainted, however, having been a member of the House for over 10 years, and editor of a newspaper over 18, with the opinions of those who know a great deal of those affairs. The Native difficulty was, in his opinion, exaggerated, and he thought £40,000 a-year could be savod by the reduction of the Armed Constabulary by, at least, half tho present number. Again, a saving could be effected by doing away with the San Francisco mail service and subsidising the direct steam service inaugurated by the local Company to tho extentof, say £15,000. This would save £20,000 a year, and the service would prove quite as efficient. He next spoko of the indebtedness of the Colony. This, ho said, was—publicly, £30,000,000, and, privately, between £30,000,000 and£4o,ooo,ooomore, although a portion of the latter amount was borrowed by the people from one another. He was against borrowing, at any rate for some years to come, unless some feasible scheme could be shown for borrowing an amount not exceeding half a million to assist in establishing local industries. He next came to the land question as connected with the incidence of taxation. Mr Eolleston was right in saying no more large landed monopolies should be allowed, but he failed

to say anything about those which at present existed. When he (Mr Steward) was first before them, he had propounded a scheme for dealing with the land question, but circumstances had since arisen to cause him to modify his views. These were the growth of the frozen meat trade and the present aspect of grain cultivation. They would be surprised to hear that the world grew millions of bushels more than it required, and that first-class wheat could be supplied by India at Is 9d per bushel. New Zealand farmers would have to ask themselves if graingrowing would not have to give way to some more remunerative kind of product. The grazing lands could not therefore be dealt with as previously proposed. He would tax rural lands on a sliding scale, and impose an Income tax, which meant the abolition of the Property tax. The latter was not, as its advocates asserted, a fair tax, but was manifestly unjust in its operation. To prove this, he instanced two cases: one where two persons each owned .£IO,OOO worth of house property in towns, one of which was in a prosperous condition, and the other suffering from depression. All the houses might be let in one case and all empty in the other, yet the tax pressed the same on both owners. Then there was the case of two men in business, each having the same amount of stock on his shelves; but the one having a | rapid turnover did perhaps ten times more business during the year than the other, who had a slow turnover, and made much larger aggregate profits for the year than the other; yet the Property tax would fall equally heavily upon both—therefore relatively much more heavily on the one than the other. His proposal for a Land and Income tax would fall fairly on all. Lands outside Boroughs, or rural lands, would be subject to the former only, and the income therefrom would not be subject to the Income tax. He would exempt land to the extent of .£SOO. He quoted from papers of the House to show the number of holdings in the I Colony, specifying the different areas I and values. The gross total of holdings outside boroughs above the value of .6500 was, he said, .£46,899,250. Now, if a tax were levied upon these holdings as follows: —Above .£SOO in value, i per cent up to .£IO,OOO ; -\ per cent above .£IO,OOO up to .£20,000; 1 per cent .£20,000 to .£40,000; 2 per cent above .£40,000 : this would give a revenue of £202,535; and while the increase would fall principally on the holders of enormous blocks of land, the scale indicated would relieve taxation in respect of 14-15ths of the population. He spoke strongly of th.e attitude of these large holders in keeping the people off the land. The Colony could support a much larger population if these lands were cut up, and as each person was worth about £3 per annum to the Customs, it would be seen how the Colony suffered by loss of revenue. It would, of course, be unjust to tax land alone, and those not reached by the Land tax should pay lan Income tax above a certain value, and also on a sliding scale, as thus : —l£ per cent upon incomes above £250, and up to £500; 2* per cent from £SOO to £1000; and 5 per cent on all incomes above £IOOO. In the case of Joint Stock Companies, he would impose a tax of one-tenth of all profits above 10 per cent on the capital employed. An Income tax on such a scale would yield about £IOO,OOO, which, added to the £202,000 from the Land tax, would equal £302,000. In the matter of local government, he agreed with Major Atkinson that the chief difficulty was as to funds. He would give half the amount of the Land tax to the Counties, and make the latter do the valuations and collect the tax, so saving the present cost of the Property Tax Department—about £15,000 a year. This would give local bodies about £IOO,OOO as a supplement to the amounts derived from rates. On the question of charitable institutions, he held the opinion that the whole cost should not fall on the State. Excluding Lunatic Asylums, the present cost to the country was £84,000. The localities should provide half the cost by voluntary contributions or from rates, the Government subsidising this £ for £. This would relieve the consolidated revenue to the extent of about £30,000. He did not think it right that the Colony should bear the whole cost of some institutions like the Christchurch and Waimate Hospitals, when, in other places, notably in the South, the people contributed a great proportion of the cost. Summing up, he found that the following savings could be effected: —Departmental, £50,000; reduction of Armed Constabulary, £40,000; saving, Property Tax Department, £15,000; ditto, San Francisco Mail Service, £20,000; ditto, Charitable Aid, £30,000; addition to railway revenue, £100,000; total, £255,000. This, deducting the difference between the Income tax —plus a half of the Land tax and present Property tax, viz., £4B,ooo—left £207,000, which would make good the present deficit, £120,000, and leave £87,000 which should be employed to relieve the taxation on the necessaries of life by lowering the Customs duties. Mr Steward spoke in favour of a reform of the Legislative Council, approving in the main of Mr Whitaker's Bill of last session, the proposals of which he detailed. He next referred to the cost of Education, which he thought might be reduced by allowing parents who were willing to contribute towards the cost of educating their children to do so. He believed three-fifths were so willing. He was also in favour of aiding those who desired to educate their children in their own way, and would pay them according to results. In concluding, he said his views must not be taken as necessarily those of the Opposition, but simply as those of the member for Waimate. He believed, however, that they (Opposition members) would be found agreed on the following cardinal points:—Economy in administration, ceasing to borrow for some time to come, the insular management of j the railways, reduction of the Native ex-' penditure, reform of the Upper House; and last, but by no means least, the removal by well-devised means of the hindrances caused to the Colony's progress by the locking up of the lands. It was vain to look for such measures to such men as Major Atkinson and his colleagues, who, instead of achieving reforms, were content to keep them " steadily in view;" and whose only advice to the people in their hour of need was " Learn to labour and to wait." (Loud applause.) After answering a number of questions, a vote of thanks and confidence was unanimously passed; and a vote of thanks to the chair, proposed by Mr Steward, concluded I the meeting.