New Zealand Parliament.

Marlborough Express, Volume III, Issue 135, 12 September 1868, Page 4

New Zealand Parliament.

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. Colonial Finance—The Budget. In addition to the details of the Financial Statement given in our last Telegrams, we taken the following from the Colonist : The statement shows a falling off in the revenue, and there is no prospect uf diminished taxation. The estimated revenue of last year (ended 30th June) has not been realised, there being a deficit on the amount estimated of £103,293, or about teii per cent. There is a small saving on the estimated expenditure. The Bank balance is £46,979. Thb Loan conversion has been arranged for by Mr. Eitzherbert in London. The confis

catsd lands yielded during the year a sum of £11,929. The .Revenue for the current year is estimated at £1,000,500, and the Expenditure at £704,647. The Government propose to abolish the joint interest between the Provinces and the General Government, commencing on Ist January next. The Central power takes the bulk of the revenue, leaving the Provinces powerless. The Central Government takes over the loans. The Provinces will still manage the police and gaols, being aided by capitation grants of 7s. per head of the population. The sum of all the scheme is that the Constitution is to be disregarded, and the Provinces are to be destroyed. The following resolutions were moved by Mr. Hall, in concluding his speech :

“1. That, in order to simplify ttie relations between tile Colonial and Provincial Governments, and to remove uncertainty from Provincial Finance and facilitate the reduction of taxation, it is expedient that the system of Provincial charges on General Revenue be abolished ; that the Consolidated Fund be at the disposal of the General' Assembly, and be charged generally with the interest and Sinking Fund on the Colonial and Provincial Loans, and also with the expenses of the Colonial Government, including the maintenance of Harbour establishments.

“ 2. That, in order to equalise the effect of the above change as between the several Provinces, £90,000, out of the proceeds of the accrued Sinking Fund, realised by operation of the Consolidated Loan Act, be paid to the Province of Nelson, and ■£Mo,0()0 to the Province of Wellington ; and that •£12,000 be annually deducted from the Territorial Revenue of Southland, in aid ot the Consolidated Fund, until repayment of the Consolidated Loan be effected.

3. That an annual apportionment in proportion to po)>uluti(in be made to the several Provinces and other divisions of the Colony for the maintenance of Gaols and Police.

“ 4. That the above arrangements be brought into operation on Ist January next, and leave given to bring in a bill for giving eHect to these resolutions.”

From the Examiner , we learn that Mr. Fox gave notice of motion for Wednesday last, of want of confidence in the policy of the Government : “ 1. Because, while the House approves of the principle of dissolving the partnership between the • leneral and Provincial Governments, it thinks the arrangements for distribution unfair.

“2. Because Government does not propose to avail itself of one advantage of such dissolution of partnership—namely, a reduction of taxation. ’* 3. Because no provision is made to fix die limit of future Native and Defence expenditure.

*• 4. iitjcaiisii Government leaves uncertain the <1 nest inn <>t tuture Government and territorial divisions ol the colony.”

The Colonist has the following just remarks upon the new and novel arrangement of the Colonial Treasurer ; “ We believe that the sound material progress of New Zealand, if the policy of the Stafford Ministry be carried out, is about to receive a check which will not only stop all immigration and with it the importation of capital, but will literally drive settlers from its shores. It reads very well in print to say that the estimated revenue of the Colony for the year 1868-69 is a million, and the proposed expenditure is only £700,000. Of course, on the face of such an assertion there should be prosperity ; but this is fallacious ; it is a bidding for a Stock Exchange popularity, and while seemingly indicative of soundness, is nevertheless a deception as to the true condition of the Colony. But without saying anything at present as to the deficit of £IOO,OOO on the revenue of last year, and the £150,000 of Exchequer Bills floated in 1866-67 and for which no provision was made in 1867-68—which amount together to a quarter of a million on the wrong side of the account—we come to the fact that hitherto a very large portion, latterly one half, of the consolidated revenue had been paid to the Provinces, and applied in a great degree in the construction of public works required for the advancement of the settled districts of the Colony, and for opening other districts for settlement. All this, except the cost of the administration of Justice, the maintenance of Gaols, and Police, is to be taken away from the Provinces, and will be absorbed by the General Government, whose extravagant schemes, mismanaged native wars, and unwarrantable luxuries, have placed a fine Colony on the verge of ruin, by loading it with a debt equivalent in all to £35 per head for every white man, woman, and child, in the countxy. This stoppage of the share of the Revenue from the Provinces means a similar suspension of the principal works most necessary for the successful colonisation of the country ~ or a further taxation beyond the general taxes of the Colony, and the local taxation which already exists. It means reduction of bur credit, reduction in the value of property, reduction in the means of advancing the cultivation and improving of ; our , unsold' waste lands ; it means, as regards Nelson, a destruction of the system

of national education, which has hitherto been so successfully carried out • and, above all, it means that taxes from which emigrants from the old country desire to flee away, will meet them here with vastly increased force, all the greater because the sparseness of the population, and the general condition of the Colony, prevent that elasticity of finance which marks the condition of England ; while the fact of a vast amount of money, in the shape of interest on both public and private debts, going out of the Colony to absentee bond and debenture holders, prevents the country from benefiting by the fruits of its own industry, and keeps the people poor. It wanted but this last effort of the Ministry, traitors to their pledges, and a majority of the Assembly, as false us they, to add another to the evils of mis-government under which the country has so long suffered. Whether the scheme will be carried we cannot tell ; but apart from the general evM which the absorption of Provincial power and of local seif-go vernment will occasion, the Province of Nelson, whose debts are a mere trifle in comparison with the debts of the other Province, will be a special sufferer, as we have hinted on former occasions.”