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Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XXII, Issue 132, 7 June 1888, Page 4

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tetotaptaed m for PUjSMk^^ Friday; ' Mr • Levestam's . views if^^PimpufW^fti^a in the message bave %pMfBiM-!ra^ied;i!iotir columns :— •_ 11 fcbat , b6 > debata .fldfea !»^l^^affi|o|e tlfl Ft tdky evduingi'anijl eorifn before any membeiß will •', -' V" f - ftitfa trte opportunity of speaking, I inter';}'d^i&*k~*imib}ot fcbe members of tb>» various - Y^ftjbHo-* «bY evening with the ohjoqfc of th*ir views, on the fiaanoinl 6f the Government with the fol- &?£- tewing result :— -•\\V.-.*t*? : „- AUCKLAND. f v ' v^" Qewge Gc?y (Ceiim!) Ba' s: —I have .V^^foofc yo't hi&a time to carefully oonsider the 'kti* ffinahoiftl StaTemenf, and am therefore !v !;Sntb 1 8 v at present to venture to give an ?' ■ ' opinion pu s 6 lar^a nqasi n. <4'vk ,/'M?, Monk (Wn'tema'a) tons unburdens '.'■■^^jUilj^Tf .—My impression of the Statement ■"• ■*' »bd Tariff Ib one of great distress I thought tAtSaoouiatJy in a hud way, but ft state of s thwgß« disclosed I was nit nepued for. •JJh&x'xtra taxation is KppalHnp, and for m' , opposed to any increase, is sickening. Som->' , ,of t»ho PiioteoticmV.f bave been bagging for W'* } abifhe'r tariff, and Sic Hurry h»s gratified them with a Vengeance. Tbe Statement is r ; ingenious* a sop to looal bodieß in '\' dividing the 2<i on tea with them. Tbe 1 ,per«ttt primage, if carried, rids 1 the *%tii \ Treaty of an awkward debit: balance. The po^oy qf the Treasurer, as a whol<», while y working things comfortably for bimeeif ' ' ' ' shirks some neoena&ry reform?. It rev that tihe administration of the colony wants recasting, which is being avoided or nor „. proaohed only by a mods of retreachra<>n\ """ It avoids iho property tax qu"stbn, and regains from interfering with tho-*e ffftw, ■• «t|t.niay be) who have incomes As a follower of the Government I am puz- *„•"' r sled to know how to swallow the T ; nauseous daae before .me, and wish thai ' I/had not the responsibility of deo'ding V ' It is right frr me to do B) or not. *" * Mr P. J. Mcbi (Parnell) tella me tbere *r • ,■ *, many items in th* tariff which prote oionisiß • will approve, bat ho chinks they should " * strongly repudiate all responsibility for the b't- -'great amounts of merely revenue taxation, *</' which is also to bo imposed. The wild <■«; ■•• borrowing of the lass fitteea years U alone r«BDonsible for thnt, and it should be deal' .. with separately. The position is difficult but pro'eotionkts will aot together, nnd wbatever decision the majority of them may oome to. His own opinion on tyie fioauoial position , generally, is that ■' 'there' will be no finality or safety till a v -^K.ivadioai change is made enabling looal !?> ffovernmenia to do looal work, and the " ■, i Asspmbly to be reduced to fifty men in one *! " Honse, and twenty-five i-t the othor. Thiß, '-- - bethinks, would lend to a good deal of s-lf- -: - denial. The formal ion of auob governments, orß'arting them with a full provision, are big matters and troublesome, but he believes > quite prio'icable. The expenditure of tbe General Government could then bi very grWly' reduced, and muoh of this new '«'iv revenue taxation" rendered unneoe^Ary. There ..will probably be alto great opposition to toe appropriati m of half the tea duty lot ' t localbodiea aa being unfair to the whole of " 'the people', nnd a new extension 4 of the , policy of bribiosr district* whioh has pre- '< -* r vented the oonßideration of national que--tions, and has had so muoh to da with tbe present difficulty. Mr , Hamlin (Franklin South) considers , the Finanoial statement to be bold, as it -' ' describes our true position without attempts ing tp ' ' gloss it over. It also, he says, goes iS for- drastic measures to equalise - ' , matters, and to bring down a sound state of „ ; - >flnance. , There is not much to complain of ' unless" it is that the oharges are very high; bufe what are we to do ? Extra taxation is '„w>- I rieeeteary, and I cannot suggest any way of ?; ? i f t^at would,, be more agreeable. I . >„', waa, looking for an income tax, but even if : ' we got £60,000 from such a source it wonld ' ' » ioofit £80,000 to colleot it, and the tax is suoh > .. p. ; «n inquisitorial one. lexpeot the tea and J : primage will drag ' us ont of the difficulty of our deficit, and so much the better. . f ; /Mr Carrol (a Native member) says the -, ' ' - Statement at the first blush leads him to " think that sufficient money could have been '■ -raised without resource to Customs taxation. ' - - 'At the same time the fact stares us in the face that additional money must be raised, and he would have preferred seeing the school age raised, property tax exemption raised, and stud horses and racehorses, as _, tvell as'totalisators, taxed. "" • ' WELLINGTON. • \'^' ,Mr A. Stuart»Menteath (Te Aro) said he "- nad not Had time to fully consider the Statement, bat Was of opinion that the policy " -"3* /dwolosed 1 was one that he had anticipated v ., "and -dreaded' for some time past. ' .t'U> v?\lt is scarcely neoessary for me," ob v iv served" Mr Bruce, of Bangitikei, a obampion of freetrade, "to say that I strongly dis- • . approve' of tbe .tariff proposals; That our be met by additional taxation . * goes "without saying, but I bave no wish to , - , *»cc this accomplished by taxation o! an im;*"pdverißhThg *and permanent charaoter, and I '-< am' in favor of further retrenchment in various directions, the reduation!of exemptions '/ under th«r property tax to £100, and the '-; 'abolition of subsidies to looal bodieß. I ',r -'H'oald then meet tbe deficit by something additional in the property tax, whioh could be easily removed when oiroumstances per* mitted." The Hon. 3. Ballance (Wanganui) ad mitted that he had gone oarefully into the v». proposals, but was reticent. He said that it ' appeared to him that out of an increase of £260,000 increased taxation, at least £150,000 'ii eolely for revenue. '• Tou will Bee," he added, "that the revenue from land is muoh less than last year." ," My, impressions of the Budget," said Mr * *'' "fiutohuon* of' Waitotara, " are hardly yet . „ formed, v I baye been trying to arrange the , ,/^gures »6 as to extraot an intellgiible stater 'imenC of pdblio accounts, bat they are so - ;'" |uoable f d Op and intricate, that I am^not yet '„ . . in : a pdrition to say m6re. No doubt the / ._ resolutions are protectionist, but ' ' , ,^h>y are mnoh more." , : \W . P&t'j, Hall (Selwyn) tenders the follow- ■. v . ■ ing:?— •• I have not had time to go carefully -. , over the statement, t should, therefore, not l&e' to - committ myself to any decided ■ l " ' 'opinion as to its provisions. Of course tbe / - 1 additional taxation will be very burdensome, - but if anyone ia to bo blamod for this 'it is t- ■' lioit those who propose such taxes, to restore Wraiidiiegs to onr finances, but those whose attravaganoe and borrowing have rendered additional revenue indispensable. The Customs proposals on the whole I consider seasonable, and such as will commend them* ■ ijeftreß to the majority of the electors, but I think some relief might well have been 5 afforded by raising the school age to six " ' 'years, and reducing the exemption from the , - property tax to £300, as was proposed by ' v, the Hall Government in 1879. The most ' jtaikiiig feature of the Statement appears to * xae to be the boldness with whioh it tacks „ .' |; on to the .consolidated revenue charges suoh - ' x «s tuofle for current defence expenditure, Boad Boards, ■ subsidies, and sohool buildings, tvhiph qught never to hare been paid out of loan. This is an excellent proposal, and in „,. - my, opinion, would cover a multitude of sins. _^ The •' jStiatenient is a bold proposal, and, if agreed to generally will, I think, have an > excellent effect on *the position of New >, .^i»>a;p'oi«dit. v • > >»..«, ,i' r . '• WESTLA^ID. • , ? \;ltr3. J« r Seddon (Kumara) nya ht has 7 . notyet had time to fully master the details.' *, * ' He, hbwever, differs horn the general principle - ' disclosed, 'which means that without a proper . > and careful revision of the tariff, the whole ■ „ . burden of additional taxation is thrown on >- V4he masses. • • '?' rj , »*} ; - OTAGO. '' y { uy- *• lam not sure, " cautionaly remarked Mr - , '■. - Barron, of Oaverabam, " that it is advisable ■'••' f -<',Jfit. re^rtsentativeß to prematurely give f> * r \ t |^jiJQiqij9 on the Statement, circulated only J There are,- however, one or two I ©l>vi6uß points that may be noticed hurriedly. *£ '^^eEdVtlyfßtated, the proposals, if given effect ¥:S/%i&fs^Mtieifid an additional burden of taxa< $oltiss&^^eal^4oß'.per head upon every map, r^^#on^an, and child of the population, and this r^li#W^l^# itf to be levied in suoh a way as to ■^■'*w/^^Pinpßf : Jieivily upon the masses of the I'^^^^m^^M" 6 ' t? me when 'they have already 4^''''*%|-^fw .eno'Dgh'" to do' to carry their present "itSkk- zt^QeßSitiec ol the colony may iii,-"'' 1 such a, saorifioe.on the il^Uf^a^lth^eMeVbui !f so; there must b<J a p&|#*'?fltr'onge^ ? caßtf'e«abli«hed thanhaa been ifcade

it. It is evident thaF;'if the; Government are granted the increase of revenue asked for, they will be likely to relax pressure on retrenchment. It is to be toped that in the best interests of the oolony, Parliament will rigidly refuse to sanction the imposition of any farther taxation on any pretext whatever nntil the work of : retrenchment which the present Government have hitheito evidently undertaken and carried oat in good faith be brought to a moire satisfactory point than it has yet reached. Mr Allen (Dunedin East) thus expresses himself : — " I have not yet had sufficient time to study the Finanoial Statement, bnt can't help thinking it a very Bad thing that any Treasurer should find it necessary to impose such heavy fresh taxation, and in ; such 'a direction. Even now there seem to me possibilities ' of reducing the annual expenditure so that the amount to be' raised by fresh taxation might be curtailed considerably. lam glad the Government have placed, certain things hitherto charged against the loan as a charge against revenue, and believe this to be a healthy sign for the future. I believe it would be better that if increased taxation is needed to pay subsidies to local bodies, local bodies being the spenders should raise it themselves. > The burden now proposed will fall Very largely, upon those who are not well able to pay the tariff. It seems to me aimed at raising revenue and at the same time attempting to please both freetraders and protectionists." ;Dr. Fitohett vT)uneditt Central) says : — " Speaking generally, I am pleased with the tariff, though some of the items don't content me. I don't like the fruit duties, nor the duty on tea, and I hope both of them will be abolished or reduced, other items I should like to see raised, 'but taking 1 the tariff all in all, it is distinctly protective in character. It is not as much as I want." 11 It would ha.ye been well for the colony, 1 " said the hon. Mr Shrimski, of Oamaru, "if the House had adopted Sir Julius Vogel's tariff three years ago. This taxation would not now be necessary if that had been done. We would not be providing a deficit, . and we would have kept a considerable proportion of our population which has been compelled to leave the oolony in consequence of the dulness of trade, and. sonsequent dearth of employment. No, I don't think the Statement gives too much 'protection. " THE EX-PREMIER'S VIEWS. I also took advantage of Sir R. Stout's presence in Wellington, and called on him with a |view of getting his opinion. The ex-Premier sa"id that he was not surprised at the tariff, because the Budget which had now come down was tbe Budget that he predicted would be brought down. Parliament refused to adopt the finanoial proposals of the late Government in 1885 and 1887. In his opinion the House will have to pass the Budget pretty well as it stands. Alterations maybe made in various items, but. Sir Robert thinks that the revenue that the Premier asks will have to be given if the colony is to meet its engagements properly. He has not gone into the details of the tariff, and consequently cannot express any opinion thereon. Tho one point in the Budget which he. is vexed to see is the taking of the Land Transfer Assurance Fuad. This he regards as a great blunder, as it is taking a special trust fund which should be kept sacred. If this can be taken because the consolidated fund is liable, then Ministers might as well take the funds of <he Government Insurance Department. There is also a complication of accounts, and the taking of a special portion of the consolidated fund for a special purpose, which he thinks delusive, and will never work well. Thus expressing himself , Sir Robert said he would rather mot criticise the Budget, as the Government are placed in a great difficulty, and the cessation of public works intensifies the depression, and also prevents elasticity in tbe Customs. The Government, no doubt, had been placed in a great difficulty, and he expects that they will reoeive, a« theyVtiught tq dp, every consideration from the House and the country. If, however; the 1 policy of the late Government had been followed the ool»ny would have been at least from £600,000 to £700,000 less in debt, and the crushing taxation now proposed might have been somewhat averted. To put it shortly, Sir Robert added, "the House must grant the supplies asked, either by the Customs, or otherwise, Unless we are to repudiate bur liabilities."