THE BUDGET.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXIV, Issue 8090, 3 November 1887, Page 5

THE BUDGET.

WHAT IS SAID ABOUT IT. VIEWS OF MEMBERS. OPINIONS OF THE PRESS. [BY TELEGRAPH. —SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT.J Wellington, Wednesday. After the adjournment last night the members went into the lobbies and discussed in groups the Financial Statement. There was a pretty general consensus of opinion that it was the straightest statement, with the least padding, of any delivered for years past. WEAK POINTS IN THE STATEMENT. The weak points, from an Auckland point of view, were regarded as the evasion of the protection question by shunting the adjustment of the tariff to next season —which is unsatisfactory to Messrs. T. Thompson, Monk, Goldie. and Moss—the increase of the property tax, further borrowing, the diminution of grants to local bodies, and the repeal of the Crown Lands and Native Lands Rating Act, which specially affects tho constituencies of Messrs. Kelly, Monk, Cadman, and Graham. AUCKLAND MEMBERS PLEASED. Messrs. Withy, Peacock, Hobbs, and Jackson were pleased with the Statement, and thought it fairly grappled with the situation ; and all the Auckland members are satisfied with the extent of the reductions indicated if they are honestly and resolutely carried out. One Auckland member said to me: " After listening to that Financial Statement, I think that every member who has sat in Parliament during the last 10 years should be impeached for suffering the country to drift into such a plight." Colonel Fraser thought the Statement a good one, so far as being full of promises. Sir George Grey, in response to my inquiry as to his view was somewhat reticent—"lt was a Statement which required careful consideration. It appeared to go, however, pretty much in the old grooves." Tho Auckland representatives will swallow a good deal in ! the Budget which is unpalatable to them, with the spectre of Sir Julius Vogel behind the scene. As one of them put it, " We prefer the devil we know to the devil we don't know." WHAT THE SOUTHERN MEMBERS THINK. All the Southern members I spoke to were impressed with the ability and straightforwardness of the Statement, and the general impression is favourable. Mr. Soobio Mo* Ktinzio regarded it as bold, and yot to some extent weak. The proposals for further borrowing revealed the cloven hoof. Even Mr. Vincent Pyke, who is rarely in sympathetic accord with any Government, waß simply in ecstacies with the Budget, and in response to my inquiries, could only ejaculate, "Excellent, excellent!" in the laconic style characteristic of that political sage. THE BORROWING PROPOSALS, The borrowing of what is practically two millions at present is looked at somewhat askance, and it is considered doubtful whether it can be obtained except on disadvantageous terms. Yet there seems an evident necessity, as the public works funds are exhausted. As to going beyond that, it has been well put that the country does not want to be debauched or bedrugged any more; it does not want " another chance," "another flatter," "another drunk." It is holding out its hands and begging for the blue ribbon. It asks for nothing better than to purge and live cleanly, if its rulers will but let it. OPINION IN TUB LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL, The members of tho Legislative Council are generally favourable to the Statement, though wealth will have still further to contribute to the necessities of the State. Two of these gentlemen, who aro regarded as the highest financial authorities in the Council, have emphatically expressed their approval, and regard the steps taken by the Government as the right thing to be done, and done at the right time. Most of the Lords have not offered any objection to the reduction of the honorarium, but those to whom the honorarium is a consideration are talking about the present figure being in tho nature of a contract. THE OPPOSITION. The points of the Budget which will be assailed by the Opposition are given as:— First, the tariff; second, the reduotiona in the Education Department; third, the dimiminished grants to local bodies ; fourth, the Estimates being voted en bloc for departments, leaving Ministers at their discretion to adjust the reductions from the totals. No definite action has yet been taken by the Opposition, though informal talk has been going on. SIR J. VOGRL STUDYING THE BUDGET. Sir Julius Vogel has been absent from the House all day—it is supposed studying the Financial statement, and preparing a counter policy. It is said he refused to move or show his hand till the tables attached to the Ministerial statement are available for perusal. A rumour is current that he will move in the direction of declaring that the Ministerial proposals are excessive, and will be mischievous in effect through intensifying the depression, and that the proper course would be to raise the additional revenue required by so amending the Customs tariff as to assist local industries without pressing unduly on trade. WHAT THE PRESS SAYS. The Times has the following : —" The Statement is unquestionably the ablest and best that has been listened to in the House for many years. There is a commendable simplicity and straightforwardness, aud an absence of the tedious moralising and preachlfying which have so grievously swelled the bulk of some past Budgets, those of Major Atkinson himself included. The Statement is plain, and to the point; it is a resolute facing of the direct issue before the country, aud both the situation and the Ministerial I proposals are set forth with remarkable skill ; and judgment." BRAVE AND HONEST. The Post comments thus :—"ln the Financial Statement which was delivered last night, we recognise a brave and honest attempt to ! face the difficulties of the position in which the colony stands, it affords a remarkably clear j and able exposition of the condition of affairs, and the difficulties which have to be met. There is no sign of any desire to either gloss over or exaggerate anything, either for party purposes, or in an alarmist spirit. Major Atkinson appears to have stated the case with scrupulous fairness, and has rigidly obeyed Othello's injunction to ' nothing extenuate, nor set down aught in malice.' In doing so he has undoubtedly 'done the State some service.' We fully recognise this,'and can most honestly congratulate Major Atkinson and his colleagues on the general character of the proposals of their Budget." A VERITABLE COUP. The Press remarks : — " The Premier has mainly fulfilled the most sanguine expectations of bis supporter*. He has grasped the situation as it never was grasped before* aud has made a veritable coup. The Financial Statement contains so much in a small space that it is not easy at the first glance to take it all in, but tho more it is examined the more satisfactory it appears. it has nothing in common with those tinkering makeshift expedients which we have been accustomed to in the past. It is a statesmanlike scheme of policy for permanently placing the public affairs of the colony on a safe, honest, and progressive footing. The Government deserve the highest credit for the singular j ability and industry displayed in the production of so complete and comprehensive a scheme in so short a time, and under such perplexing conditions. It was a supreme j occasion, and they have risen to it heroically. " [by telegraph.—own correspondents.] Christchurch, Wednesday. THE ABLEST STATEMENT EVER DELIVERED. The Press, in a leading article, says :— "The Financial Statement delivered by Major Atkinson last night is not only decidedly the ablestever delivered,but by far the moat statesmanlike that any Treasurer has delivered in this country. The circumstances with which he had to deal were exceptionally difficult and perplexing, but he has dealt with them in such a manner as wholly to overcome the difficulty, and in a great measure to remove their perplexity. He has plainly demonstrated that the colony may, without any additional taxation beyond the increase of the property tax by throesixteenths of a —which nobody will objeot to—bring the expenditure actually within the revenue, and pay off the exist, ing deficit. He has alio propounded a bold and thoroughly effective scheme by which the borrowing may be brought absolutely to a close next year, without a disastrously sudden stoppage of publio works, and also without any sacrifice of the results of past expenditure. Finally, he has made

proposals of a far-reaching kind for renewing the settlement of the lands of tho colony on an unprecedented scale." The moat startling and at first sight, perhaps, the most disappointing feature of the Financial Statement, the Press thinks, is the announce-' ment of a " loan of two millions, including the North Island Trunk Railway loan of a million, to be floated in the early part of next year." When it is remembered what a narrow escape the comparatively small loan last year had of being a humiliating failure, and also what an outcry there has been throughout the country especially from the Ministerial party, against farther borrowing, this might well be called a rash proposal, from more than one point of view." The Press admits, however, that Major Atkinson has demonstrated that it is impossible to stop borrowing all at onoe, and in conclusion says :—" We believe the Financial Statement faithfully reflects the public feeling of the most intelligent and responsible of the people throughout the colony, both as to the loan policy, and as to the retrenchment policy. It is calculated to re-establish the publio credit, and restore progress and pros* perity at no distant date, and we cannot but believe that, in a new Parliament, fresh from the people, and fall of vigour and good purpose, it will meet with hearty support." A CONTRARY VIEW. The Lyttelton Times declares that Major Atkinson is indebted to his predecessors for most of his ideas, and, it cdbtinues, "he has added some showy items to the programme of his predecessors." It is true the reduction of the Governor's salary, of the emoluments of Ministers, aud of the honorarium of members of Parliament, and of the diminution of their number, are of the things that are showy and new, but they are not good. The first on the list is not at present an available reduction, and the others are distinctly bad. The temporary diminution of Ministerial salaries, and of the amounts paid to members of both Houses, is a good and necessary thing, but permanent reduction Is calculated, by narrowing the choice of men of ability, while increasing the oppor tunities for the men of leisure to destroy the balance of political power. For the rest, the amalgamation of offices was strictly sot forth and elaborately provided for in the Financial Statement of May last. Beyond that Major Atkinson is at sea, being unable to state the amount of compensation to be paid for the compulsory wholesale retrenchment in the number of officers. lie is clearly not master of the Statement he has professed to lay before Parliament. His plan of retrenchment is more showy than the plan of his predecessor ; but it is less reliable." It asks:—" Why is there no mention in the Financial Statement of the magnificent idea of settling a sturdy yeomanry on the land ? It should bo our object to enable the poor man and the man of small means, as well as the man of large means, to settle in peace and contentment on the soil. Why draw the line at 'pensioners,' as Major Atkin« son has done in his Financial statement. As Major Atkinson himself knows very well, the greatest of the factors in the much-needed industrial development is the adjustment of the Customs tariff. He not only knows it, but he virtually admits as much in his Statement ; yet on his planniug and promising it is introduced only to be. thrown out of sight for ever," The article concludes as follows :—" As a return of six months wastod for the turmoil of a general election, and for the disorganisation of the whole political credit, we have a very bad copy with worse deviations of tho Stout-Vogel policy; and to reconcile us to it we are offered a scheme of retrenchment transparently delusive. For the third time we ask, Why have we changed Governments ?" Nelson, Wednesday. At the Education Board day it was stated that under the proposals in the Financial Statement 570 children in the Nelson district would be struck off the rolls as being undor six years of ago. The Nelson district will lose £3300 by the proposed alterations.