PARLIAMENT.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXI, Issue 9581, 4 August 1894, Page 6

PARLIAMENT.

fBT TKLKOBA7E.—rBESS ASSOCIATION-] " -J HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. . Friday. tiz House met at 2.30 p.m. THE UOBWBISO QUESTION. k. Replying to Sir R. Stout, Mr. Seddon laid be hoped to have the Licensing Act Amendment Bill circulated after the dej bate on the Financial Statement was concluded. THE FINANCIAL DEBATE. &iS.. Captain Russell (Hawke's Ray) resumed the debate on the Financial Statement. He said it was the first time be had spoken under a time limit, and he bad taken a | i great many notes which he was afraid he i ; S would not be able to take advantage of._ He commenced by referring to the Premiers "fr extraordinary speech of Wednesday night , and said the older members of the House were not accustomed to such bluster from the Premier. Mr. Seddon had threatened the House with a dissolution, which was a moat unconstitutional proceeding on his part. The Premier had denied that the Government policy was a new departure, but only a short hour before, his colleague, Mr. Ward, had told the House that it was a new policy, and a new departure. The Premier had also dented that the Governmen were going in for a borrowing policy. He considered the Opposition were perfectly ■within their right in publishing criticisms of the Budget, and it was evident that those criticisms were resented by the Treasurer, judging by the amount of time he devoted to those criticisms when opening the debate. Mr. Montgomery had told them there was no borrowing in the policy of the Government, If the money was to be invested in such a way as to get full interest. Why every loan issued in the colony had imposed further taxation on the people, and the more loans they raised, no matter for what purpose, the more taxation they would have to pay. Mr. Montgomery bad said he should support the cheap money scheme, although he admitted he did not) know whether it would effect the purpose for which it was intended. That, be was afraid, was a sample of the support which the Government received from their followers in the present House. Mr. Morrison had told them the previous night that Sir Robert Stout had neglected no opportunity of dragging the Liberalism of the present party into the gutter. That*,anight be perfectly true, but that did not mean that Sir R. Stout had dragged liberalism itself into the gutter. He (Captain Russell) claimed to be a Liberal, and he fearlessly asserted that Sir R. Stout had done more in the cause of Liberalism than the whole of those gentlemen on the Treasury benches. He (Captain Russell) thought Sir K. Stout had often gone too far in this direction, bat there was no denying tbe fact that the member for Wellington was a good friend to the cause of true Liberalism. Referring to Mr. Ward's speech at Oamaru, in which he claimed that the public debt of the colony was reduced since the Government took office, he quoted from the Financial Statement of this year to show that the public debt of the colony at 3lst March, 1894, was £38,874,491, whereas the debt on 31st March, 1891, was £37,359,157, showing a clear increase of debt since the Government took office of £1,515,234. That did not include the sum, £718,096, unexpended from tbe previous loans, which proved that the actual increase of the debt for the three years was £2,234,430. He weald, of course, be told by th* Treasurer that he was entirely! wrong, but that was his reading of the tables, and if they were prepared in a misleading way, that was the fault of the Treasurer. He asserted, then, that this self-reliant and on-borrowing Government \ had increased the debt of the colony by £741,143 every year since they took office. He believed that while the Premier did not understand the Budget, the Treasurer did not understand the true principles of finance. Taking the conversion of the half million Imperial guaranteed four per cent, loan, it was, he contended, worse than any financial extravagance of the moat reckless spendthrift that ever played the fool with the little mousy he had come into. This conversion me&nt that the colony was saddled with £616,000 a-year for ever and ever, with £21.400 of interest to pay, and all in order that the Government might have a little money to jingle in their sockets. Regarding the banking legislation, as he understood it, the Bank of New Zealand was going to be t?;« "old man of the sea" for the colony, and be questioned whether tbe House had doae wisely in strengthening the position of the Bank without having more information at their disposal. If the House was unable to debate the question properly, it was all the fault of the Government who refused to , give any information, and members were obliged to glean all. the information they could get for themselves. It was a • matter of vital importance to the taxpayers of the colony, and they were entitled to demand the fullest information as to what was really tbe extent of the guarantee which tbe colony was committed to by the recent legislation. His opinion was it was the bad financing of the Treasurer himself that bad brought about the recent banking crisis. - He referred to the position of the Assets Company at length, and said as the Bank and this Company were one, the colony was committed to looking after that company's affairs as well as those ~of the Bank. The whole position demanded "careful inquiry as tbe colony were guarantors for that company. Notwithstanding the fact that they had guaranteed the Bank two millions of money, they were asked to pay the land tax four months before it was due, which seemed to, indicate that the . Bank bad refused to finance tbe Government debentures. (Mr. Ward: Absolutely incorrect.) Well, that seemed to him to be tbe reason, and the Government were to blame for nob giving the members of the House the information they were absolutely entitled to. Mr. J. McKenzie said the whole of Captain Russell's speech was directed to the Bank of New Zealand, and the guarantee by the Government of two millions of money. They had not heard one word from Daptain Russell why the House should not. approve of the policy of the Government [Captain RuSsell: You will get them in the Bills). Captain Russell had stated that he [Mr. McKenzie) had threatened them with a dissolution, but he denied he had ever done so. He had said if tbe Land Bill were rejected the Govern t would have a right of appeal to the country on it, and whilst he sab in the House he should call a spade a spade, no matter whether it was constitutional or not. Capt. Russell had told them Sir R. Stout was a true Liberal, but he had only made that discovery a fortnight ago. The Government had been twitted with being a borrowing Government, but he, .contended that the Treasurer had given a : distinct account of the way in which the money was to be expended, and that was a very different thing from raising money to construct district railways. It was no new policy to raise money for land for settle- ; ment purposes. During the last year the Government had purchased 9113 acres, at a cost of £39,000, and they • had put 88 settlers on that land, which would be considered a very:< small: holding in Hawke's Bay. He defended the purchase .of the Pomahaka estate, and said it was no new thing either to: spend £250,000 in the purchase of native land, which : was necessary to carry on settlement in the North Island. He would ask hon. members also - whether they would tell their constituents there was no money available tor ' roads and bridges to open up the country. If ' there was any borrowing-in the Budget ; at all ib was only this £250,000 for : toada and ...bridges, and if tbe colony was to progress at all, this was absolutely - necessary. : He held that . the proposal to give cheap money to farmers would ,be hailed with satisfaction all over the colony. > They were told by Sir R. Stout that they should .-assist other people as well as the farmers ; but be need not point out that all the wealth of the country cam?from the land, and they were bound to assist the farmers as much as possible to make the land more reproductive. There was nothing that the colony need fear in lending money to farmers for land was the best possible security for advances made to settlers. If i the Lending Board did its duty there would be ho fear of any loss to the colony, and the i farmers themselves would' be greatly benev fited. Referring to Mr. Mitchelson's speech be said he took credit for his Go- * vernment - for putting r more ■ people ;on the land" than be (Mr. McKenzie) had done. He did nob know what tables the hon. 'gentleman quoted from, but he would t tell ; the Houso that he had put -360 . ■I more people on th« land in three years than * ill mB iSMUS llsilal ItiM p Ift II I

the late Government. He claimed to have stopped duiamyism all over: the colony, and that was why he was so unpopular with land speculators at the present . time. g, He defended > his ; land policy at some length, and said that the settler* he had pat on the land, were honest, bona' occupants. II the House stood by them, they would become', settlers such as should be encouraged as much as possible, instead of being discouraged. Ha referred to the Cheviot purchase in detail, and hoped the House would recognise that he had not forgotten small areas in disposing of that property. It had been said that the present Government were departing from Mr. Balance's policy, but he denied- that - , and said ; the only difference in the present Land for & Settlements Bill is that they had asked for, more money than in the Act of .1891. ;;.: They had proved since that. Act was passed that it had been successful, and that being the case he contended they were > justified this year in asking the House for ■ £250,000 for land settlement. As to the consols scheme, that had been discussed over and over again in Mr. Ballance's time, and the I reason it had not been brought down before | was because they thought the time was not ripe for it. He felt convinccd also that if Mr. Ballance bad •, been with them 'at present, he would have approved of 'the cheap money scheme, and he therefore could not see why they should be open to the charge of departing from the policy of their late chief. The Government were attacked about the position they took up over the Bank of New Zealand, but he held it was no part of the duty of the Government to go about the country saying that the Bank was in a weak state. They were anxious to avert a crisis of any sort, and he claimed they had done so. He ventured to say the colony would admit the Government had done its duty in this matter. He denied that the reason for collecting the land tax was because the Bank of New ' Zealand refused to finance for the Government. That Bank was never consulted in the matter, and the simple reason was, as had been already stated, to meet interest payments in London. , Mr. Earnshaw said the House witnessed on Wednesday a drama from Sir R. Stout, and v a screaming farce from the Premier shortly afterwards. They had just heard from the Minister for Lands a rehash of the Land for Settlements BilL He wished to gay he >vas entirely opposed to the financial proposals of the Government, as he was returned to oppose a borrowing policy as was also every member for Dunedin. This Budget was, in his opinion, borrowing from beginning to end, no matter what Ministers called it. It was as much borrowing as if they had before them a loan of five or six millions for the construction of public works. .He thought the policy initiated by the Government; was a dangerous one, and required careful watching. He was speaking at the 5.30 adjournment. The Houso resumed at 7.30 p.m. Mr. Eaknshaw continued bis remarks. He blamed the Government for not keeping their promises in respect to revising the tariff, and said he would oppose the proposed duty on fruit to the utmost; Mr. Collins pointed to the fact that the Opposition party had been far more merciful in their criticism of the Budget than those who called themselves Liberals. He believed the proposals of the Government were in the interests of democracy, and be would give them his support. His opihion was that if the policy of the Government was carried into effect it would result in a considerable rise of land values, and an improvement in business generally. •> ■» Mr. Mackintosh praised . the Colonial Treasurer for his cheap money scheme, and denied that the Governments proposals foreshadowed a period of borrowing. Mr. Bcick said if ever there was a time when an increase in the public debt of the colony was justified it was during the year just closed, because Parliament bad authorised the opening up of native lands and the acquisition of lands for settlement, which could not be done without the expenditure of large sums of money. He admitted the cheap money imd consols' scheme were borrowing, but if the money were spent judiciously there could not be very much objection to the proposal®,* y/" -' Mr. Wilson complained of the misleading manner in which the public .accounts were kept, .and said the Opposition < bad to 2nd out the position of the colony the best way they could. Mr. Wilson held the Treasurer had adopted the worse possible forms of raising money to assist farmers, at.d thought ft better to raise it through the Public Trust Office or by post office fends. .v - Mr. Pinkkkton" combated the statements of many members that the Government proposals were borrowing, and " said he was surprised at the change in the tone of those members who had supported the recent banking; legislation, but who now said the Government had done wrong in guaranteeing the two millions to the Bank of New Zealand. The cheap money scheme, if properly administered, would be very beneficial, but the banks should be prohibited from manipulating the money. He objected to the views of the Government respecting local government, and took strong objection ,to raising rates on Crown Land?. Mr. Laway moved the adjournment of which was agreed to.

The House rose at 12.20 a.m.