THE FINANCIAL DEBATE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXV, Issue 10836, 20 August 1898, Page 5

THE FINANCIAL DEBATE.

VIEWS OP AUCKLAND MEMBERS.

THE MAIN TRUNK RAILWAY. [by telegraph—special correspond]

" . " ' Wellington", Friday, j Mr. Bollard made an interesting and vigorous speech this afternoon on the Financial Statement. At the outset, he very emphatically condemned the public accounts as presented by the Premier, as most misleading. The Premier was an artist in finance legerdemain. Mr. Bollard went on to say that the Government, in the name of Liberalism, were taking away the liberties of the people. The expense of. administration was increasing, and the country was swarming with inspectors. The Government would not remain in office six months were it not for the present system of political bribery and borrowing, and the Premiei had the audacity to come before the House and, with his usual dissimulation, recommend economy and denounce extravagant borrowing I Such conduct reminded one of the old proverb of the devil reproving sin. Coming to the railway question, Mr. Bollard said lie would give Mr. Cadman credit for being an honest i man and an honest politician, and that was | saying a good deal about one sitting on the Government side of the House. If the railways were left to Mr. Cadman it would be much better, but he was dominated by the Premier, especially in the matter of keeping accounts. Last year tho Government asked for £200,000 to keep the lines in order, and this year they are asking for another £200,000. That is, £400,000 has been added to capital in two years to keep the railways ill order. He admitted there had been an increase in the traffic, but was that increase sufficient to justify £400,000 being added to the tariff in two years? If the amount required to keep the railways in order were taken out of revenue, as it ought to be, the percentage earned would be less now than under the Commissioners. They had been told that the railways were starved by the Commissioners. Who starved them? The Government. (Hear, hear.) They could not get money from Parliament as the present Minister could. This could surely be seen by a blind man. He (Mr. Bollard) never found fault with men being paid good wages. In the district where he had lived for many years, he had always paid the highest wages; in fact, he had at times got into trouble with his neighbours on that account, but he felt the railway employees had the best of it as regards wages when compared with men in private employment. The Government were manipulating the labour market for electioneering purposes, and men were leaving tho ranks of private' employment to get the higher rate of wages on co-operative works; in fact, every department of the public service was being worked for electioneering purposes. Mr. Bollard denied the statement that the railways were now safer than under the Commissioners, and quoted figures in support of his denial. The lines were starved for want of ballast. The authorities denied i this, but when an accident occurred it was generally through want of ballast, and ballast was put on immediately afterwards. Coming to the question of the North Island Main Trunk railway, Mr. Bollard declared that this line was in a different position from all the other railways in the colony—(hear, hear) —for a certain sum of money had been borrowed and ear-marked for this special purpose. (A Member "So it was as regards the Otago Central.") This money was spent elsewhere. Supposing any local body raised money for a certain purpose and then devoted it to other purposes it would be called misappropriation, and they would be called upon to make it good. The Premier had stated ' that the line was being constructed and since then the Cabinet had met 'in solemn conclave and voted £700 to carry on this work. (A Member: " Will that finish it?") It would cost about £1,260,000 to finish it. Mr. Bollard went on to state that if all the Auckland members were of the same opinion as he was, the Government would soon complete the Trunk line., There were a sufficiently large number of Auckland members supporting the Government to go to Ministers and say, " If you don't make this line we can't see our way to support you any longer." They would soon bring the Premier to his knees. There web) sufficient Auckland members on the Ministerial side of the House to'turn out the Government. Why did they not do it? Let him hoar these men say when they went back to Auckland that they wanted this line made and did their best to get the work done. They had the power to do it, but they did not" have tho moral courage. The Auckland members supporting the Government practically took no part in the legislation of the House. The Premier was like the boll wether, and they simply followed him like sheep into the lobby. (Laughter.) Let him hear no more of their talk about wanting the Main Trunk railway completed. Mr. Pirani: " They are asleep"— to one Aucklander, who appeared to bo enjoying a nap. Mr. Bollard: "We are not on this side. Mr. Pirani: " No, on that side."

Mr. Bollard : "I forgot we have a Minister from (laughter)—two Ministers in fact." After condemning the administration of the Public Works Department, Mr. Bollard proceeded to state that ho gave the Minister for Lands credit for a sincere desire to put the people on the land, but his land policy was nevertheless a failure. It was not the' first time sincere and honest intentions had failed. The land policy of the Government was a complete failure, This was amply proved by the figures quoted by Mr. Scobie Mackenzie. The numbers who had entered into occupation were fewer and the forfeitures greater. These forfeitures were more serious now than in the past. Formerly, settlers were placed on unimproved land, and if they cleared out no ; great harm was done, but now it was improved land, and while the rent was going back, the land too was going back, and the next man to take it up would not give so high a rent, which meant a loss to the colony. The present system of purchasing estates was indirect conflict with the Assets Realisation Board. In the Waikato tie people who wanted land had an idea that it would be purchased by the Government, and they would get it on perpetual lease. They would not buy until they saw the end of this matter, and people, willing to buy the freehold, thought pressure would be brought to bear and they would get the land at their own price. Mr. Bollard went on to urge the Government to do more for the State forests. If active steps were not taken, in 20 or 30 years' time there would bo very little timber left in the country. la answer to a question recently, the Minister for' Lands said the establishment of a school of agriculture in the neighbourhood of Auckland was simply a matter of £ s d. Tho' young Auoklanders who wanted to learn agriculture could, -ho said, go to the Canterbury school. The Southerners were treated with far more consideration. In answer to a' request for a dairy school in the South Island, the Minister said it was not right that young people in the South should have to go to the North to learn dairying, yet it was right that people should have to go from Auckland to Canterbury to learn agriculture. The Minister took up a most Conservative attitude. The sons of the well-to-do might go to the Canterbury School of Agriculture, but the sons of the poor could not. Plenty of land, suitable for an experimental farm or school of agriculture, could be obtained near Auckland at a reasonable price. They had heard a good deal about the Bank of New Zealand. It was a cruel thing to speak of colonists dead and gone as some members had spoken. The Auckland men, who had got deep into the Bank, in the Waikato, had been actuated by most honest intentions. They spent large sums, and no sooner had thoy got their lands ready for grazing, than beef and mutton went down 50 per cent. If prices had kept up there would have been no trouble, and, even now, if prices went up, the Bank would be flourishing again. It was monstrous' to say that these men had robbed the Bank, for they were all ruined themselves, while they gave employment to the, workmen of the colony. • Nearly all the small settlers in those localities, who were now in comfortable circumstances, had been once employed on those large estates. Nine-tenths of the money went into the pockets of working men, who had mw farms of their own. Mr. Bollard did not believe the Premier really intended. to remit 5 per cent, of the duty on goods manufactured in Britain, and he (Mr. Bollard) hoped he would not do it; in fact, he dare not do it,' for the unionists would jump on him if he tried. Mr. Bollard would sooner see the, Government put 5 . or 10, ; or Teven 20 per cent., on foreign goods, and help the British manufacturers in that way. He warned the Government not to go too far with their Labour legislation, or there would be a reaction. ; (Hear,-

hear.) 'In conclusion, Mr. Bollard referred ] to the state of the lunatic asylums. They weie overcrowded, and the Premier said the doctors should give up their quarters, and the social hall should be done away with. The Premier would go back to the old ways, when lunatics were kept in something like dungeons. These racial halls and entertainments were just the things to bring these poor people out of their despondency. The Auckland Asylum had its share of neglect. It had been'burned down some time ago, and two years passed before, it was rebuilt, the patients being huddled together, while the work was done by co-operative labour. (Mr. Hall-Jones: "It was done cheaply and quickly.") Mr. Bollard: "We know all about co-operative labour. Put the returns on the table, and we will believe you." The attendants were kept on duty 15 hours a day, and vet Ministers talked about an eight hours' day. When the Eight Hours BUI came up he would certainly do his utmost to make it apply to Government institutions. ' Mr. Holland rose to speak a little before midnight. He said the Statement seemed to have given general satisfaction throughout the colony. 'Endeavours had been made to prove the" surplus to be a fictitious one, but he believed the Government had a substantial surplus, and a strong finance. He denied that the surpluses had been got by under-estimating the revenue and over-esti-mating the expenses. They were rather tho result of the continued prosperity of the colony. The increase in the Customs revenue was not due to the recent alterations in the tariff, but to the progress of the country, and the increased spending power of the people, Steady progress had been made in the settlement of the lands of the colony. It was true that there had been a falling off in the number of selectors and purchases, but that was owing to the Minister not having sufficient good land to put the settlers on. He hoped the Government would continue to push on settlement in the North Island. The railways were paying better than before, and he did not consider that the charge that the Government were starving the lines was borne out by facts, or by the figures showing the amounts spent in maintenance. Mr. Holland went on to quote comparative tables, with the object of showing that the passenger, goods, and live stock traffic had largely increased. He was glad to see that the Minister intended to give further concession to the small settlers, and to increase the wages of platelayers, porters, and casual labourers. Coming to the North Island Trunk railway, Mr. Holland said Mr. Bollard had made a statement that the Auckland members had no pluck, or they would turn the Government) out if they would not complete this railway. All he (Mr. Holland) would say was that if Mr. Bollard gave him a guarantee that the incoming Government would do the work he might consider tho matter in the meantime. He would say, "Better the deil we know than the doil we don't know." He was far from satisfied with the answers recently given by Ministers about this line. He pointed out how it and Auckland had been neglected. In 1896, out of £44,000 spent, only £4000 had been expended on the Auckland end. Last year £37,000 was spent at the South end, 'and £8000 at the Auckland side; thus, during tho last two years £77,000 had been spent at the South end, and only £12,000 at the North end. At the present rate of expenditure it would take 33 years to complete the line. He asked the Minister for Public Works did he think that right? Was it just? He (Mr. Holland) did not think so. Ho protested strongly against the present isolation of Auckland. The people of Auckland were entitled to a much larger expenditure if they were to be treated in the same way as other parts of the colony. He also hoped the Government would help to provide better steamer communication between Auckland and other parts of the colony. Mr. Holland thought that some works might well be done by cooperative labour, but skilled work, such as the erection of Parliament Buildings, had better be done by contract. He doubted the advisability of remitting 5 per cent, of the duty on British made goods. The game was hardly worth the candle. The United States might retaliate— Premier: " They have already done it ")—with a duty on kauri gum, to the injury of the poor gumdiggers. Ho hoped the Premier would reconsider this question.