GENERAL ASSEMBLY.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 1171, 3 October 1865, Page 6

GENERAL ASSEMBLY.

.?? j. 11. -'• :•'.'.'• .i-r.d A dctrtiser ) t»»e ;;-■ ■.*" ;/.., ;■'•!.-/ or tiu; covebn--I'L Yh'""Aj, on use 6th September ;.-i«inr! '•.: iij'>:-v'.r.fc resolution? : — *■ '.. '.','•.•.{ *;.c J:.nn;iciil proposal of 'ti: " (j'-vt.'r: ucnt w,I! organically afi'tct si1:;!; c-'-i.s'-VitV-. vi the Provin-es, in- :-■,<.:! .vi it *ji; deprive th.m of that -\.,(iy ! ■:'»-.• rj • )'i;jfc re. turns on which they ;;-.., L.ii:c:t'.n ncpu O.d, and as no reliable , inherit .'t .J. i proviJii], it will leave them ÜB-j'.i.- '.j j'--»Tfli ti:c financial engagements chttrt-.!' i it» oft ii,., faith of existing nrrfin^imer.tr. 'ihn I :'.use, then fore, records it-* -iiiipp'-jv-J ..-r the proposal." "2. Th_l it it :, <i ■''■■'~ Me io enter upon the (iit'-tion oi '.-•!;■-.■ taxation until a new i'ariiht.iciit .'3-"'j ~ been convened, and uiitii !fi_-.t i::jp'-r •.' i uion of the Colony, vliii''i ■- •■; _prt-. ■ >iud<qnattly repre- '-■■: \A. >h; ]..y, ■ its fair propor- '"" "' I;M'- ti1.; .-, in the House." Me had a difficult iasir, he said, to perform in bringiri"forward these resolutions; P.rst, because they were brought forward prematurely, and secondly, because the tables promised by the Colonial Treasurer had cot yet been kid on the table. As to the figures be should give, they would be only approximate. The Government had said that no other bnsiner-s should be gone on with, till the pro at question of Separation had been disposed oil But he would like to know why that buuucsn should not be settled before the Separation question came en ; he had, therefore, brought on these resolutions. In the arguments which he would use he should be speaking to both questions. It would be his duty to show, that Provinces could not be further taxed. Tne resolution in the separation clause spoke for 'it*elf, and therefore he *houltl not. refer to it. He objected to the Surplus Itevcnue Act being repealed unless another one were placed in its stead. That Act he had from the first considered a clumsy Act. It would have been much belt<r to have given the provinces half the Cu-toms revenue instead of following tlie course laid down by that Act, which gave the Colonial Treasurer the trouble of making out cuch complicated accounts as he had now to e:o. lie considered that hardly any Act could he brought into operation which would effectually _ control the outlays by the Colonial 'Iretsurer. After seeing the way in which tlie public mon-y, unauthorised, was spent, he thought, it woulii be almost useless. lie considered the Colciiial Treasurer's present plan was a clumsy one. 'I he Colonial Treisurtr now proposed to give 9-16ths of the Customs' revenue to the Province*. For that one-sixteenth they were indebted to outside influence— in fact, he mi^ht fay that they were indebted to the Superintendent of Wellington. At the termination of the year there would either be a balance for or against the Provinces, and they were assured by the Government that any balrincc in favor of the Provinces would not be given to them—the balance, if any, would be carried to next year's account. After what had fallen from the Colonial Tn usurer, and looking as well at the revolutionary character of the Government, he thought the Provinces should duuand a material guarantee much greater than that given that their revenue, would not be absorbed by the General Government. The plan pro posed by the Colonial Treasurer yesterday was a mere sham. In giving the Provinces 9-lGtlis of the Customs' ltevenuc, the Government had s-ei off the increase by charging nnny additional things in detail agairit-t the Provinces. If the Govern ment would give ach ar half of the Customs Revenue, free if all charges, he would gladly withdiaw his resolutions. Hon. members, he said, would be ast< nished wl en they came to know what amounts would be taken by the Coloiral Treasurer's plan, or ruther, would have been taken ly tie Colonial Treasurer ; for, not pretending to *ny what would ha received, he hud m:;de a retro-pectivc calculation ou what would have been taken it' the Colonial Tie;.suri-r's piesent plan had been in operation for the past two years. The total for the year 1864 would have been L 124,724, and for the hut year L 141.753, which added nude a total of L"2GJ,-17~. That amount, however, was reduced by various items and ways to Llßß,ooo —total loss to the Provinces for the la-t two years. The hon. member for Lyttcltou had checked the figures with him. The Government must not suppose, however, that that hon. member was leagued v. ith him against the Government. It was purely by chance theynnet in a pns<a;;e ot the building and learnf .each other's purport. The Provinces, he, said, hud mortgaged their revenue?, and were in ai bad a position as could be j, and though in that position the Colonial Treasurer, by referring to the territonul revenue, seemed disposed to take that also. lie gave an instance where in effect the Colonial Treasurer had departed from au understanding, and if he did so in one instance, he (Mr Vogel) thought he would do so as regards his statement that he did not inteud to take the territorial revenue. The Colonial Treasurer had in the course of his financial statement referred to what a certain Superintendent of Otago had siid about *he land of that Province. He (Mr Vogel) .irew the. Colonial Treasurer's attention to what that Superintendent had said on another point. The statement was that he (the Superintendent of Otajjo) bu'l considered the three-eighths of the Custom: iusuflicicnt feir the Provinces. (The hon. member then r^ad an extract from a newspaper, giving the fall statement of what tho Superintendent referred to had said). The Provinces would not be üb'.e to go on without the money they now had, but which was proposed to be taken to some extent from them. The taking of that money would force upon the; Provinces an inability to meet their engagements. The Government had surely liot taken into account that the Province*, whoso financial year commenced* generally a little earlier than the Gene'riil Government's, had voted away their anticipated usual revenue, lie could not btleve that the General Government had taken that into account, for if the Government pressed their plan into operation it would force; the Provinces to withdraw many of their, perhay.i, contracted engagements. The honorable member in the Government had said " Let the Provinces tax themselves," but he (Mr Voge!) could ni.t see how any comprehensive plan of taxation could be adopted by

the Province!!. They might raise some trifles from taxes on dogs, &c. They would «c that tlie great additional ; expenses of next year would probably cause the Central Government to draw further on the p;o----vinces. There was. the Panama Mail ) Service expense—he did not know whether U was down in th 6 estimates for this year —interest on an additional L 640.000, and the "Dt fence "expense of L 60.000. Tom question of greatly increased* expense was one of great importance. And then, how would it be if the million and a half of the loan were not further negociated ? There was plenty of time, however, for that loan to be negociated—eighteen months. He could come to no other conclnsion, after what he had recounted, than that if they allowed the. thin end of the wed^e to b; inserted, the Provinces next j'tar would be deprived of the revenues. (Hear, hear, and crks of "No, no.") Next year he believed the territorial revenue would be taken. [He here read an extract of what had been said by the Colonial Treasurer with regard to taking some revenue of the Provinces.} If the Government had proposed taking the Customs revenue, they ought to have stopped the Provinces from considering that revenue in their appropriations for the present y<ar. The action of the Government in this matter he mi^ht term as a disturbanc* of the Provincial arrangements. The General Government, lie considered, not being able to pay thtir debts, would first take the revenues of the Provinces and then thi;ir land. The Government, if that wire their intention, should boldly have avowed it, aud be believed indoiu<r so they would have some supporters. He wanted to show the Government that their present propositions were in violation of their past proposals. He might horrify (laughter) the lion, the Premier when he said that their prci-cnt policy was a departure from the policy of which he wrote co fully to England about. [He then read extracts from memorandum of Ministers.] He wished the House to undcrsta-id that nil his remarks applied to that O-lGths sham proposed by the Colonial Tieasurer yesterday. lie would look to the last financial statement of the Colonial Treasurer (on the 7th Dcc-.-mber, 1804). That hon gentleman, perhaps, thought it was unfortunate that, instead of being reported in. the ordinary way, it was written by him and printed, [lie read the extract, which was as follows :—" To meet this (L 139,000—interest and^ sinking fund connected with portions of the L.'), 000,000 loan) it is proposed to raise the annual income by a sum of L 123,885 It is also proposed to give an additional L 74,331 a srear5 rear to the Provinces, which mean.':, in other terms, a borrowing power of one million." " But the plan means much more, if the Provinces will only read it aright—as I hope they will; for, in my opinion, any svbeme of finance for New Zealand that does not embrace the Provinces, ia an imperfect one. It means the avoidance of any temptation to interfere either with territorial revenue or three-eighths of Customs; and I am sure I shall not be misinterpreted to have used a threat, when I say that the public creditor of the Colony must he satisfied coute gui coute. y~\ He (Mr Vogel) remembered him (the Colonial Trc-isurcr) saying that he wished all the Superintendents were there before him when he said he was giving them L.74,000 extra. (Tlie hoii's. the Premier and Colonial Treasurer : Hear, hear.) Well, he gak), " hear, hear," too. He asked whether they should "rob Peter to pay Paul." He considered that the hon. the Colonial Treasurer looked upon the Provinces as oranges which he would suck out and then throw them away. (Laughter.) If the hon. member us-.-d such an expression with regard to Auckland, he must not be surprised if the expression was also brought to bear against himself. If he were asked what wore tlie three cardinal points of the mini terisil policy, he should say first, humbug; second, humbug; and third, humbug. The Government had humbugged us about the roads from Wanjranui and Tnianaki, aud the campaign there; they hud humbugged the Home Government about the troops; they were now humbugging us out of the Customs revenue; and if allowed to carry on they would humbug us out of the territorial revenue next year. Wiib regard to taxation he divided it into tv>o points — Ist. Could taxation be imposed ? 2nd. Could it be taken from Provincial funds'? What was the original intention of the House with regard to the war ? That the war expenses should be f.'ef rayed by loan. He had considered, when the question had come on at a previous session, that the war rhould be jointly paid for by t.jxes. He believed he was alone in the House when he proposed an income tax should be imposed to help to pay lor the war. He had been told that one million of the loan would be employed to defray the cost of the war, and the re-t for other purposes; but now -he believed all, or nearly all, the loan had been taken up for war aud contingent expenses. [The hon. gentleman then went into figures, intending to show that comparatively, the expenses which had been undertaken in regard to the war, by the Governments of the Colony, were sufficient to pay the whole national debt of England, or centuries of wars.] He contended that the Colonial Treasurer's intention in bringing forward the motion he had done, was to increase the Customs revenue. The Colonial Treasurer, in h:s financial statement on Wednesday, had given the total deficiency for the two years. But he (Mr Vogel) must say that it was not the former Treasurer's deficiency, but the present Colonial Treasurer's deficiency. The latter was over L 70,000 wrong in his estimate, and seemed, in making his financial statement, to have forgot to mention that his predecessor was L 16,000 uuder the mark. "What he had paid showed either one of two things: first, that tlie statements of the present Colonial Treasurer were not reliable; or else, ■ secondly, that bad results bad come from the imposition of the new Tariff. The Customs Revenue last year 1 was only 1.638,000, inclndingscven months of the increased Tariff; and now the Colonial Treasurer comes down to the House and says he expects and estimates the revenue from the Customs duties next year, or ruther this year, would amount to L 750,000. To raise a so much larger sum the Colonial Treasurer must, he considered, profose an increased Ta.ifi'. He now came to an argument which was a painful one to urge. The Middle Island could not afford to lose more by the war in the North Island. The Middle Island could I not bear the proposed Stamp tax, and in-

creased Customs duties, and other taxes. The only hope the Colony had... was a liberal assistance from England. The proposals of the Colonial Treasurer, if carried into operation, would lead the Colony into unnecessary rain. If the Middle Lland had a regard for its existence it must have the war expenditure allocated. [The hon. gentleman then read another extract] L 60,000 a month was being spent on the war. The Hon. the Premier had asserted that it must be reimbursed mainly by a loan. (The Premier: "mainly"). [He read another extract which stated that the high rate of duties had been an inducement to smuggling.] He did not think, therefore, that any higher duties woald in effect bring a larger revenue, as inducements to smuggling would be much greater. But he might be told by the Colonial Treasurer that the gold fields and gold miners would have so prospered or increased that it would be sufficient to warrant the expectation that twenty per cent, additional income would be derived from Customs duties (Ministers: hear, luar). He could pay that euch a hope was delusive.] He then read a further extract from Minis* tcrial memorandum. He said the whole of the Three Million Loan had been expended. He said be could make many more extracts which would all go to show that the Colony must have assistance from home. It mi^ht be paid that he wished to turn off the North Ldaod, but be had the assertions of the representatives of a large portion of the North Island that the Middle Island should not be asked to support the war by taxation. (Auckland members; Hear, hear.) It must be done by loan. Perhaps it might be said that he had not shown sufficient reason why the Middle Island should be exempt, but he would recapitulate the poinis of the speech. The Provinces would not be satisfied with less than foureighths of Customs revenue clear; (2) The financial proposals of the Government, if carried into operation, would ruin the Provinces; (3) The policy of the Government mooted an eiiorni.us taxation on the eve of a general electiou; (4) The excessive deficiency—he must so call it after looking at the larj-e amount of unauthorised expenditure, and the failure of the financial expectations; And (.1) the proposed action of the Government would be a breach of faith with the Provinces which had appropriated their expecfed revenue, proposed, to some extent, to be taken from them by the General Government. He was sorry to have kept the House so long. If they thought proper the Government would dissolve the House and go to the country.

Mr MACANDKEW said that he would second the resolutions, lie thought that unkß^ the Colonial Treasurer could bring forward a more copent reason than what he had as yet given, the Provinces of Otago, Southland, and Canterbury, would hesitate before voting the Surplus Amendment Act. He coiisidcr-d that this repeil of the Surplus Revenue Act was the fir.-t step towards grabbing the territorial revenue. He thought that this was the inserting of the thiti end of the wedge towards obtaining that purpose. Although the hon. member ha 1 (old them that he had no intention of trenching upon the territorial revenu™, yet. if the present Govcrinent continued in office, they would come down next sefcion and say that a-though they had not this session had any idea of appropriating the t rritorial revenue, yet that circumstances which had since occurred had caused them to change their minds. As regarded the proposed duty on stamps, he would tell tbe House that the South would not consent to pay another farthiug towards keeping up a native department, and a standing army in the Northern Inland. He believed that Auckland could much belter manage these m liters on die spot than the House could do. The country had already sacrificed four millions at the shrine of the native policy. If this poh:y were insisted upon, nothing on earth could prevent the separation of the two islands. How could they hope to prevent Separation, except by physical force, when the two ends were bent and determined ? Otago and the South considered that they had already paid too much for the maintenance of paace in the North. The Souih had looked forward to the House for redress from this stale of things, and instead of that it was now proposed to let them taste the sweets of further taxation. And this taxation was to defray the expenses incurred in the Empire City and the Northern Island. The Government should refrain from bringing forward movements like this until the different Provinces were properly represented. Taxation without representation was not the characteristic of a freii state. With these remarks he would support the motion. (To he continued.)

Count dk Lagrange.—This sportsman, whose name is for the moment a household word in Erin land and France, is the only son of General Count Joseph de Lagrange, a former pejer of France and Minister to the King of Westphalia. He has three sisters; the Duchess de Cadore, the Duchess d'ltrie, and the Counte=s3 dela Ferronnaye. HU debut on the turf dates from the year 18J6, when he purchased the stud of the late M. Amount. Monarque was the first horse which carried his new owner's colors with success, and, what is more singular, Monarque and Miss Gladiator, the fire and dam ol Gladiateur, were the first horse and mare that ran in. the count's name in England. The success which from the first moment attended the count's new enterprise was due to the rare qualities by which he is distinguished. He neglects no detail, displays remarkable activity in bis personal superintendence, and -handsomely rewards zeal employed in his service. Similar talents, previously applied to agriculture, bad already attracted the attention of the Government, and, in 1855, had procured for him a medal from the Imperial Commission. His stud in France at once acquired such importance that it soon became known as the *' great stable." Not only have all the first prizes in France fallen to his lot, sometimes for several years in succession—the French Derby in 1858, 1859 and 1861 —but in England also he has within a few years won the Goodwood Cup, the Newmarket and City and Suburban Handicaps ; the Cambridgeshire Stakes (for which his horses ran first and second) ; Oaks, Two Thousand Guineas, and Derby; in fact,

with the exsepfion of the St Leger, every turf event to which any honor attaches has fr r° D hy his hors«. Hl3 breeding estahhshment is kept up on his estate at Dapuu (Eure), which consists of a noble residence and neariy 600 acres of fertile land, most picturesquely situated and sheltered from the north winds hy an amphitheatre of Mils. His stud here includes at the present moment five stalliona, 40 brood mares, 36 yearlings, and 30 ioals of the present year, in addition to about 60 horses in training at Iloyal-Lieu, near Coinpeigne, aad at Newmarket.— Oahgnani. The price of golden-coloured hair in lansis_l2.s francs an ounce, so much is that hair esteemed and coveted by ladies, it is growing dearer and rarer every day, and it ia said will soon be sold at 125 franc* the carrot, or, more correctly, the carat. — Court Journal.