THE PUBLIC WORKS STATEMENT.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 10179, 13 October 1894, Page 6

THE PUBLIC WORKS STATEMENT.

DEBATE IN tfHE HOUSE,

(Fee United Pkess Association.)

Wellington, October 12. On the motion that the House go into Committee of Supply,

The Hon. Mr MITCHELSON said when the Opposition agreed to go on with the public works debate that night they did not expect to be kept.in the House till 2 o'clock on the previous morning. He thought it utterly impossible to debate the Statement satisfactorily, as it had only been brought down to the House the previous night. The Government had also such a large majority at their backs, and the various members of their party had been so well provided for, that it was almost useless for the Opposition to attemptany reduction in the public works expenditure. He must, however, protest against the scatter-cash policy of the present Government, and he thought it would before long land the colony in vary serious trouble. They had now been in session 130 days, and following his usual practice Mr Seddon had delayed the Publio Works Statement to such a late period that it was impossible for the House to discuss his proposals intelligently. The amount proposed to be spent this year was far in excess of what the colony could afford, and it would mean eventually that the Government would have to propose a loan to carry on the public works of tha colony as they could not possibly construct them out of revenue. He referred to the expenditure proposed for the North Island Trunk railway, »Hd said the Government had seized the sinking funds to such an extent as to amount tosly borrowing. The Premier had congratulated tho House on the Government having secured control of the railways, but he carefully uttered a note of warning to show he had somo conception of the trouble that was iv store for him in managing the railways. He regretted to see Mr Seddon holding out hope, in various parts of the colony for extending certain railways, as he must see that the colony could not undertake these works unless they went in for another loan. He complained of the unfair way in which Mr Seddon proposed to deal with the Helensville railway, and said that the liabilities on that line amounted to nearly £2000 more than was voted for it this year. He thought the sum asked for the goldfields far in excess of what the colony could afford, and the same remark applied to the vote proposed for harbours, which be also thought was excessive. He should not attempt to reduce the Estimates in any way, as he knew by past experience that nothing could be gained by that.

Dr NEWMAN complained of the way the Houae was being driven at the present time. 'The Government bad told them frequently that their policy was one of tapering off, but there was quite a change in that respect in this Statement, as there had never been one in which so much cash was floating about in all directions as the present Statement. They were told all round that the Government did not intend to borrow,, but one of the first announcements in the Statement was £150,000 for the land improvement fund and £150,000 for Native lands. He referred to the fact that all Government supporters had got their little pickings, even down to £1500 for a wharf at Howick, which the member for Franklin had been waiting for for 20 years.

Sir R. STOUT deeply regretted, with Mr t Mitchelson, that the Statement had been so i long delayed, and he thought ifc was simply i playing with Parliament to deal with ifc in that way. .There was no excuse whatever for keep- | ing the Statement back so long. The policy 1 bifii had also been unreasonably delayed, and t the reason was very obvious. : None bf the t bills had been prepared, nor were they ready in 1 any way for being brought down. He (Sir i B. Stout) said it was very noticeable that the 1 self-reliant policy initiated by Mr Ballance i had been entirely abandoned by the present 1 Government, and so far as this Statement was concerned every statement made in the Budget l of 1692 was abandoned. It was not self-reliant ' or non-borrowing in any way. They were < asked to vote in ronnd numbers this year one j million of borrowed money for public works, . and that was altogether more than the colony t could stand. He also pointed out that no less 1 than £366,000 was down this year for roads, i which he thought was excessive. If they spent < that amount on railways there would be some 1 return, but'so far as roads were concerned there '1 would ba only an indirect return. They were -i to spend £313,000 on railways and '■ £151,000 'i for other purposes outside roads,, ahd railways, which meant altogether addi- '. tional interest to be paid by the colony of i £25,000 or £30,000 a year. He asked.whether ' the. electors of the colony would consent to the ; policy disclosed in the "Budget and this Statement. He ventured to say that any members ! who advocated this policy would not be returned. He noticed that, compared with the population, Westland. and .* Nelson gob' aboufc double the amount of any other district in the colony. He could not imagine that Mr Mitchelson was correct in saying that they would be. asked to pass votes in the Public Works Estimates that night. They would be burlesquing parliamentary government to ask [them to* deal with votes for a million of money at such extremely short notice. There were many of the roads mentioned in the Statement that should not have money voted for them at all, and ho believed that so long as they had roads brought before them that members knew nothing of they would have all sorts of political jobbery. The only way to deal with these votes would be to set up a special committee to consider special roads, which he thought would he a much fairer way of proceeding. He again warned the House that they could not afford to spend a million a year on public works, and they could not possibly go on borrowing in this manner, which only meant increased taxation. Mr HOGG said Sir ft. Stout was constantly crying " Woe, woe! " to the Liberal party, but he did not believe iv those prophets of evil who were continually behaving in that way. Sir R; Stout as a leader had been a failure, and they dliknew.that. Not so many years ago Sir li. Stout was associated in politics wifch the champion bo-rower of the age. He (Mr Hogg) spoke strongly in support of- the Public Works Statement, and thought ifc was.one of the best ever brought down in the history of the colony, as it proposed to spend more money on roads than on railways. ■'■• .;— Captain■■ RUSSELL agreed with Mr Hogg that the construction of roads was more desirable thau railways, but he could not agree with him that by going further into debfc and increasing our expenditure wa could decrease the public debt of tbe colony; He was afraid he wonld be also classed as a " Jeremiah" -in dealing with this statement. He though!; the first duty of the' House was to guard tbe public purse, but the present Premier and Treasurer had no such ideas as that. It had been perfectly impossible for him to study the Public Works Statement owing to the fact of its not being brought down till 8 o'clock last night, and then having to discuss it the following night. He felt sure that altogether they would presently be called on to vote a million of money. No member in the House excepting perhaps the Premier and one of his colleagues had any idea of the Statement at all. Sir E; Stout had spoken of Mr Ballance initiating the tapering off policy, - hut whilst he did not at all detract from Mr Ballance's efforts he wished to point out that it was Sir H. Atkinson who had the courage to propose a tapering off policy in 1887, and Mr Ballance merely continued it. Mr Ballance, when he took office, 6pent one million in public works, whereas the last year Sir H. Atkinson was in office the expenditure was only £350,000. He instanced the expenditure in 1890-91, when Sir H. Atkinson was in ofiice, as £331,251, and compared it with that of the present year, amounting to a million of money, and 7et they were told that the Atkinson expenditure was of a most extravagant character, He (Captain Russell) had no fault to find with the votes for hiß own district, as Hawke's Bay proper received no votes of any kind whatever in the Public Works Estimates, but he did complain of the utter neglect; of fche East Coast of the North Island, which he thought was altogether unjustifiable. Referring to the co-operative system, he pointed out that the number of those men increased very considerably during the month of the general election, and for a month later, but they were materially reduced after that time. He condemned the making of railways through unproductive country, and said the inevitable result would be that the poor would suffer aud tixation increase. He repeated the statement he hsd made in the House 10 years ago, that the day of prosperity would never come till they had ceased to borrow money. The Hon. Mr REEVES referred to the various Opposition speakers who had accused the Government of reckless plunging and borrowing, yet each condemned the Government for nofc spending more money in their own districts. He denied that the Government had not had their policy billß ready afc the opening of the session, and asserted that there never was a Government which had such a shoal of bills ready for hon. members to consider as the present Government had. The Government had been accused of spending too much on roada, but he thought that was rather inconsistent, as two years ago Mr Bolleston, then Leader of the Opposition, had contended that the railway expenditure should be tapered off, and more money should be devoted to roads. That was ■what the Government were doing now, as they believed that if colonisation was to progress they must have roads. The Government meant to carry on settlement, and to do that they must have money, and that money they meant to get. That was the policy they put before the country, and they had not departed from it. Tho people at the last general election had endorsed that; policy, and had declared that settlement should go ou faster than ever. Sir __ Stout had stated that railways paid' and

roads did not, but the Government were determined to open up Crown and Native lands for the settlement of the country.

Mr G. HUTCHISON said Mr Reeves, with his usual modesty, had told the House at tha opening of his speech that he had not only to reply to one hon. gentleman, but two. Mr Reeves had stated that the Government business was in a state of readiness this session which was unprecedented, but he (Mr Hutchison) agreed with other hon.'gentlemaH who said it was burlesquing Parliament to bring down the -Public Works Statement and Estimates one evening and having to debate it the next one. Mr Reeves had boasted that there never was such a Government in office as the present one ; but he thought there never was a Government who had so mismanaged business, who had so needlessly occupied the time of the House, and who had so thoroughly misled the country as the Government now iv office. He did not object to the objects to which the greater part of the money was to be devoted, but he did object to the way the money was proposed to lie raised. He had no fault to find with the votes for his own district, which waß essentially a st.ttlement one, but he condemned the proflcgi-tB expenditure proposed .for the West Come of the Middle Island, and he supposed this was accounted for by the fact that Mr Seddon dominated the Mines department as he did everyone. The proposals before the House were undoubtedly in the direction of increa*.ing the indebtedness of the cojony very largely, s.ad that was a serious thing for thorn to consider in the face of the fact that the Treasurer's estimate or the rev--nue for the current year was not being realised.. Referring to the co-operative system,-he hoped it would be.carried out in. the-spirit'"'- which it, was.stated, and would riotl be made the' medium of political influence. The Hon. Mr WARD said Mr Hutchison had referred to the number, of bills withdrawn ,by the Governmeut, but h"j thought the record of the present session was far in advance of previous sessions. Mo fewer than 65 bills had already received the Royal assent, and these did not include many important policy bills. He asked how the country had shown that the Government had mismanaged business. This was the first session of the new Parliament, and the country had shown at the last election what it thought of the Opposition and of the Government. He asserted that there never was a Government which had been so misrepresented by the press of the oolony as the present one, and yet the country admitted that the Government were honestly trying to do their best in the. iuterest-i of the colony. He pointed out thatMr Hutchison and Mr Mitchelson had voted for £500,000 for the purchase of Native lands, and yet they.held up their hands in horror at the Government borrowing proposals. It showed that the Opposition iv their great anxiety to oppose the Government were unable to do so. Referring to what Mr Hutchison said about falliug revenue, be said, he had admitted in the Financial Statement that he anticipated a decrease. Mr Hutchison had stated that there was a decrease of £36,262, in the customs revenue for the last six months as compared with the six mouths of ■ lastl year, but according to his .calculation the 'revenue would come quite up to his estimate for the whole year. He admitted thafc the colony had been passing through a very, severe time, but theyhad held their own very well in comparison ■'< with other colonies. The colony in fact wss'hi a v<-.ry hopeful condition, and the Government Timet do their best- to assist it. He belie red the Public Works Statement would be found to be in the general interest of the country, and he. danied .that Govcrinenfc supporters received undue consideration in the Public Works Estimates.

.'.Mr W. HUTCHISON said there was a general depression in the colony, and, worse than all, there was no hopefulness. The question of the unemployed was the most important they could; deal with, but neither this Government nor previous ones had effected a satis-. factory settlement of it. He believe* every thoughtful man in the House considered it was the duty .of the State to provide work and a living wage for those who required it. Mr BUCHANAN referred to the borrowing1 policy of the Government and condemned the way in which they dealt with the unemployed, difficulty. He thought that if the Government pursued their present course in attacking men who were^held in great respect by the coloiiy things: would become very much worse. The Minister; for Labour lest' no opportunity of attacking some of' the best settlers of the i colony, and he was doing .enormous injury by his conduct in this respect. He asserted thafc the policy of the Government had destroyed confidence and put a stop to enterprise in the colony. ■. - ■ ' "' ■"-' •■'." ■■•''"; ■■:- '-■ ■• The Hon. J. M'KENZIE thought Mr Buchanan's speech showed he] had very little fault to find with the Government over this Statement. * He defended the action of the Government in not bringing down the Statement sooner, and said the Premier had correctly statedthat it was/ impossible for themto.do so until their policy bills were passed and they-, knew what money^weuld be available for public works. 'V*The were; accused all round of borrowing, but'he inked' whether they., were to stop the progress of colonisation, which they would have ,to do unions they opened up the country and ' found land lor the settlement of the: men of the colony and their families." He defended the land policy of the Government at some length, and denied that they had destroyed confidence in tho colony. What' had destroyed confidence was the financial institutions of the country. Referring to the unemployed difficulty, he ventured to say there were less unemployed now than had been the case when the colony was spending large sums of money to assist them." Mr COLLINS characterised the speeches -of the Opposition as very dismal utterances, and they evidently felt they could not fairly condemn the Government policy. He said, looking over the Public Works Statement, he felt sure the policy contained in it would commend itself to the country. ' I»Ir ERASER challenged the correctness of the figures respecting the Otago Central line.'' With respect to the Statement generally, he was afc oue with the Government; in their desire to open up country by means of roads. Mr EARNSHAW said the debate was of a most unusual character, as for the last two hours nofc more than a dozen members had been present in the Hou6e, and half of those were Opposition members. He blanie'd the Government for delaying ths Public Works Statement till the middle of October and condemned their borrowing policy, which bad never been before the country. 'He considered the Goverumsfct i were simuly playing with the Otago 'Central line and deluding the Otago people. 7 Mr- T. MACKENZIE was glad' to; sr-e fast; the Government intended to convey lime a_'\ other manures afc.such reasonable ratM ,as would be of benefit to the farmers of the colony. There were some important works iv his own : locality, such as the Waikaia-Switzers line, | which he should like to see receive more attention. Respecting the Catlin's River railway he urged the Premier to complete the lice, which was of great importance. The completion of this line should supplement the completion of the Otago Central, on account of its valuable timber. He was glad to Bee, also, that a vote was on the Estimates for opening up the western sounds. The debate was still proceeding when the telegraph office closed at 2 a.m. [