HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

Otago Daily Times, Issue 12425, 7 August 1902, Page 5

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

' TUESDAY, AUGUST 5. t After _ the Telegraph Office closed at 2 0 clook in the, morping, tho vote for prisons was further considered.—Mr LAURENSON thought the Minister should extend the prison system wliicli had proved so successful at Waiotapu.' Our; system should aim at humanising, ' not brutalising, men.—Mr I'IRANI regretted our present system was not directed at reforming prisoners, and 110 thought it time a commission' was sot up to inquire into the preadnt methods.—Mr MEREDITH hoped no more money would 1)? spent on the Terrace Gaol at Wellington, and that in its place a prison be established ill tho country district.-Mr COLLINS agreed that our system was not sufficiently reformatory in its' "character.—Mr 6. W. RUSSELL thought too much sickly sentimentality wa? being shown in the matter.— The Hon. Mr M'GOWAN contended that punishment in gaols had now been made as light as was possible; and urged that- it was no part of the duty of the State to put prisoners: in a better- position than manv honest men who hevpr had been within the toils of tho la^-.—Eventually Mr Wilford's amendment was lost on the voices, and tho total vote for the Justice Department passed unaltered. .

Post and Telegraph Department, £477,775. --Mr 6. J, SMITH inquired as to the position in regard to the Sin Francisco servioe. —Sir J. G. AVAR]) said it was not intended to do anything in this matter till next session, and lie hoped then to submit three alternative proposal? ito the' House.—'Mr \V. MtASWR trusted the colony would not ho committed to the San Francisco service in the meantime.-r-Sir J. ('{. WARD replied that 110 arrangement? would be made bevond the authority given by .Parliament. He "held the opinion that the .San Francisco service should be continued, and that the colony should also jam th» Vancouver service, and that Auckland should bo the terminal port for both line?. He would also like to seo the colony join in the Inderal service. He would be prepared to rubmit definite, proposals to Parliament next session. The present mail contract was only for 18 months fl'cm last sesion, and at the expiration of that term a temporary, arrangement would be made till, Parliament met.—Mr WILFORD moveda'reduotion of the item "San Francisco service, £16,000," by £1 as an indication that the .Hopse disapproves of further'negotiations .being entered into with tiie Oceanic Steamship Company.—The amendment was lost by 26 to 12.—Mr HOliXi'iliY hoped .the vote ju-t taken would not be regarded as' an expression of tho opinion of the House on the snbjcct, as he believed' n majority of the House was agaiiwt the continuance of the contract with the Snreokles.—The rote for Ihe San Francisco servioe .then passed unaltered, and the whole vote for > the. Post and Telcgranh Department was agreed to. Progress was reported, and-the House rose at 3.20 a.in, i

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 6. Tho House met' at 2.30. SECOND READING. Tho Hawera County Electric Lighting Bill (Air M'Ciuire) v,'as read a second time. NEW BILLS. The Old-age Pension? Amendment Bill (tho Hon.; C. 11. Milk), Lytteltou Waterworks Transfer Act Amendment Bill (Mr Laurenson), and the. Fencing \ct Amendment Bill (.Ur Lethbridge) were introduced and read a first time. I the Troopship bkita.>;nic. Sir J. G. WAI'D stated that the Govern- ' mont had decidcd.on a Commission of Inquiry into the troubles on the troopship Britannic. It would consist of Sir William iiussell and Messrs M'Nab and Millar. THE LOAN BILL., Sir J. G. WARD, in moving the third reading of the Aid to Public Works and Land Settlement Bill, announced that the revenue ior the first four months of this financial year was £60,000 greater than tho revenue .for, the corresponding period last year, notwithstanding Unit 'cash' land sales showed a decrease of. ££000. Tnc« details of tho various departments for Hie four months of this year were an follow: — Ordinary revenue-Customs, £633,050, as against £603,912 for the corresponding period last year; stamps, £241,009, against £222,952; post and telegraph cash leteeipls, £32,714, as'ugainst £32,593; land tax, £1093, a? against £1132: income ' tax, £6923, as against £3859; bqer duty, £25,735, as against £25,6)6; railways, £603,833, as against £561,345 j, registration and other fees, £15,762, as against £9480; marine, £10,094, as against £9082; miscellaneous, £14,221, as against £27,485; territorial cash land sales, £12,410, as against £20,527; deferred payment land sales, £2293, as against £2543: pastoral rents, '■ etc., £27,057, as against £21,&04j—totals, £1,627,139, as against £1,547,372. ■ Considering that, tiiis was tlio l early portion of the year, that soleudid result must' do a great deal of good to the I country. Wo were passing through abnormal times in every sense. Ho found that the railway revenue for July 03 £5000 greater than for tlie'same month-last. year. Tho lator months of the year were usually better than the earlier'months, and tho buoyancy lie had indicated ought' to allay any anxiety on the part of sojne members who appeared to fear the ability of the country to pay tho interest on tho loan, now proposed. Mr \V. ERASER pointed out that Sir .T. G. Ward had said nothing about the expenditure, which, Jio complained, had been growing to'such an extent that it might

bo absolutely necessary in a little while to put onl' houso in order. Ho explained that , lie had given his vote against the proposal , to reducc the amount of the loan brcqueo hp. wished to aoo unnroductivo works carried' I to a paying point. I -Mr HEHRJKS hoped the House would liivo the. assurance of Ministers that there would bs no stoppage cf railway works this yvw. Ro recognised the nec«sitv for this loan, but ho was not satisfied'with the finances of the country.

Mr (r. V,. RUSSEIJ. said the colony found itself more dependc-nt than over on the London money market, and if Parliament refused this loan the affair? of tho colony would bo dislocated and public works stopped. Such a position was humiliating to thrj self-reliant people in tho colony. Jle denounced tho extravagance' and mismanagement in connection with the order of railway cars from America. Mr MONK thought tho couutYv could not be otherwise than prcev.erous rcusider. nig the amount of money we had tarrqwed l and the boom in our industriwi. ' ' i I'AURKXSON said lu> would • have been willing to vote for a reduction of,the loan, but not for. tho large reduction proposed in committee by 'the member for Bruce.

Mr G. J. SMITH had voted for the bill, but considered wc should consider how we should reduce borrowing yearly. - » Mr BASjjLDEX believed if Parliament refused to pass this bill tho Govornnlent would not dare, to faeo the electors. - I *;*' RliiNMljT defended tho Farmers' l' moil, and said the union was not in any iliapo or form a political ' Mr ELL spoke in favour oi'a State haulc, whieli, be contended, would render immense service to the taxpayers of the colonv.. Sir WILLIAM RUSSELL condemned the general policy of borrowing as carried-out by the Government. The debate was interrupted by the! 5.30 adjournment.

EVENING SITTING. The House resumed at 7.30, Sir ILL lAM RUSSELL, continued 1 the debate on the third reading of the; Bill. He ■contended that the rate otVjvhieh the colony had been borrowing for'years past was prejudicial to the best interests of the colony. Instead of continued borrowing being necessary to the prosperity of the colony lie believed in a few months, if borrowing was greatly reduced or discontinued, the colony wouIS adjust itself to the altered conditions. He urged that the colony had been debauched by the continued fcystem of borrowing, and posterity would rise up and curse them.

Mr HOGG did not seo lion- borrowing was to be avoided if a national calamity was to he prevented, lie thought Sir W. Russell took an unnecessarily gloomv view of tho position, and contended that in a young country ,borrowing w.w necessary fov its prosperity. While they heard a good deal agamat tho policy of borrowing nothing was said about the increased valuation of the land of the colony, which, he ted, amounted to £10,000,000 annually as a result of borrowing. Mr MASSEY admitted that a certain amount of borrowing was neccssary for the completion of some of tlw important lines of but there was no indication 'of such a policy jn the bill. Refcrring:to the land policy, he strongly advocated tho freehold instead' of a system of Stato tonantry. The objection to tho freehold tenure waa jh.it it would load to the aggregation of large estates, but a simple and effective prevention of that contingency would be to amend tho Land Aot, limiting tho amount of land one person could'hold! . ...• Mr SMITH said no member daro go back to his constituents and advocate a. cessation of borrowing. The Opposition objected to tho loan merely for party purposes. Sir FISHER complimented tho Housfe upon the expeditious manner in which the business of the session had so far been conducted, which ho Attributed to tho courteous treatment of members by the Acting-Pre-mier. Commenting upon the bill, ho dofonclocl the lo.m as being in Ihe intercsti of the country settler, who had suffered greater, privations, 1m contended, than-any of tho thousands who went to fight in South Africa.

Mr WITHEFORD was of opinion that if we took Buoh a retrograde stop as to coaso borrowing there would be a regular stampede from the colony. He advocated file vigorous prosecution of a land-sehlomrnl; policy in the North Island, and give young men returning from, Africa a cbauec to settle down.

Mr COLLINS deprecated the statement that representatives of city constituencies were not in sympathv with the proposal in the bill to cxpenu £450,000 in giving settlers m the Kack blocks access to market*. As for the loau, he had vcrv little vot ' n ? for it, hut the money hail to l )e raised, although puofpcdintf poucr'ation would have to b»av tho brunt of it. Mr BARCLAY considered the freehold tenure svitrm an anachronism. He .opnosed the hill.

Mr- SYMES expressed surprise that tliere should be any opposition to the proposal in the bill to provide means for giving settlers in the back blocks nocpfs to markets. Referring to the system of land tenure, lio said hundreds of people ,\vho wanted to take tip laud had" not-got the cash, and should bo allowed to take lip land "wlci' every system. It. did not matter under which system land was taken up so long as the people settled upon it, anil individual holdings were restricted. . i Mr LANG advocated that, tho bulk of the proposed loan should be expended upon the main lines of railv.-ny, and only the balance unon roads and bridges to "'oppn up hack blocks.

Mr -O'MEARA approved of the loan tiroposals. and urged the claims of bark block sottlere to consideration. 'He '■ felt sure the Government would exercise tho same prudence as it had done i« the pust, and that the present loan would last a lone time. . ■ ,

Sir .T. G. WARD replied at 11.45. He pointed out that, few, if any, members.had opposed borrowing altogether, and contended that the country was justified in pursuing tin? policy it had entered upon. The Government would place the lean ashed for in tho bill at thn highest priea and on the best terms obtainable, anil would not go to the Home market unless it was advise ablo to do .so.. He replied at length to Mr f». W. Russell's criticisms of tho railway management. Ho said. the amount asked for in the bill was believed to be necessary to carry on the policy or the Government in regard to completing certain railways and opening up tho country, and there wa? nothing in the finances of the colony 1o warrant any fear as to the ability of the colony to bear the burden.

The third reading was carried by 35 to 6, and the bill passed. I The Holiso rose at 12.30.