THE COLONIAL TREASURER AT NEW PLYMOUTH.

Otago Witness, Issue 2203, 21 May 1896, Page 12

THE COLONIAL TREASURER AT NEW PLYMOUTH.

( New Plymouth, May 12. The Hon. J. G. Ward addressed a large meeting this evening, the mayor (Mr J. B. Roy) presiding. Mr Ward said thab he had received a copy of a oable intimating that the reception of an eddrcis by Mr B. M Smith to the Iron Institute, in London, was good) and the proipacbß of floating a company for smelting ironsand in Taranaki Bight.—(Cheers). Mr Ward 'continued, saying that he had come in for his full share of criticism. He did not pretend to be' infallible. He might-have made mistakes, but he had never done anything that would tarnish his honour in politics. In repl\i»g to Bir Robert Stout he would not indulges in personalities, bat he would try to give them a statement of faots. Sir Robert Stout had been very severe on the present Administration, and had nude rash statements. First, Sir Robert had (bated that no opportnnity had been given to obtain returns. In reply, he had to say that majorities would not allow minorities to dictate to them what was to be done. He quoted to show that the former Administration bad refused 43 and the present Administration 29 returns, extending over three years in each Administration. Some of the returns asked for were often useless, and therefore discretion must be exercised. The Government had been charged with having rushed the Public Works Statement .through without dhcuieion. Sir Robert Stouts&id thatcouree was unprecedented In 1882 the Public Works Statement was introduced at 3 o'clock, and at 10 4b the same night the Government asked the House to go into Committee, and the whole of the Estimates were passed at one sitting. On thab occasion one million more was passed than 1 year. He said that any member could bave discussed the ifcsms of . the Public Works Statement in Committee of Bnpply. The Premier suggested that the debate be taken in Committee on the first item. With Jregard to the alleged illegal seizure of the sinking funds, he said that the Solicitor-general and the Secretary to the Treasury and Auditorgeneral had stated, it was perfectly legal. He had been accused thus wrongly } by a set of men who had reflected upon bis character as a man who would wilfully do an unjust and unlawful acb bo further the interests of his parby. With regard to drawing bonds, it was a fact thab he had £180,000 less lor tho use of the Treasury, and a like amount less payment to make. Mr George Hutchison bad admitted this in his speeoh before he went Home. All he (Mr Ward) was doing was trying to improve the system of drawing boi>d#, and he had no advantage in drawing bonds. They bad been oharged with boycotting Opposition newspap&rs. He compared the return laid before Parliament to show bhab they had been most liberal to Opposition papers. The payments had been more to Opposition papers by the present Government than by former Governments. The civil service had been referred bo by Sir R. Stout, he (Mr Ward) considered that it was nob fair that, the country boys should be at a disadvantage in receiving Appointments in the service, and his Government had attempted to remedy this. He thought it would be better if each district in tbe colony had an opportunity of alternately obtaining appointments in the service. The government tried to dispense their patronage as fairly as possible. The same system had been adopted by all former Governments. One of the highest positions in the ~ colony £ad been given to an outsider by Sir Robert

Stout' 6 Government. He referred to the unpledged securities, and read a letter from the Agent-general of the colony sent in 1893. At that time there was a serious financial crisis, tceivfore the Government had to grasp the position. The Agent-general said that he feared a panic might take place, and he thought it prudent to forward Home the securities in order to prevent a crisis. The Agent-general feared a run would extend to the Post Office Savings Bank. The public were told that the trust securities were to be used to bolster up the public credit of the oolony. That was never intended. It was stated on the floor of the House that the colony was going into a state of bankruptcy because the land tax had been colleoted twice in one year. Letters had been written in London against the financial condition of New Zealand, and' therefore he had addressed the London Chamber of Commerce. If the colony hid gone bankrupt and the credit of the State had been destroyed, the Foßt Office Savings Bank and Government Life , Insurance department must also have been affeoted ; therefore it was quite right to send the securities to London. If the colony had repudiated they would have been to blame if precautions such as he bad mentioned had nob bean taken. Mr Ward then referred to the surpluses. The Opposition had argued that we should not place any of the surplus of the preceding year to the next year's account. That was of course absurd. Any ordinary accountant would find a separate statement each year of the excess of revenue over expenditure, and of course the surplus of the preceding year was also added. Sir Robert Stout had stated that the bookkeeping was wrong. That aocu«ation could not be made against the Government ; that was an unmerited reflection on the responsible officers of the Eteoufcive. The Government would not presume to interfere with the officers of the Treasury and their system of bookkeeping. They were told by Sir R. Stout that the public debt had been increased to the extent of eight millions. Now, if that were, so it musb follow that the increase of interest, at 3 per cent., would be £240,000. Instead of that, the interesb had decreased this year by £33,000. Sir R. Stout had taken the advances to settlers' money and guarantees to the bank and an ordinary increase of indebtedness, added them together, and said they amounted to eight millions. Mr Ward then spifke on the question of the sinking funds, and gave several illustrations in connection with the investment of sinking funds. Hedi'cussed the -appointment of Mr Valentine, dairy expert, and in defending his position pointed out that the settlers of the colony had received great benefit from the recent knowledge Mr Valentine had acquired in visiting Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Canada, and the United States. To obtain all possible information and report on the whole of the dairy iudustrj was what Mr Valentine was paid for, and not for making a holiday trip as Sir R Stout inferred. Some remarks had been made against Mr Seddon for accepting a position on the Realisation Board, but ib was necessary that Mr Seddon should do so, because there was such a large amount of the colony's funde involved, and tho Government should have some voice in the disposition of the prop'*r y. It was a great pity thai, a system of inuuendoo was adopted against public men. The time would oomo when the very men who had initiated this system would have to face ii themselves, and then they would wish they had never initiated ib. Referring to the banking legislation, he said they had heard a great deal about the banking legislation. It had beer asserted that the whole banking legislation was the result of a deep laid scheme for the private benefit of members of the Legislature. He would ipeak lor himself as fax as the backing

' legislation was concerned and let others speak for themselves. When the matter flr*t came before the Government confidentially they decided that ib was best in the interests of the country that the BaDk of New Zealand should • not be allowed to go down. He referred to the large business of the bank and the disastrous t results that would bave followed had the .bank gone , under. There would have been 'an eaormous loss of revenue to the colony had the bank closed its doors, and he quoted the case of Victoria as a proof of what the loss would have been. The Government had been blamed for not being able to grasp in a short time the true position * of the Bank of New Zealand in all its branches all over the world. That was an impossibility.' fie read a communication from the directors of ) the Bank of New Zealand stating it was imperatively necessary that they should paichaee the business of another b»nk. It was not the Colonial Bank that was first endeavoured to be attached to the Bank of New Zealand, but it was another institution which refused to join that bank. That had never been told to the colony before, and, it was a complete answer to the charge th*t the joining of the Colonial B vnk with the B*nk ' of New Zealand was a de^p laid ech*me from the very bsginning. The chief reason why the Bank of New Zealand had joined another bank was because its earning power had to be increased to pay its way. He gave them his word of honour as a'man no member of the Ministry knew thepropo-als between the banks in connection 1 with any account. There was no arrangement . made with any member of the Government i about pliciog any account on awy li»£ The i imputatiou'was grossly untrue. He had had i his troubles aud he had them still. No man had any right to ask him, although he was a public man, what his private affairs were. If ■ they were goiDg to have private affairs dragged ' out let them have Stall round, but do not single out any individual. If any man stated that he i had th'-n Veen guiit is n. imb'ic man of impro- ''. per conduct iv com clio > wit-h the bank leginl*tio!> he would call him a liur -—(Cheers.) He then referred to the arbitration re the New i Plymouth harbour endowment. He denied i Ihat he had been guilty of any duplicity in the matter. He told the Counoil of Foreign Bondholders in London that if i their idea was lo prevent the quotation of New . Zealand stock on the London Kxchangehe would ! nob discuss with them the question of arbitra- , i lion re ihe New Plymouth harbour endowment. - Ho had done what was fair and he advocated > the arbitration, but he was in tbe minority and i the majority in the Cabinet had to rule. He > then referred to Mr M 'Quire's proposals to the Premier to purchase the New Plymouth Har- . bour Board debentures at 79, because the board I would soon be m a position to pay in full, of j ' which fact they would be ignorant in London i > and the bonds would at once go up to above ■ par. He said the Government daolinrd Mr ; M'Guire'ft proposal, as it would be unfair to i bondholders. Referring to the allegation that ; the colony was in a bad financial condition, he > might tel! them that the income of tbe colony I i was per head the highest in tho world. One 3 member of tho Opoosition lud said, "We will jump the Government's i.nii but t<vo planks if we get iuti puw»L s but Sir Ruben said he was opposed 1 to everything in the Government policy. b How conld Sir R. Stout and Captain I Rusaell pull togeMier in formulating a policy ; under such circumstances ? The Opposition b represented a complete menagerie in the i diversity of their views. He thought Sir R. s Stout would have done well had he stuck 3 behind the Liberal party, as he htf-i many fine 3 qualities. The Premier and Ministers had 5 always, and still had, most friendly feelings

towards him, although he had been so bittor towards them. What they had to do v«s to make thp colony t»k*> its right place in the i world by pro\ iding f aeili' ies" for shipping to the great ports of the world. If it were necessary in the future to subsidise cargo boats, ib should be done to bring the colony nearer great countries. He then referred to the customs tariff It had been asserted that he had donosome juggling in connection with the t*riff in order to increase the customs duties. He might t-11 them that the total increase was £70,000. OF that sum tobacco and sugar gave £21,000. Parliament did not touch the tariff on these goods. Did that not show that it was nob the alteration of ths tariff thai had made the whole increase ? £38.000 of the increase was due to the alteration in the tariff, and the remainder to the incretse in the prosperity of the colony. Th? W rf of revenue on free goods amounted to £40,000 He then referred to the elective Executive proposal, saying thab he was opposed to it, and cited Great Britain as an example of progress under party government. He was personally in favour of the referendum and was prepared to support it. He was in favour of State lire insurance. The Government would submit to Parliament a scheme of State fire insurance which he hoped would prove a good scheme. He predicted that New Zealand was on tho evp of great prosperity in gold mining, and there were brighter days in store. Mr Seddoo had done the colony great lervice in the Midland Railway arbitration, and he had not got the credit he deserved. Mr Ward conoludei by saying that the Government had done their bosb to help tbe colony along, and their Merits would be more fully r&sogv.iaeA ten yeais hence than they were to-day. — (Cheers ) A vote of thanks to Mr W*rd and confidence in the Ministry was proposed. An amendment of thanks only was also proposed. The amendment was lost, and the original motion carried by a large majority. Three cheers were given for Mr Ward.