FRIDAY. AUGUST 18.

Otago Witness, Issue 2373, 24 August 1899, Page 27

FRIDAY. AUGUST 18.

i In the House of Repreeeiitatives on Fridiy ' a Canterbury local bill wa^. passed, and v- num.- • I ber of other local bills introduced. After motions ordering certain returns had been , passed, the debate on the Financial Statement '• j was resumed. The discussion proceeded proj eaieally until some time after 10 o'clock, when a reference made by Mr Carson to Mr Car- j ! roll's statements respecting the grant of land , { made to Captain Russell for military service '. in the colony brought the Minister to his feet with an explanation. Captain Russell followed, and in strong terms denounced Minis- : ters for making statements which, if they •' consulted the records, they must know were incorrect. Matters became somewhat heated, ; ! but, tbe supper adjournment time arriving, ■ j cooled somewhat when the House resumed, ■ and after further personal explanations, in ! which Mr Carroll denied that he had intended j to cast any imputation upon Captain Rus- | sell personally, the financial debate was ad- ( ! journed and the House rose. | THE FINANCLVL DEBATE. j Mr M'GUIRE resumed the debate on the Financial Statement. He "wished ho could j congratulate the Treasurer on the result of I the Statement, but could not honestly do so, as it was quite unreliable and full of fiction, j It was purely an electioneering manifesto, j because it contained a good many bribes, i But that was only what might be expected j from the Premier. Evidence of the system i of under-estimating the revenue was evident all through the Statement, M'ith t'-ie manifest object of showing a suiplus. lie depiecatcd ■ land being fuither burdened with taxation, I and urged that, in view of the great import- | ance of tho question of federating with Australia, it should receive early consideration. As an instance of the parsimonious saving by the Government, he pointed to the unexpended balance of the education vote of £12,000, in the face of the fact that schools in many country districts were required. Referring to the customs duties, he contended

that the Government increased that form of * taxation by £400,000 ; and this was by a Government that pretended to be so greatly interested in the welfare of the people. He hoped that the Government were in earnest in their promise to reduce the rate of interest to local bodies. It was simpfy scandalous the mann»r in which settlers in the back blocks had been treated in regard to the failure to supply them with roads. However, there was hope for the settlers yet, as the towns had found out the Premier, and he was now trying to curry favour with the country. He declared for the freehold tenure of land, and urged the claims of the Stratford route for the North Island Main Trunk railway. He , condemned the railway management, and ,' characterised the marine and Wrigg scandals as a blot upon the administration of the . country. | Mr PARATA considered that the amount I proposed to be borrowed should be considerably increased, so that the main lines of rail- i ways might be completed and roads made where required. Re objected to the proposal to expend £50,000 in the purchase of" Native lands. The time had come when that system should be abolished, and the remaining area of Native land vested in a Native council. ! Mr MONK contended that the Budget had j received from the Opposition more explicit j . criticism than from the Government side, who indulged in general statements, and buch ', absurd assertions as that the colony was now . paying loss interest on borrowed money than in 1890. He was disappointed that the Statement contained no reference to the important j question of federation. It was not complete ; : without it, and while he was not prepared to say right off that it would be to the interest i of the colony to join the Commonwealth, he J thought that the question was fraught with ■ such great possibilities for the future that it should receive the serious consideration of the • country without delay, as the conditions under which the colony could join might not be so favourable as at present. The system of dealing with Native lands was a crime. They ehould encourage the Natives to utilise their ' lands, and give them power to lease what area they could nofc work. He defended the i freehold syßtom of land tenure. He was not j afraid of borrowing, but what lie was afraid of was that the money would be squandered for political puryofes. ! Mr MONK continued the debate on the Financial Statement, referring in condemnatory terms to the civil service and the necessity r or placing it beyond political influence. Referring to the labour laws of the Government, he denied that labour had been pro- • tected thereby, and condemned the attempt ; that had been made to prevent the employ- , nient of the young people of the colony by • the Master and Apprentice Bill, a measure I that, instead of assisting, would retard the ' industrial efforts of the young people. > The lion. Mr CADMAN said the Opposition had in criticising the. Financial Statement only touched the fringe of the finan- , ';ial operations pnd position of the colony. Small items had been taken exception to, but leading principles had been ignored. With regard to the borrowing policy, he said j thai to be fair the Opposition should have admitted that of the amount borrowed ' £4,700,000 had been expended on public . work?. Then when the Opposition were . asked for a policy they replied that they i would disclose their policy when they got j ont o the Treasury benches. As a matter of ; fact they were not unanimous on any point, i Take the freehold tenure : they differed very i materially. Neither were they unanimous as to appointing a Civil Service Board. Further, they said that they would not disturb any legislation passed by the G.ovemment. ' Well, he could anly speak from experience, and he believed that if they reverted to the freehold system the result would again be i the aggregation of large estates. To appoint : a Civil Service Board would, in liis opinion, ■ simply bo an abrogation bf responsibility on I the part of the Government. With regard l to railway management the Opposition con- ! tender! that they were better managed under ! tho control of the commissioucni. " Well his : reply to that assertion was to challenge the j Opposition to make the question one of their planks at the forthcoming election, and the people's opinion would decide. Then, lake the property tax. The Libeials fought that j question year by year, at last successfully. The purchase of land for settlement had also l>een opposed by the Opposition. At the I time the act was brought into force hardly an acre of land was available for settlement, and the Government were forced, in the interests of the people, to acquire land for that pur- • pose. It was absurd for the Opposition to say, therefore, that they would not repeal tho ; legislation of Hie Government; they dare not. j 11 was .°aid that the Premier dominated the i llou3o and committees, and run the whole i colony. \V»*.ll he looked upon that assertion ' as complimentary to Mr Seddon. Then take , the Land for Settlements Act. That n. ensure had now had a fair trial and had proved a succees. It wa-s said that the amount of the land tax would be reduced by the operations i of the aci. That might be, but th<; difference j was made up by the increase in customs ■ duties, owing to the larger population on the ! land. Speaking on the question of the administration of the railways, he said the Opposition generally sheltered themselves behind the commissioners when criticising the railways. Personally he had always stu- j diously avoided referring to the commia- j sjoners as they were not there to defend them- I seh es ; but if the Opposition wanted to com- , pare the management of the rill ways they j si ould compare it with their own administration. Fair and honest criticism was desirable, and he courted such criticism of his administration, but the basis of such criticism should not lx» a mere supposititious 1 case. It had been said, for instance, that had the harvest cut [ last yr-ar been as good as expected, and had ; the grain been rushed into the stations all at once, the department could not have overtaken the work. But the fact was that these chcumstances did not arise, and Hie department did undertake the traffic successfully. He criticised in detail the attacks that had been made upon his administration, contending that the railways had *.iot been starved. On the contrary, he asserted tbat they were in good order, and he would have the satisfaction, when he resigned his position shortly, \ of saying that when he took charge of the | railways they were earning £2 14s 6d per cent. | ( and that when he left them they were re- . , turning £3 5s lOd per cent. ' I Mr CARSON defended the commissioners 1 from tho charge that they had starved the railways, the truth being that they were not voted sufficient funds to properly carry out I their suggestions. The proposal to borrow a \ r.-i'llion pounds on the eve of an election was . api pee of electioneering. He advocated that the whole of that loan should be devoted to the completion of the North Islar.tr trunk j railway. The South Island had a line from ■ Christchurch to the Bluff, but at the present rate of progress it would take another 36 years before railway . communication was established between Wellington ?nd Auckland. It was aUo shameful tliat these cities had not yet boon connected by a road, and that settlers in thj bjojg blocks had been ne- '

'glected. At next election a new Ministry would be formed no matter which party was predominant, and members expectant of portfolios were keepiug their mouths shut, lie hoped that after the election members would be free and vote as they pleased, instead of doing as they had lately done observed a servile attitude. He stigmatised the marine and Wrigg scandals as degrading to the Administration. A discussion ensued upon a point of order raised by Captain Russell, who made a personal explanation regarding the Russell land grant, rehiting the statement by the Premier and Colonial Secretary that the grant had been improperly obtained. The Premier, the Hons. W. Hall-Jones and J. Carroll replied, and after an animated discusßion extending over an hour and a-half, Mr O'REGAN moved the adjournment of the financial debate.—Agreed to. RAILWAY MANAGEMENT. Mr Oadinan's speeoh to-night was a very poor effort, dealing largely with trivial details, and was not at all convincing to the critics of his administration. Mr Cadman endeavoured to explain away the criticisms of Mr Jas. Allen in regard to the shortage of trucks at the Kaitangata Coal mine. He also made reference to the demands of a mine near Palmerston South, in which Mr Allen was interested, and read a return which went to show that the mine had been well supplied. Mr Allen, however, was able to chow that the Minister was wrong in each ease. In reference to Kaitangata Mr Cadman read a letter from the genera) manager of tho company stating that they had been "fairly well supplied with trucks for the last six months,' but Mr Allen had been through the mine manager's diary, which proved conclusively that during the month of March, when three shift? a day were being worked, the time thn *hine was idle for want of trucks amounted to 24 shifts. Mr Allen also showed that the Minister had got a wrong statement from his officials as to the number of trucks on hand at the mine, and that the mine was actually idle on several occasions, and the men had to cease work for want of trucks. JOTTINGS. Mr J. A Millar has presented another petition from tbe journeymen millers, praying for legislation to shorten the hours woiked in flourmills. This one is signed by the mill hands in Timaru. The total number of passengers carried on iha Nightcaps line last year was 4226. From JSightcaps. 577 sheep, 713 bales, 2?,2,400ft of limber, and 13,274 tons of coal were carried. Mr Thomson has presented a petition from the Catlins settlers praying for Die erection of a bridge at the east end of tho Catlins Lake. The first settlers on the south side of the lake saw on the map a road and a railway marked when they took up their selections. Many years have passed, and there ip neither bridge nor lailway, so that settlers have to convey their produce in small boats acrchs the lake. ; i