DISCUSSION OF THE STATE SERVICES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2623, 22 June 1904, Page 16

DISCUSSION OF THE STATE SERVICES.

Ono would have imagined that in the discussion of tho (rreat State services, such as post and telegraph, railways, defence-, education, lane's and survey, Sts.te coal mines, forests, •etc.,- some businesslike, airangemenfc would have been made. But the fact was that no =st time was appointed for tho discussion of these important 3C'r\ioes, in which millions of public money v.-tro itnested. If some of the timo that was wasted ia the House' was set apart to give proper discussion of theso services it would be a proper and businesslike arrangement The three largest services were* the working railways (£1.457,953), tho Education Department (£546,962), and ti.." Postal DenartoiP-nt (3524,499). the Sjixrcs Ixyng the expenditure for la~fc year. Those services should have a set timo for their discussion, and even a fortnight so scs apart v ould not be- too much. — (Applause.) At present the only discussion possible was a, desultory one upon the Addrcss-in-Reply, or when the Estimates were being dufussed. H© thought <he> country would be pleased to see a change in the direction, he had mentioned. Regarding the Government bills which were promised in the Governor's Speech, they catno dribbling down, and nine of the most important were only submitted during the last two months of the session. The Government's policy measures should b& submitted to the "House and the country promptly, and should Tjs reedy before tho House met. — (Applause.)

PREFERENTIAL TRADE BILL. This bill, which had been the subject of much discussion, was only brought down on the 18th November. The House had thsn been nearly five months in session. Th« timo of its' introduction and the manner in which iL wao debated were not worthy of the? importance of tho measure. The bill was discus-cd all night for 12 hours, anJ was forced through by continuous sitting. The principle of tho bill was that a preference was given to British goods by increasing the duties against certain selected classes of imports from countiics outside Great Britain. The duty on cement was doubled, but as the last returns only showed 800 barrels imported from abroad out of 117.000, tho increaso from 2s to 4 . per barrel would not affect the colony. The gocch cv which it was proposed to impose an extra 50 per cent, duty were valued at r.carlv halt a million out of a total *of £1.119,000 .m-poi-ted, and paid a duty of about £85, COO; while the goods on which was imposed a 20 per cent, ad \alore-m duty were of the value of £165,300, out of a total of £518.000 aff-present imported duty free. The object of the act was to charge these duties only upon goods which vein ilia p- v" iL-' manufactures of ;i Loiil 0 u odv j. T"- _c seemed to be serious difficulties in pre\snting foreign-made gooch being sent to Gical Britain and shipped thenco £9 British-made goods. There was o strong representation made by many members on both s'des of the House, who urged tho postponement of the discussion of the bill for o se^ion until fuller information was obtained. The Pic-

mier urged two reasons against this course — Eirst, a promise at the conference that the matter should be brought up as soon as possible, and, secondly, that, being a tariff biil, it should not bo hung over to the- vra-se-ttlement of business. In hia view, this bill was not the proper remedy for the evils which threatened the Empire from foreign competition. The source of that evil was legislation which was passed by GreatBritain and the United Slates in 1893, and which resulted in a great fall in silver, thus giving an advantage to those competitors of ours who produced with silver-paid labour. His views upon the subject were given at full length in the House, and would be found in Hansard by thooa who were interested. This bill was forced through the House in one continuoiis sitting. Although tlie duties were largely increased u]>on forcign-inade goods by this bill, he did not think it would affect farmers' requirements to any extent. The* act might be looked upon as one that might be jf dilpoinatic service to Great Britain in negotiating terms of reciprocity with other countries. The same remarks applied to the Coastwiso Trade Bill, which prevented foreign vessels taking coastal cargoes from | one port of the colony to another. EDUCATION. The Governor's Speech promised legisla- ! tion for improving the petition of the civil ■ servants and the school teachers. These ; aills rud not, como on, though in both J services it was acknowledged o:i all hands . that a sehemo by which an assured pro- ' vision would b» made for the old i>go of ' tho officers in these> departments was indis-pe-neoblo if the .State was to secure the best talent of the community. Necessarily , the schemes must be well though;: out by • competent actuaries ro ensure its success, ! and it was to be hoped the Government ' would have them brought in during the } next fission. Two important acts were ! brought in affecting scholarship^ — viz., tho j National Scholarships Act snd the Teachers i Scholarships Act. The Queens Scholarsh-ps j Act established six junior anl four senior J scholarships annually, bur as those were confined to lealdentc in the Norlh Island, and wore provided out of the. funds of the Victoria College, they had no special interest for his heareis. The National Scholarships ; Act established one junior scholarship for i e-aeh 5000, or part of 5000, children is^i overage yearly attendance in each oduca- [ iional district, and one senior scholarship for each of the ["niversities in Auckland, i \Vcllingl3on, Chrietchurch, ond Dunedin. ; The uemor scholarships were decided upon j tho result of the junior scholarship cxami- ! nai'ion of tho University. The junior scholarships were open to all reholars educated at a public school \\ ho were under 14 years cf age, ancFwere in 01" had passed the Fifth Standaid. They were tenable for thr<x> years, entitled tho holder to attend a -.oeomlary school, to receive free tuition ' and £30 a year: hu<, tho total number that j 1 i' lI V" -..ii • ' ' '■;.-' r. 1 j .>■• \.p.s ci luo s juirr scholar lilpi were <,p.^ii to resi- • dents of tho Uni rcisity district under 19 yeare of age, r-nd weie tenable for three year*. The grant was £20 per annum, together with tuition fees. • These scholarships, with those in existence, gave every publio school piipil a chance of a free education right through to the University. \

The bill, as first submitted, did not deal fairly with the different districts. In Westland there was a junior scholarship to each 507 pupils, while in Otago there was only one to each 5000 and over. This was, however, set right in committee, and the> scholarships allotted on the basis of average yearly attendance of pupils. One thing that wa.s causing a good deal cf concern was the falling oft in the attendance at the» publio schools, and he anticipated that 'cgislation on the matter would be submitted before long with tho object of providing a remedy. The. administration of educational affairs did not meet with his approval. When the provinces were abo-lished each board was to have control of its own affair 3, but gradually the* power was being taken away from them, and! centred in Wellington. If the affairs were better managed there might be come reason for the change, but th& reverse had been found to be the cas?. It was hoped when the Right Hon. Mr Seddon took charge of education that an improvement would be made, but unfortunately tho honourable gentleman was not about to look after the department, and there had been complaints from Otago and elsewhere as to tho way that things were going on. A demand had been made for a technical school, at Mosgiel, but so far the repiesentationo from the Otago Board had been unattended to. The same remarks applkdi to the Otago Land Board. The business seemed to bo concentrating more in Wellington than formerly. As far as possible educational and land matters, for which special boards were provided, ought to beleft to those boards without any pressure from, a central body. — (Applause.) In the» House he had troughs up the question of the large amount of money spent every year in the colony on ROADS AND BRIDGES, and the fact that there was no board m each centre to have control over the administration of the moneys. All applications fov moneys for road.' and bridges were sent to Wellington, and there was no local board to see that the money was spent, as between one district and another, in a fair and equitable way. If affairs were run on business lines that would not obtain. There, should be a board consisting of the chairven of the counties, who would know how fear the requirements of tLeir respective districts wanted attention, and they would .spend the money where it was most required. At present the money was sp-ent for one reason or another that was not always in the best interests of the district, nor was the information that was given as good as it would be if a board such as he suggested was appointed. THE LICENSING QUESTION had been a good deal left alone by members in addressing their constituents. Last session the Premier brought in a bill, which, of course, did not please anybody. There were many good provisions in it, but there were- some bad ones. One clause which caused much discussion was clause 9 — no license no liquor. He had been a^ked if he> would support that section. As his hearers knew, he approved of the local option principle, and he looked on clause 9 as entirely subversive of the local option principle. Ifc was such a dia-aie change in iho lav/ that he could not support it. and it would no^

ihe thought, get the support of the House'. — (Applause.) On the other hand, there were many good clauses in the bill — clauses that ought to be passed. It was also proposed that a poll should bo taken to decide: whether there should be a local option vote every Parliament or every alternate Parliament. Speaking for himself — and he desired to do what was fair to those in the> •trade — he ihcwglat it would be a. proper thing if a decision were given on that point by the people. He thought there would never be a time when liquor would not be sold in the colony. — (Applause.) At anyrate, he would advise licensees to see to it that they observed -the laws, kept good liquor, enforced the closing hours, "and kept men. of good' repute in charge. If publicans followed those rules they would have the sympathy of the bulk of the public, but if they flouted the police they would be acting iniinically to their own interests.

THE LAND QUESTION.

This wac a question that would come before the House this session. As he had previously said, he believed that those who held leases in perpetuity and State tenants generally should have the option of converting their ' leaseholds into v freeholds.— (Applause.) The land reformers who lived in cities, such as Messrs Ell, Laurenson, and Fowlds< said that the State should own all the land. — (A Voice: "Quite right.") Well, he would just like to ask this: Which system would produce the most wealth in a country, a system under which all the people lived as State tenants, whose security of tenure was not of the best, and where if they fell behind in their rent they might have their land taken away from them and all improvements confiscated, or a freehold system, under which a man who put improvements on to liis land knew it was very unlikely he would lose them, and that when he was done with his land had the assurance that it would go to his family? Undoubtedly the 'system which gave the man the securest form of tenure was the one calculated to yield the most wealth. — (Applause.) The man with security of tenure always produced more than a man who had not security of tenure, and therefore it was to the best interests of the State that the freehold should be giveu. He did not think it was a good thing that land should be held in too large areas, but the land laws of the colony were such as 3nade it possible to prevent the aggregation of large estates. The present land laws provided that the State could step in and acquire the land of a man who 1 held more than 2000 acres of first-class land, and in many other ways safeguards could be provided to prevent entirely the land getting into too few hands ; not only that, but in New Zealand there was such a thing as the land tax, under which power was given to Parliament to tax land up to its full value, and even to take the value entirely out of at. THE 'FRISCO MAIL SERVICE.

He had supported the continuance of the San Francisco mail service because, after listening to all the arguments addressed on either side, he was satisfied that the colony could not do better than stick to the service that had served them so well in the past. The San Francieco service cost the colony about i.14-,000 a year, and the best service,apart from that, which could be got would have cost something like £28,000 a year. He maintained that that was too great a difference in cost, and justified him in supporting the 'Frisco service. At the same time, he hoped that they would by the end of the year -be in a position to negotiate for a fortnightly service, by way of San Francisco and Vancouver, to England, which would, in his opinion, meet all objections, and give the colony a mail service with England which would give acceptance to all partie6. — (Applause.)

LABOUR.

During the session a bill was brought forward and passed for the proper constitution of the Labour Department. He thought it was only right that the Labour Department, should be given a statutory Btatus, and be placed on the same footing as other deartinents of the State.

WATER-POWER ACT.

The object of the Water-Power Bill, introduced by the Dunedin City Council, was to give to Dunedin the right to take the electric power of Leo and Deep Streams into the oily. With the assistance of J;he member for Caversham (Mr Sidey) he had succeeded in getting certain amendments introduced into the bill, by which the county and those districts "through which the power was taken shuld have the right to a certain amount of power if they required it.— (Applause.)

FINANCE.

Touching- on finance, he said it was pleasing to see from the accounts submitted the other day that the revenue was still on the buoyant eide. In conclusion, he thanked his heavers for the patient hearing they had given him. He could assure them that in anything he did in Wellington he would endeavour to act in ths interests of the

whole of his constituents, and not in the interests of any one section or party. — (Applause.)

IN CONCLUSION, Mrßeid thanked his audience for the kindly and appreciative hearing they had accorded him, and expressed his willingness to answer any questions that might be put to him.

VOTE OF THANKS.

No questions being forthcoming, Mr Thomas Shand moved — "That a hearty vote of thanks be accorded Mr 'Reid for his interesting address."

Mr John Wright (a candidate at the last election) seconded the motion, and said, though an opponent- of Mr Reid's, he could affirm that Mr Reid had never been ashamed of his colours, and was proud to know that ho was so straightforward. — (Applause.)

The motion was carried by acclamation, and the meeting terminated with a vote of thanks to the Mayor for presiding.