TUESDAY, JULY 23.

Otago Witness, Issue 2785, 31 July 1907, Page 36

TUESDAY, JULY 23.

In the House of Representatives tfee Dunedin Suburban Gas Company's Empowering Bill was read a second time, and referred to a select committee. Letfcefs were read from Mrs Kirkbride anoV ife Wilfred Hall expressing thanks for the kind resolutions passed by the Hotwb. After a short discussion the Rotorua Tows. Bill, vesting the administration of Rotoru* in the Tourist Department, was -cad » third time and passed. FINANCIAL DEBATE. Mr MASSEY led off. He said that the Financial Statement contained references &> many subjects which might have been more appropriately dealt with in the Speech from the Throne. He asked members to think of the proposals which had been put forward from his side of the House for the last half dozen years. Take the auditing of public a«counts, for instance. I*spite of opinions expressed by the Prime Minister that this reform would aot prove workable, he had executed a right-about face. The same with sinking funds, and sinking funds were, now an accomplished 1 fact. In some instances, similarly, iie Oppositions' demands for national annuities had fructified, and although the schema, had not been passed, there was a possibilrtythat it would find its way on the Statute „ Book in the near future. Last year £25,000 was voted from the- Consolidated Fund for making the roads of the colony —a .measure he had frequently advocated. Referring; to the land question, what a change, he said, bad come over the ooene since Mr. M'Nab introduced his measure some 12 months ago. The gentlemen who occupied the Ministerial benches now admitted that he, in advocating the freehold, had been right, and they were wrong. He claimed that small as the Opposition was in numbers, it had been an influence for good in that Houee. A Government, like aa individual, should be judged by what it had done. It was proposed in the bill of- last year to strike the landed man in a vital spot. Referring to endowments, he said they were not wanted for the purpose for which they were set apart, and would 'W oi little use to the people of &c colony for educational purposes or for paying of okt.age pensions. Before going further, w* should be guided by past experience it. regard to endowments, and inqu,iry should be made into the subject of endowments either by Royal Commission or by a committee of the House. In connection *ith the land question, the Government required watching closely, because of the Sooialistia and single tax influence which intended to* keep a man and his dependents from • becoming independent. He wanted to give , the settler on the land the advantages he oitjfht to have, and, above all, wanfed o>; pet the colony rid of the bad bargain, made in connection with the lease in weipetuity years ago. His opinion of the Minister of Lands when he made his speech last year declaring that .the Government would .nail the flag to the mast, and got down fighting, went up sft per cent., but he now suggested to the Minister thai &c motto for the Government should be " Gang warily on, and "be re*dr to run," and for a crest they should utilise a weathercock. There was only one way of giving the holder of a lease in perpetuity' his rights, and W had advocated it many times, and that waa to give" th© leaseholder the right of purchase- at the original value. '• He contended that the whole policy of the Government had been to set town against country, In order to benefit towns. Under the Worker** Homes Act of last year, people had the right to acquire the freehold at the original value, and yet this was denied the tettler on land. He added that the provision made under the Advances to Workers let for workers in cities was denied bo country workers. He argued that the land Sax paid by the man in the country was altogether out of proportion to the- income tax, and 'die 1 man in the country, reclaiming his 1«zkI from buefc and swamp, «ras carrying the heavy end of the log, to the benefit of *ne> owner of business premises in cities. Personally he was willing to grant the samHi concessions to the man in the city as <to> -the man in the country. Referring to the Attorney-general's speech a£ Palmeretoa South, which he described as a *eply to Mr Maseey, he contended that Mr Findlay's speech was a defence of Socialism, and it would be impossible to deny that) ' the policy of the Government was Socialism. Speaking on the tariff, he advised 1 hon. members to look closely into it, and" they would find anomalies which made jor 1 the benefit of the wealthy man, and made it harder for the working man. He~ characterised the motor car as the rich man's toy, yet it was now admitted free, whilst the bicycle, largely used by workess. was taxed 20 per cent. He quoted a number of statistics dealing with duties levied on boots and shoes generally used byworking people, and which had had tibe duty increased, whereas duty on boot» used by wealthier classes had been reduced. Lace had been reduoed, whilst the duty on canvas had been increased. No one would deny that billiard tables were a luxury, yet the duty on these was reduced from 85 to 20 per cent. If they took the duty off sugar, then they would injure Auckland refineries, as the sugar would be refined in Queensland and Fij* by black labour. Even the duty on-tea hit at the working man, who was unable, to purchase in greater quantities than SM» packets. Dairy machinery was mostly made in Sweden and America, and v* creating a preferential tariff on dairy machinery they were practically taxing: the dairy industry, Which was one of themost important in the colony, 10 per cen^.. He could see no attempt made to stop th« importation of shoddy, and contended th«it all olothing material should be ticketed tot show whether rt was made of wool ox. cotton, or made of materials tha/t had been previously used. He knew of w>" other article in whioh 90 much, dishonesty was practised as that of shoddy. DealiMp with the finances, he eulogised the itbtim recently appearing in. the Evening «>* as showing that people were able to look beneath the surface. A number of items* he argued, were charged to the Publto Works Fund whioh chodtd be charged to revenue. He deprecated earpendi*ur« lavished on the ornamentation of publxo buildings. In many oases the four corner* of the earth had been searched for item*, for this purpose. He contended that w* should be content with less pakufcial ma* imposing edifioes for public bniktings. ta conclusion, he argued that the two ***** important matters for the benefit of wu»

©olony were fixity of tenure for >£he man, OH the land and closer communication, with the- Old Country. JThe Government had attacked the first and neglected the second. The Hon. Mr M'NAB accused the Leader of the Opposition of having misrepresented in his speech at Auckland the matter of the jpayment of the Deputy Chairmen of Committees. He had made it understood that the Government was paying £350, whereas ihe only extra sum was £50. He also accused Mr Massey of having, at Stratford, m*de misrepresentations regarding the Otago University endowments. The Government had brought down proposal which would compel large landowners to dispose of their estates,' which would thus be thrown open to closer settlement. Mr Massey had spoken of his (Mr M*Nab's) visit to Auckland, yet if there was one thing that people of that portion of the colony "were agreed on it was that holding ▼art areas of .land was iniquitous. Last year's bfll contemplated granting the freeBold to all leases in perpetuity, and the only difference in this year's bill was that in place of putting the whole people of the colony in the position of competing for land it was limited now to the"- occupier of the land, and that was the somersault which the Opposition accused the Government of. He felt that if the original clause had been carried the effect would have been that no one could compete with the occupier at auction, and the result would have been that the leaseholder would have obtained the-freehold of his lajd at very little more' than what was known as the original value. He had no recollection of any other Government having come down bo' soon with its policy measures, and it -could not be said they were going on -with the Financial Statement 'without a knowledge of the Governmnt's policy proposals. The Minister went on to set out those proposals—the graduated land tax as set out in the bill and the effect it would have, and «lso to show how 1t differed from last year s bill. He believed its effect would be to provide vast areas for the landless people of the colony. Referring to land for settlements lands, whilst a good deal could be said In favour of the 66 years' lease, he thought there was no reason why the Bhorter lease should not oe brought about. The Government proposed to dispose of these lands under a. 33 years' renewable lease, and he would be pleased to receive any suggestions that -would make this tenure more attractive. Referring to endowments, he said the proposals were not quite so comprehensive as before they came back from committee. The endowment proposals originally covered areas of something like 16,800,000 acres, much of which was in the North Island. The alterations that had been made meant that the 16,800,000 acres had been reduced to nine million acres, and these were distributed over various portions of the colony where there were Grown lands. To the extent that they had abandoned the 17 million acres <£ last year for the nine" million of this year's bill the Opposition declared |he Government had abandoned its policy. These lands would be disposed of under the provisions of the Land Act, under which they had been disposed of previously, unless, in the opinion of jthe Land Board, they were suitable for closer settlement, when they would be disposed of under the optional system. He maintained that so long «a the colony had to borrow money for the purchase of estates they should only dispose of 1m»(J under lease in perpetuity. Me considered the Leader of the Opposition had not dealt with the Ministry fairly in mtrtine that it wa« not dome as much fSTthe country eettknr aa for the dweller in the town. Personally, he had a great deal of sympathy with the countay aattter. flefexrinir to tihe charge of Socialism which Mr Ma&sey had levelled *t the Government, he pointed out that the farmer, who Mi MwseT complained had been so much Defected, had undoubtedly been assisted by^thaT same Socialism, and. if the same results could only be obtained by the adoption of similar measures need tc batter the position of the man on the land, then this Government *ooM •*>]?{ them. Further, whatever they might cal that power which assisted the resources o) the country, and helped to place th* pro^ ducte of the colony in the best market oi the world, that power should be utilisec and carried out, no matter what Govern ment occupied the Treasury benches Mi Massey had claimed the proposals of the Government as his own, and he hopec that the Leader of the Opposition wouk follow- the Ministry into the lobby, anc «Bsist in placing the proposals on th< Statute Book. , . Mr MAS6EY, in explanation, den*< having misrepfceeented the case of ttw Deputy Chairmen's salaries. He had ex plained when making the statement tha when a member was appointed J^P™: Chairman his salary as member of th< House ceased. . , , , Mr JAMES ALLEN took up the debati after supper. He accused the Minister o Lands Of changing front since last year He. was new to the game. Last year h< came down with what he described as i most carefully-prepared Land Bill. Wherwas I«hat bill to-day? The fact was tha the Minister had made so many change of Xront that Ko AiA not know where hi -was Mr Allen traversed much of th< SHXmd covered by Mr Massey. Referrmi v to the superannuation funds, he arguei that they were hot sound, and should b made so. £17,000 per year was require to make the teachers' superannuation fun sound. In regard to railway superannu* tion, he asserted that nothing was know •bout it, but if it was right to place tn civil service superannuation fund on sound basis, it was right to plaoe th police, teachers, and railway servant! superannuation funds on a sound basis ak< They had been promised a Local Goverr snent BiU for many years, and when the got it could they consider that votes o roads and bridges were likely to be place on a satisfactory basis. In investigate the railway expenditure what had astoi ashed him most was the enormous "?« ea « in the charges for fuel and water. In lot the- charge for fuel and water was 3.50 per- train mileage. In 1897 the rate ha increased to 3.45 d, and in 1907 to 7.39 d. B considered that the cost of fuel was heavu than it ought to be, and they should den\ more from the' railways than they wei doing. Dealing with the tariff, he urge that it was altogether wrong to tax ele< trical machinery, which, ac far as fl knew, could not be made in the colon; The impost of a shilling in the pound o raw cotton would also seriously interfei with trade. Cotton was used in connectk ■with wool in making a cheap material th; would compete with shoddy. He agrc«

with the Prime Minister in the matter of the naval subsidy, but urged that steps should be taken in the direction of providing defence for our harbours. Mr WILFORD said the speech of the last member wae a speech acquiescing in the land proposals of the Government, but regretting that they had been altered. He admitted that the Government's land proposals of last year had been modified, but as a freeholder he considered they did not go far enough. Though a freeholder, he did not regard the freehold as the only advantage to the colony and the settler. He regarded the leasehold as the stepping-stone to the freehold. There were 128J000 persons (individuals and companies) who held in New, Zealand £161,777,788 worth of land. He disagreed with the Government in starting the gradu- ' ated land tax at £40.000. It should have ! been started at £20,000, and if the Govern- ( ment amended the proposal it would be } supported by many members on that side | ' of the House. He congratulated the '• Minister on the absentee proposals, and on making the endowment area nine million acres. QUESTION. ' Mr Arnold is to ask the Acting Minister of Railways whether it is a fact that the Railway Department is reclaiming part of the foreshore at the Anderson's Bay road, Dunedin, and, if so, will he explain what has taken plaoe to make this necessary. FRIENDLY SOCIETIES. The friendly societies' report presented to Parliament to-day shows a total of 500 lodges with a membership of 53,759, total funds of £1,057,821, and an^average capital of £1913s 6d. The number of members sick during 1905 waa 8103, and during 1906 9253, equal to 17 38 and 18.84 respectively per 100 of the members at risk. The total worth of the sick and funeral funds of the different societies on 31st December, 1905, was as follows:—M.U.l. 0.0. F., £427,375; 1.0.0. F., £45,000; U.1.0.0.F., £4576; 8.U.0.0.F., £1772; A.0.F., £232,991; A.0.5., £1146; U.A.0.D., £5698; 1.0. R., £44,861; S.D.T., £12,052; H.A.C.8.5., £14,354; P.A.F.&A., £13,031; R.E.8.5., £3022. The opinion is expressed that, recent cases of embezzlement will have j the effect of bringing home to those responsible for the safeguarding of benefit funds the desirability of providing for a thoroughly efficient audit. MESSENGERS. The Government has issued a circular giving rules and regulations concerning messengers. The oircular contains the following provisions: —"All messengers to be appointed on probation for three months, and if they are reported on favourably at the end of that term the appointment will be confirmed. Messengers will start with a salary of 7c per day (Sundays included). If their record is good at the end of three years they should receive an increase of 6d per diem, and at the end of five years a further increase of 6d per djem (Sundays included), this to be the maximum. If a messenger gets drunk while on duty a deduction of 6d per diem for three months will be made for the first offence, and a second offence will result in dismissal. Fourteen days annual leave will be allowed per annum. Mr Hogg is asking a question as to whether these provisions are based upon the cost of living. i j (