WEDNESDAY, JULY 24.

Otago Witness, Issue 2785, 31 July 1907, Page 37

WEDNESDAY, JULY 24.

FINANCIAL DEBATE. In the House of Representatives, Mr W. FRASER resumed the debate on the Financial Statement. He acknowledged the improvements.* which had taken plaoe of late years in the manner in whioh the accounts were presented.. He was, however, surprised to see in the Statement that the transfer of £750,000 to the Public Works Fund had effected a ©aving in interest" of £27,000. This, surely,-, must have been meant for a joke. There was no saving at all. The «&m of £2,132,000 paid in interest and sinking fund was not the whole amount the colony paid. 'There were other amounts, including that for land for settlement loans. The people should know exactly what the indebtedness was every year, and no doubt if it were" ail set out it would be several hundreds of thousands of pounds in excess of the amount stated. As to the public debt of the colony, certain items were property deducted from the gross amount, but he urged that the Government had no right to deduot £500,000 for Bank of New Zealand preference shares held by the Government. He maintained, therefore, that the net debt was improperly stated ty that amount. He criticised the sinking fi rid, stating that the money so set j,part was derived from borrowed money. de had no faith in setting aside a sinking fjnd whilst they were everlastingly borrowii.gr. It was a pity that so little attention was taken by the public generally in the question of finance. This apathy arose from the fact that the people looked to Parliament to see that things were kept right. He would like to 6ee constituted a Public Accounts Committee which should have power to inquire into every branch of the public accounts on ita own initiative. Nothing ought to be concealed from members. What did the Publio Accounts Committee inquire into ? Absolutely nothing. It "only inquired into matters referred to it by the House. It should have power to bring officers before it and to examine them. He contended that they should be furnished with all information, whereas the fact was that information was withheld from the committee. Turning to land matters, he said the Minister of Lands had last night stated that members , opposing the land proposals wore friends of the big man and enemies of the small man, but that statement did not trouble him, and, he was su*e, would not trouble those who sent him to represent them. He maintained that to give a man the freehold was to encourage him, and c freeholder would do more with his land ; than ho would under any other tenure. • This year's Land Bill wae no better than s last year's in its evident desire to do eway ' with the freehold. The same pr; nciple I .underlay it, that the Stato should not I dispose of a single acre except on lease- > hold tenure with revaluation. Mr FISHER complained of the involved s nature of the Financial Statement, and ! compared it with that of Mr Ballance in I 1891. He said that since 1891 not * • 6ingle Financial Statement was issued i which was so lucid and easily explained. . He stated that since 1902 the permanent i appropriations had increased from » £2,434.430 to £3,079,079. When the late i Premier came into office the indebtedness k of the colony was £37,000,000. This had I now increased by £22;328,000. The m-

debtednees per head had increased from £60 5s 8d to £67 0s lid. He compared the present state of affairs in the colony with the finances of Victoria, which since the drought had reduced its debt by over a million, as explained in recent press cables. He would like the Prime Minister to explain why, in the face of yearly increasing surpluses, it was necessary to g-o to tlie London market to float loans. Mr BUDJJO complained of the fact that roads in the country districts were bad. He thought it better that before a settler was allowed to go on the land at all the roads should be made. Mr BARBER said he considered that the Government should set an example in the erection of public buildings. Mr THOMSON criticised the bookkeeping system of the colony, and urged that it should be reformed. He advocated better payment of teachers and placing the Teachers' Superannuation Fund on a sounder basis. He characterised the Budget as a business one, and*- commended the ros *" master-general for the concessions granted. He advocated the State lending working miners money in the same manner as money was lent to settlers under the Advances to Settlers Act. Such a concession would result in the development of mineral wealth. Referring to the naval subsidy, he thought they should increase the subsidy to £60,000 per annum. Turning to endowments, he urged that the Government should have utilised the settlement lands for the purpose. As it was, the proposal put forward would take years before any revenue was available. Mr M'LACHLAN said he considered the Leader of the Opposition's criticism of the Budget speech a bit washy, whilst the member for Bruce, in criticising the railway revenue, showed that he wae not up suggested that the Minister of Customs should bring down legislation to enable him, in case of necessity, to take the duty off the necessaries of lifeMr HANAN congratulated the Premier on bringing down a policy for the improvement of the people of the colony. He advocated the adoption of a protective tariff for the purpose of benefiting coiomal industries. He was strongly opposed to allowing motor cars to enter duty free,, and JaSLrhr in regard to bodies of cars, which could be made here, and gwemplovment to numbers of workmen. Referring to the land policy of the Government he was satisfied with it, but would like to see the graduated land tax commence at £20% ' instead of £40,000, He contended, that the landless people of the colony were not receiving the attention they deserved. The tendency was that many »«»£«» of the House legislated for the men already rose to reply at 10 15 and said the criticism so far as it lad cone had not disclosed any weakness L th^linTnciil Statement The Government had nexer experienced any difficulty in meeting loans as they became due and never would. The million loan was to be borrowed not in England, but in New Zealand. Time and again money had been offered in Australia at a good P«»»«"»j and there was no need to go to England for a loan, and no weakness in the proposal nut forth. The same people who complained of borrowing money ™re always Endeavouring to procure votes for the erecti^oitrgl public buildings in their own constituencies. In Auckland they had experienced these demands and the ««^r W Wellington Central had that day advocated the expenditure of money on the Post Office in Wellington. What was the use of anyone dealing in such colossal hypocrisy as urging the Government to cease-borrowing when every day there were questions on the Order Paper asking for grants for cities and constituencies in the way of public buildings and railway facilities, and for increases to the wages of public servants? Yet members who were asking for these grants for their own constituencies were talking to their constituents and deprecating the borrowing of money. The Prime Minister quoted figures showing the various amount* expended on public works in various portions of the colony, and suggested that members should render ass-s-tanoe by ceasing to ask for grants for •their o wTooLtitu«ncie 8 if it were. de«red to cease borrowing. Dealing with the reductions in the Customs tariff, he said every one concerned in the industries had an opportunity of placing his views before the Minister. He contended tfiat there never w » a Customs tariff which had given such ceneral satisfaction as the proposals set forth by the Government. The whole Sitter of Customs had been gone with the view of assisting industries compatible with reducing duties on the necessaries of life The Government was prepared to listen to suggestions on the floor of the House with a view of amending the tariff further if it could be shown that industries were being interfered with. There appeared to be an idea that the reduction on motor oars was intended to benefit the rich people. It was put before the Government that a number of business men were desirous of obtaining motor care for the purposes of their business, but were^ unable to do so owing to the duty on tnem. There were 3000 motor cars in the colony. There should be many more, and he as4rted that if they had a proper share three cars would employ a number of workmen repairing and attending to those cars equal to two-thirds of the railway servants, and as motor cars increased they wou'd eventual lv employ as many men as the Kailway Department. Motor cars could not be made in the colony at the present time ud taking off the duty d.d no -affect them. In connection with the land and income tax, he knew men who wanted to go further than the proposals in the Budget, but he contended that while a compromise had been made with regard to advanced land legislation a great deal of their desires were embodied in the government proposals. There™, proposal to reduce the limit to £20,000; but ne pointed out that the Government proposals meant an immediate increase ot £90 000. When the increase took place in 1904 and 1905 it only amounted to £23-000; but in 1906 the increase was £62,000, and in the next ;%ar it was £3^ooo The Government was not, taking off one penny piece from those increases, but was putting £90,000 on the top of them. Those members who urged thai the Government should go lower had to consider their responsibilities on tno point. The Government's position -was that the oidinary value of land had not been put upon record, because the owners of estates knew that they had only to stand out and they would be able to go to the compen-

sation court, with the result- that unfair values had been fixed, and the Government had been compelled to make these drastic proposals. The bill not only prevented the aggregation of estates, but would cause the division of estates, and they would find owners seeing that fair values were put upon the land. The debate then concluded, and the House went into committee on the Estimates. RAILWAY EMPLOYEES. Hon. Sir W. J. Steward has given notice to ask the Acting Minister of Railways whether complaints have been made to the department of the indignities to which young employees in engine-sheds are subjected by the practice of what is known as " slurrying" or " bucking," and if he will endeavour to have this sort of thing put a • stop to? OPPOSITION CANDIDATES. There is to be no dearth of strong Opposition candidates for the next election. Mr Massey has already quite a number of good men to choose from, and the latest addition to the ranks is Mr Herdman, formerly member for Mount Ida, who, will contest the Wellington North seat in the Opposition interest against Mr Izard. LEASE-IN-PERPETUITY SETTLERS AND. THE LAND TAX. For some years past a return asked for regarding the amount of land tax paid by lease-in-perpetuity settlers has been returned with the word " Nil" written upon it. I understand that a siirilar return for last year will show tiuat over 400 lease-in-per-petuity holders had to pay land tax. THE DUNEDIN RAILWAY STATION. Speaking on the question of publio buildings, in the Budget debate, Mr Fisher, member for Wellington Central, said he did not want the Prime Minister to repeat here the fatal error made in Dunedin in connection with the costly Railway, Station there. "The Railway Station at Dunedin," he added, "is in the first place a monument to the Ministry who built it; in the second place, it is a monument to, the architect who designed it; in the third place, it is a monument to a mistaken policy of frenzied finance; and, in the fourth place, it is a railway station." In his speech last night Mr Massey referred to the general question'of public buildings. The Government, he said, seemed to be going' in for very costly buildings. In some of the centres the four corners of the earth had been searched for new styles of ornamentation for certain buildings. The consequence was that in some centres they had palatial buildings that would be out of all proportion, to the needs of the population for 50 years to come, and in other centres, on the other hand, the public business was conducted in buildings that were quite unfit for the purpose. He deprecated this extravagance in one direction and neglect in another, and urged that the happy average should be struck. JOTTINGS. The number of original selectors occupying their holdings on 17th July last on the Cheviot Estate was 106. Thos. Finch, of the Post and Telegraph Department, is to get a pension of £160 per annum from April next. G. C. Chapman, of the same department, will get a pension of £166. Mr Barclay intends to move, when the Land Taxing Bill is in committee, an amendment making the increase in the graduated tax s start at £20,000, instead of at £40 000, as proposed in Sir Joseph Ward's bill. I \ '