HON. J. A. MILLAR

Otago Witness, Issue 2983, 17 May 1911, Page 7

HON. J. A. MILLAR

ADDRESS IN THE GARRISON HALL. THE FINANCES OF THE DOMINION. A SURPLUS OF £588,483. THE RAILWAY POLICY. MR. MASSEY'S STATEMENTS CRITICISED. In the Garrison, Hall on ifc.be 9th there was a large attendance to hear an address on political questions by the Hon. J. A. Millar (Minister of Railways). The cnaur was occupied by Mr W. Burnett (Mayor of Dunedin), and scats on the platform were also occupied by the Hon. J. T. Paul, M.L.C., Messrs T. Parata, M.P., M. Cohen, and D. M'Pherson.

The Chairman, in introducing the Minister, said that Mr Millar had now achieved a position only second to that which could be occupied l by any subject in New Zealand. Mr Millar was essentially a Dunedin man, and if he had done nothing more for the city than to obtain for the Otago Harbour Board that enormous concession of 2000 acres, which bo did last session, he would be entitled to tho undying gratitude of every citizen of Dunedin. —(Applause.) In time, h© believed, that concession would enable Dunedin to be a free port.—(Applause.) Tho Hon. Mr Millar said it gave him very great pleasure indeed to come before the people of Dunedin. That night, as Acting Minister of Finance, he was occupy ing the place of one who, if he had been in New Zealand, cvould have been only too pleased to do 4 what he was now doing. That night ho was in the fortunate position of being able to place before the people,of Dunedin, New Zealand,, and the outside world the exact position' in regard to the finances of tire country over the past year. And he could tell them that the financial position of the country to-day was the finest that had.ever been experienced. Ho was sure it would be admitted, on all sides, when he had l given out these figures, that the position was one giving the greatest pause for satisfaction. FINANCIAL POSITION. At the commencement of the year thev had to their credit a balance of £432,316, brought forward from the previous year. The revenue for the past year amounted to £10,297,023, and other receipts amounted to £250, which brought the total receipts for the period 1910-11 up to £10,297,273. That showed an increase over the revenue for the period 1909-10 of £1.058,762. and constituted a record, the largest amount previously in any one year being that for 1909-10, which was £9,238,261. If this increase of revenue for the past year was confined to any one particular department they could look into at and ascertain what had created it. But the position was that in every branch, excepting one, there w r as evident a big increase in revenue. The appropriations that were made by Parliament for the past yeai- amounted to £9,343,106, and the excess of receipts over expenditure,was £954,167, which, added to the £432,316 brought forward from the previous year, produced £1,386,483. From this amount there was transferred to the Public Works Fund £BOO,OOO, leaving at March 31, 1911, a balance to carry forward to the next year of £586,483. It had been said that a surplus such as that meant too great taxation on the people, and in reply to that he had to say it was the duty of the Government to see that each generation took on its shoulders a certain part of the burden which the policy of the Government involved. It was unfair that one generation should receive all the benefits of applied borrowed money and that the next generation should pay the interest on that bororwed money. Each generation must take its fair share. Since the Government of tho day took office in 1891 no less a sum than £8,030.000 had been transferred from the Cpnoslidatsd Fund to the Public Works Fund, which, if it had not been done, would have required to have been borrowed, and they would have been paying interest on it to-day. The following was a comparative statement showing the

Tiho excess of revenue received over and above estimated revenue was £685,448,

and the only instance in which a decrease was shown was in endowment revenue, where the amount involved was only £39. This statement showed that there was p.rosperity not in one particular branch, but in every branch. The increase in actual income tax revenue over the estimated revenue was £82,000, which showed that during the past year miany more people had been makisj™ sufficient money to. justify the income taJt being- imposed. The consolidated revenue for the past year, it would be seen, totalled £10,297,023, as against £9,238,261 for 1909-10, thus showing an increase of £1,058,762. The land tax revenue for the pait year showed a decrease, as compared with the previous year, of £13,547, and that was the outcome of the Government's land legislation, which had for its object the bursting up of the big estates. The only other decrease shown over the previous year was in the revenue from endowments, where the falling off amounted to £11,281. EXPENDITURE.

Now as to expenditure, and it was always right to put your expenditure alongside your revenue. The amount estimated for 1910-1911 for permanent charges was £3,672,110, the annual appropriations £5,800,168, and additional appropriations for railways £233,755. That gave a total of £9,706,033, and they had not expended the whole of that amount. They had actually expended in permanent charges £3,642,850, and in annual appropriations £5,700,256, so that they had short-expended £362,927. A comparative statement of expenditure for 1910-1911 and 1909-1910 showed for the first period permanent charges £3,642,850, and annual appropriations £5,700,256, making a total of £9,343,106: and for the second period permanent charges £3,514,409 and annual appropriations £5,476,513—t0tal £8,990,922, which gave an increased expenditure of £352,184, made up of increased permanent charges £128,441 and increased annual appropriations £223,743. Mr Millar then quoted from a, table dealing with the Consolidated Fund (ordinary revenue account), which showed the expenditure for 1910-1911. This was a comparative statement of the estimated and actual expenditure of the Consolidated Fund for the financial year ending March 31, 1911. They would see, that very great care had been taken over the expenditure, and it was kept within the amount authorised by Parliament. During the year they had paid off £IOO,OOO of" Treasury bills. In 1891, when they took office, these stood at £700,000, and in 1896 they decided to pay them off. Mr Millar also dealt with the figures contained in a comparative statement of the actual expenditure of the Consolidated Fund (revenue account) for th« financial year ended March 31, 1911, anid the year ended March 31, 1910, the statement being as follows:—;

Take the Public Works Fund. They commenced the year with £312,566, and received from loan money including premium £1,984,742, from the Consolidated Fund £BOO,OOO, and other receipts £6506, making a total received of £2,79.1,248. The expenditure was: Under appropriations £1,892,£51, and other charges £70,718; a total expenditure of £1,963,569, leaving them with a bala.nce at the 31st March, 1911, to carry forward to next year of £1,140,045. The balance of loan money to come in was £181,650, and the available public money to start the current year with was £1,321,695. If the revenue kept up as it did last year they would be able to transfer £600,000 from the consolidated revenue to the public works account. The balances were these at the 31st March: Gash in public account £361259, advances in the hands of officers of the Government £8786. and invested on fixed deposit £750,000. He thought they would asaree agree with him that these figures showed a veiry satisfactory result for the year, and they would be pleased to hear that he had no reason to doubt that the coming year would be as successful as the pa.st, because the four weeks already gone in the new year showed that the revenue was keeping up, and was, in fact, a little better than that n» the corresponding four weeks last year. Mr Millar went on to refer to a remark by the. Leader of The Opposition appearing in the Oiago Daily Times that the public debt of the country was approximately £80,000,000, and that within the last 20 yea.rs it had increased by about £15,000,C00. He had not suggested doing without barrowing, biK there was a difference between moderate borrowing and the plunging experienced during the 'last few years. He (Mr Millar) was going to deal with the question of plunging. The public debt on the 31st March, 1911, was £81,078,122, audi in 1891 it was £38,830,350, tho increase since the Liberal administration having been £42,247,772. But let. them look at what had been done with it and what tho result had been. When they took office it was £33,000,000, and of the money then borrowed 56 per cent, was unproductive and 44 per cent, was reproductive, lie was going to show them the different between the borrowing then and the borrowing since 1891. He was going to show them how the £42,000,000 that had been borrowed had been spent, and what was re-

turned from it. The reproductive loans were:—Purchase Native lands, £977,842; land settlement, £5,604,026; loans to local bodies, £4,623,100; land? improvement, £500,000; advances to settlers- £7,094,936: advances ito woa*kers>, £844,'765 ; advances to dairy companies £1781; State coal mines, £170,000; .State firo insurance, £2OOO ; reserve fund securities, ££00,000; Bank of New Zealand preference shares, £500.000; New Zealand consols, £539,683; and Waihou and Ohinemuri Rivers improvement, £IOO,OOO. The total amount of these was £22,458,142, and they had spent £ll 022,948 on railways, or a total out of fcho £42,000,000 of £33,481,090 had been borrowed and spent upon reproductive works. The non-productive moneys borrowed were these: Public works, roads, etc., £5,379,325; increments by conversion, £4,290,737; sinking- fund accretions. £392,580; naval and military settlers, £27,226; scenery preservation, £40,000; total, £10,129,868. An analysis showed that 77 per cent, of the money borrowed was returning more than the interest paid on it, while only 23 per cent of it was not directly reproductive. It certainly was reproductive, in a sense, because a la.rge portion of it had boon expended on roads, bridges, and other- works of immense benefit to settlers and others throughout the length and breadth of the land.—(Applause.) Of th total public debt to-day of £81,078.122 the sum of £50,701,090 was reproductive, while £30.376,132 was non-nroductive, and the annual interest was £2,850,000. In connection with the non-productive amount, let him repeat tbat people must have reads and bridges, public buildings, lighthouses, and other works. Then, what were the interest earning loans? They were as follows :

iow?s : Railways Land for Settlements Loans local bodies State coal mines Bank of N.Z. shares Reserve fund securities Consols Advances to settlers ••• Advances to workers ...

The interest received was £1,982,091, showing a profit last year of £246,574. And, as ho had already said, the total interest was £2,850,000, and the interest earned was £1,982,092, or a difference of £867,909 which was paid by the tax-payers who did not get any direct benefit from the money borrowed, and, it must be remembered, that sum included the interest on the 21 millions of non-prcductive money that had been borrowed before the Government took office in 1891. Ho thought it vrould be admitted from the figures' he had [riven that the outcome of the various ti-ansaotions had been very satisfactory to the country as a

whole. —(Applause.) Could anyone say that the results achieved showed there had been reckless borrowing and squandering of money? Every business man, he thought, would sav that the investments had been good. Thev actually showed a profit of close on a quarter of a million.—/Applause.) He might be asked, had the borrowing of that money done GOOD TO THE COUNTRY? In reply, he said that we could only bring forward figures to show the results, and what were the facts? In 1890 the total trade, imports and exports, amounted to £16,072,245, and in 1910 it amounted to £39,231,792, or an increase of £23,159,547. Would anyone say the Government was not entitled to the credit for, at any rate, a large portion of that increase.—(Applause.) They had borrowed 'money to give to the, settlers at a low rate of interest—2s per cent, below the rate current before the Government took office. This had enabled the settlers to improve their lands and increase their production. Further, bv the expenditure of money on reads the settlers had been enabled to get their produce to market. Under the land for settlement scheme, the Government had put people on the land who would never have been on the land but for that scheme. Under the State fire insurance scheme money had been saved to people all over the country. They all knew the reduction that took place in the premiums. —(Applause.) By opening up State coal mines thev had kept in cheek the price of coal. No matter how one looked at it, the application of these borrowed moneys had benefited the neoDle. Last year thebo was an actual profit of five millions coming into the country as the excess of exports over imports, a large portion of which was attributable to the fact that the* Government had provided roads and bridges throughout the country.—(Apnlause.) This represented over £5 per head for circulation in New Zealand, and the trade bad increased by £23,159,547 in 21 years. These were figures that were public, and everybody could check them for themselves. Mr Massey had also accused tho Government of INCREASING TAXATION, but he was careful not to explain where that taxation camo in. H« knew perfectly well tho Government would have to say "Yea," and admit tho h,w-va.s<?. But was

tho increase placed on the bull; of the people? No, it waa not, and lie challenged anyone say it had been.—(Applause.) In 1907 the Government took off Custom) duties to tho extent of £402,000. The in l crease in duties made at the same time amounted to about £120,000, which left a direct reduction through the Customs of £280,000 —a reduction in articles that were consumed every day.—(Applause.) The increase made at that time was placed _on tho shoulders of these best able to bear it— I tho payers of land tax an income tax, —and ilr Massey’s friends had had to pay a largo portion of it. Naturally, Mr Massey wished to defend his friends from anything of tho sort. Lot them remember this: j Out of the whole of the landowners in New ' Zealand, 100,OOCl in number, only 33,162 | paid land tax, and out of our population of a million, only 11,175 paid income tax. In other words, 44,337 people last year paid £1,035,958 by means of land and income tax. One could easily understand, then, why there were some complaints about the increase. As for the landowners, the position was that unless the largo holders broke up their estates they must go, because this i country could not go on buying land at 1 to-day’s high values and leave men with j large tracts of land when there were tnou- | sands of people crying out for it.—(Ap--1 plausc.) The Government was doing its j utmost to bring about the settlement of j ths land. Last year more Native land was | settled than other land, and, at the same | time, adequate provision was made for the ■ maintenance of the Maori bwners, to that I they, would never bo dependent on the ■ country. The Government was settling the ■ Native lands as fast as it could, but rccog-

nised l the right of the Maoris to a share in the land that originally belonged to them. —(Applause.) Taxation, then, had not been increased on the bulk of the people, and he could tell them the Government had not the slightest intention of increasing that taxation. It was more probable that the taxation on the bulk of the people would be decreased and not increased. —(Applause.) Referring to the RAILWAY DEPARTMENT, be said the results bore, as elsewhere, were satisfactory. The following were the results for 1911 as compared with the previous year:—

year of £244,392. The working expenses amounted to £2,303,272, showing an increase of £133,798, and the net revenue was £1,190,910, or an increase of £110,594 over last year. —(Applause.) The percentage of working expenses to earnings was 65.92, or a decrease, as .compared with the previous year, of 0.84, which had brought the percentage down to. the accepted standard of the railways of Australia and other parts of the world. Then the interest earned by the railways last year on the capital invested was. £4 Is 3d per cent., or an increase of 5s 3d per cent., and the highest rate of interest ever earned by the railways in the history of New Zealand.—(Applause.) He assumed control of the railways in January. 1909, and the rate cl interest earned for the year ended 31st March, 1909, was £3 2s 7d; for the year ended 31st March, 1910, it had been increased to £3 16s; and for the year just completed they had the amount which formed a record in the history of their railways, and was no less than 18s 8d per cent, higher than the interest that was earned in 1909, when he took over the administration of the department.—(Applause.) He saw no reason why the railways should not pay interest on their expenditure. There was a good staff, and what he was also proud of was this: It had been said that in New Zealand the railways, being under political control, could not bo made to pay, as the Government would always be granting concessions in order to get votes. But the men thus traduced, when given a fair chance, had shown that they were just as capable of making railways in New Zealand pay as any railway commissioner could be who might bo imported to-morrow. —(Applause.) When ho took office he said he did not desire to run the railways to make a profit that would, go into the Consolidated Eund. He held that the railways should pay their interest! in full, and any surplus over and above that should bo given partly to the public by way -of reductions and partb/ to remove some of the anomalies that existed in regard to railway men’s wages.—(Applause.) That was his attitude when he took over the railways. . His first duty was to get thorn on a sounder financial basis, and, having achieved that object, ho was in a position to carry out Jus intentions, and next year ho hoped to bo able to do something' in that direction. —(Applause.) Ho had also decided that the long-distance second class carriages should bo made more comfortable than they wore to-day.—(Ap-plause.) The long carriages, with seats by the side, would be done away with, and chairs fitted up, as in the first class carriages. The second class passenger was entitled to as much comfort on a long journey as the first class passenger. This alteration might affect the revenue, because more people would travel second class, but he did not think it would affect it to any great extent, and ho was prepared to take the risk and make the alteration. — (Applause.) He hoped that before next year a start would bo made in this direction.—(Applause.) During his visit to Australia ho was greatly impressed with the, improvement shown in the working of the railway system in New South Wales by the alterations in the grades and curves, and, with a view to ensuring economics in the working of tl’.o railways in Now Zealand in the future it had been decided to spend the sum of £25,000 annually in the work of materially reducing the whole of iba

heavy grades in the mam lines of the North and South Islands. The intention was that wherever possible ike grades should be reduced to a minimum of 1 in 70 on straight roads and 1 in Bo on curves, and the radius of the curves was to be flattened to 15 chains where practicable and to 12 chains where it would L found that the cost of flattening to 15 chains would be excessive. At present the minimum curves were from five chains to £ven chains and a-half. On the main .lines of the Dominion there were altogether about 394 miles of grades steeper than 1 in 100 250 miles of these grades being aituated on the trunk lines connecting Auckland with Invercargill. The balance of the mileage was on important branch, lines such as Rotorua, Thames, New Plymouth, and Napier. As the major portion of the important trains traversed these Bections of railway daily, the influence tne grades had on the capacity of the lines and the operating expenses was very material This would bo more readily understood when he stated that an engine which would haul a load of 210 tons at a speed of 20 idles per hour up a grade of 1 m 50 would haul 305 tons up a grade of 1 in BU at the same speed, and 355 tons up a grado of 1 in 100. The haulage power of a locomotive was 45 per cent, greater on a trade of 1 in 80 than on a grade of 1 m 50, and 69 per cent, greater on a grade of 1 in 100 than on a grade of 1 in £>U. It was apparent, then, the sooner they got the grades down the sooner would they get better results, and an effort would be made to have no grade in New Zealand over 1 in 80—(Applause.) It was a very difficult matter for the department to have trucks ready for every man at every hour of the day when they were required, but they were ooping with the increased railway traffic as fast as they could. During the year just ended the rolling stock was increased by the addition of 14 engines, 26 carriages, 7 brake-vans, and 836 waggons, bringing the total stock in use at the present time up to 479 engines, 1166 carriages, 374 brake-vans, and 17,689 waggons. Tenders were being invited now for 10 more locomotives, and he had given instructions for obtaining the material from Home for 10 other engines of a type which was now doing magnificent work, and these* would be started as soon as the work now in hand was completed. The material had also been ordered for 10 more engines to be constructed at Hillside, and with this and other rolling stock to be constructed the railway workshops would, as far as he could see, be fully occupied up to 1914. —(Adplause.) With a view to economising rolling stock, he had arranged for a, trial to be made of the system of receiving and despatching goods for small stations- to which the traffic was light on certain days of tho week and to other stations by one service per day if circumstances warranted it. In the past the position had been that trucks loaded with only a few hundredweight were being left at country stations for three or four days on end, when they should be in running and carrying a great deal more. Under the new system people living several miles from these country stations would know on what days to expect goods consigned to them, and would be found by them a'great convenience. It would also greatly relieve the department in dealing with the demands made upon it for rolling stock, and add enormously to the available carrying capacity. They must understand that they now had close on 30 millions of money invested in their railways, and that they must do everything that was possible to make the railways pay interest. They could not afford to have any of their rolling stock lying idle. The only way to make the railways pay was to keep the wheels as hot as they could keep ' them. It would always be his endeavour es Minister of Railways to use their rolling 6tock to the very best possible advantage. —(Applause.) REPLY TO MR MASSEY. The Hon. Mr Millar said he had been watching very closely the speeches that were being made by the Leader of the Opposition, and he had to admit that t* (the speaker) was getting a little puzzled. The Leader of the Opposition had always nosed as a great economist and as one who was consistent in his views, and yet he found that Mr Massey was going through the Dominion promising various things whioh he formerly condemned. He did not know whether his views were changing because of the coming elections.—(Laughter.) He found that in regard to the claims of Otago Central Mr Massey had said that a commission should be set up in connection with the continuance of that railway. He had also read of where Mr Massey had said that the. policy of the Government was on© of humbug, and then he said he would withdraw that remark and substitute the word hypocrisy. At another stage ha would not withdraw it, so that he (the speaker) did not really know what he meant. Dealing with Mr Massey.'s state : merit about humbug reminded him of a speech delivered by that gentleman at Waiau. on March 28. He was then asked if he was in favour of the continuance of the railway from Culverden to Waiau. He replied that probably a selection would be made of the lines to be gone on with, and he would be prepared to vote for it if authorised. When he said that he knew that the mere authorising of a railway did not mean the construction of it. There had been railways authorised for years, and there had never been a pick put on the construction of them.. He had also made one or rtwo statements that were" not correct, and he had said ho only hoped that lome Minister would reply to him and then be would reply to the Minister. - He would like Mr Massey to reply to what he (MiMillar) was going to say that night. Speaking at Raglan (a small country pjaoe) on March 15. and dealing with the five million

! loan, he was reported to have said that " New Zealand's credit at the present time, owing to the Government's reckless borrowing, was lower than that of any Australian —our credit Was not so good in the money mia)rket as that of Queensland for instance." This was also reported of him in connection with the same five million loan when speaking at Kaiapoi. Now, the five -million (loan on going on to the market would naturally disturb it, but he was going to show them what the actual position was. Mr Massey had equal facilities with everyone else in the country of seeing the market quotations, and what he said was absolutely incorrect —ho would not say he had purposely misrepresented the position. It was on March 15 that Mr Massey made this statement about New Zealand's credit, and on March 3 the usual weekly cablegram from London, published in ;the New Zealand papers, showed the position to be as follows: —-New Zealand 4 per cent., 106; 3g per cent., 97g; 3 per cent., 86. New South Wales 4 per cent;, 105 i; 3£ per-cent., 98; 3 per cent., 87. Victoria—4 per cent., 103£; 3£ per cent., 97£; 3 per cent., 85. South Australia— 3£ per cent.. 974; 3 per cent., 82. Tasmania—3£ per cent., 97£; 3 per cent., 85 Western, Australia—3i per cent.,, 97£; 3 per cent., 87. Queensland —4 per cent., 103£; 3£ per <-.ent., 97; 3 per cent., 854It would be seen from this that New Zealand's 4 per cents, were £2 10s higher, New Zealand's 3£ per cent., 10s higher, and New Zealand's 3 per cent., 10s higher than those of Queensland. One week later, on March 10, the relative positions of New Zealand and Queensland were: —New Zealand I —4 per cent., 106; 3i per cent., 98; 3 per cent., 86. Queensland—4 per cent., 1034; 34 per cent.,-974; 3 per cent., 85. j When it was known that these figures were ; there, the true position should have been told. If, as the result of such a report, it went abroad that our credit w-as worse than that of Queensland, they would see the infinite damage it might do to New Zealand. He asked Mr Massey to reply to the statement he (Mr Millar) had just given them, in reference to the misleading facts contained in the address delivered at Ragi lan by the Leader of the Opposition, which was supposed to be so very pure. Mr Massey should have made himself conversant with these facts before trying to edu- ! cate the public en them.—(Applause.) Then I again, another sample. In a speech deli- ! vcredl at Kaiapoi in. regard to the same i £5,000,000 loan, Mr Massey said: It was 1 now known that the loan was an extremely 1 expensive one. In" the first place, there was j the discount of 14 per cent. Then, if an ! investor chose to convert his four years ; stock into 30 years' loan stock, he received a bonus of 2 per cent, on his stock. Any ! investor paying in his cash on the adverI tised date received at the end of one m<mth, : not one month's interest, but six months interest. This bonus of five months interest amounted to 30* per '£loo. These : additional charges on the loan made the interest rate not less than 7 per cent., and i involved an increased indebtedness ol £350,000, the interest on which the people of New Zealand would have to pay till the Day of Judgment." The statement that the additional charges on the £5,000 000 loan made the interest rate not less than 7 per cent, was absolutely incorrect, as era admitting that the loan only realised £93 j net that would only make the interest rate £3 'ls= 3-di per cent, per annum on the net amount realised. Was that what they 1 might expect from the Leader of the Opposition? He (Mr Millar) had seen no denial of the statement. He had another extract from, a newspaper which was a great deal worse, and that was a reference to the civil servants of this country .Again the statement was made in an outlying district. At Raglan Mr Massey had said: , "Ninety per. cent, of lino people who were ' put into the Government services wero appointed through political influence;Jjwur ! fitness was quite a secondary consideraHe (Mr Millar) wondered if the public servants of this country likedl to be considered wasters, because ' that was the significance of his statement. He (Mr Millar) challenged any man to produce in any pairt of the world a finer body of civil servants than we could produce in ' New Zealand. Their high standard was admitted by strangers • who came here. ! The only two planks in the Opposition plaiti form seemed to be a civil service board i and an elective Upper House. That was all Mr Massey offered. It was strange that on the 31st March there had appeared an article on civil service boards in Great Britain. He had opposed a civil service board, and he held that the Minister snould be held responsible for the men in his department. On the 31st March the following article had appeared in the Radical London Star:—"The Education Office is not the' only department in which the permanent personnel nullify the will of the electors and defy the verdicts of the people. At the Admiralty the experts and the contractors ride roughshod over the pledged economist. At the Home Office a monopoly like the Standard Oil Trust triumphantly holds its own in spito of a select committee, and in spite of tho pledges given bv Liberal Ministers. At tho Board of Agriculture lassitude and lethargy prevail, and the Small Holdings Act is almost a dead letter. Incidents like the Heswell Nautical School and tho Holmo Circular (about three school inspectors) aro but straws which show the power o? the permanent official, and if we desire an even more striking proof of the state of things we have only ito read the satirical document issued by the Homo Office clerk —a _ document which Mr Churchill's humanitarian views are held up to derision." Did thev want a system like.that here? They had had an experience in the railway commissioners, and tthey had a short life in New

Zealand. Mr Massey said in one breath that he wanted a civil service board, and did not want railway commissioners. He (Mr Millar) noticed that Mr Massey in his northern speeches always pointed out that there had never been a northern Minister of Lands, and) that it was impossible for the South Island man to be Minister of Lands successfully, because he knew nothing about the North Island. But if the South Island man could not understand northern requirements, he (Mr Millar) was suir© the North Island man could not understand southern requirements. There was as much brain among the men of the South Island as among the men of the north.— (Laughter.) He was quite prepared to reply to any other statement Mr Massey liked to make. In his policy there were no signs of progress whatever. Let theni make A COMPARISON with tho progress made by the present Government since it took office. Take tho last year alone. He invited anyone to say that the National Provident Fund Act was not one of the best things that had been passed, and he would like the young men to study it. It only applied to those in receipt of less than £2OO a year. and was a cheap form of insurance that he did not think any man could say was beyond his power. He hoped to have pamphlets distributed, and that there would be a large influx to the National Provident Fund. Then, in regard to the Factories Act, an amendment- had been passed which brought Chinese into line with the ordinary laundrymen. As to the question of the employment of. coloured labour on shipping, that had not been assented to by the Imperial Parliament, which had, however, no power over the imposition of a tax by which to overcome the difficulty. He also referred to workers' homes, in connection with which it was proposed to purchase two or three acres, and as soon as the land was applied for they would build a house right away on payment of £lO, and tbie rest would be up in 364 years, and the purchaser would have his own home. Reference was also made to the Public Debt Extinction Act, the Secret Commissions Act, the Commercial Trusts Act, the Stone Quarries Act, and the Coal Mines Act. These, he said, were just a few of the samples of the legislation nassed last year. The object of every one of the measures was to better the condition of those affected, which showed that the Government was quite as humanitarian in its views as any Government that had preceded it. The Government simply asked to be judged by what it had done. It did not make promises ; its record spoke for it. If the people considered that that record had been of advantage to the country, and! that the Government had faithfully carried out its trust, they would show their confidence in it at the proper time. The people were happy and contented. There were avenues of employment for nearly everyone in every trade. Certainly, wo had lost some of our population, but it was only to be expected that where work was brisk labour would follow. But as time went on employment would no doubt be just as plentiful as it happened to be in Australia today, and then our people would return to us. No legislation passed by this Government had driven men out of the country. The legislation and administration had induced people to come here. There was as miich security here for capital as anywhere else in the world. The Government had but on* object in view—to benefit the country, to Improve it wherever possible, and to make the people happy and contented, and if they had helped towards that end in the past it could be said by no one that they had not done their duty. —(Applause.) Ho trusted he had shown that the country was not the debt-ridden place that some people said it was, but that it was really in a splendid financial position, and ready to meet its obligations, and that if the ime should come when the Government had to hand over the reins to others it had a record that it would be hard indeed for anyone to beat.—(Applause.) A number of questions having been answered, Mr J. H. Walker moved—" That this meeting expresses a hearty vote of thanks to the Hon. J. A. Millar for his able address, and also its continued confidence in the Government." Mr Walker said he was sure they had all been interested, no matter on what side they were politically, in the address given by the Hon. MiMillar. He was sure he was voicing the opinion of every one present when he said that the address had been most lucid and interesting.—(Applause.) The motion was seconded by Mr H. W. Mitchell, and, on being gut to the audience, was declared carried unanimously. The Hon. Mr Millar briefly expressed his thanks. A vote of thanks to the Mayor for presiding closed the proceedings.

CONSOLIDATED FUND REVENUR FOR 1910-11 and 1909-10. g? 0 o a S ' f Stamps Stamps Post ai Land "! Income Beer 1 Railway Registr; Marine Misoella Territoi Endown la Is COM! 908-9 of (Stamp Departmen (Postal Department) id Telegraph cash i rax Tax >uty rs ition and other fees neous ial revenue ... aent revenue <" 3 <! D a T to S> 8 £ o * t) ... eceipts i g d> : TH 1908 TC Revenue ! £1,295,833. 1 tb $ i=> " DO CD <1 o CM CO to CM Wi— , CO CM (->% h-" _p» c* CO CO co"o J2 H"l-»1-" CO £1 & Cnj-3 Cn O CM CO ij 00J-" CT>tO V 3 SoHcob"-j"i-'" [ o''-JN>wco bo J"J crcMCOCM[ocnOcMCOCT>ocMCo" l-'coCMCMOCnOcnCMt-'CT'COCD CD O CD ■ C2> t- 1 CO to CD CO CO cm to JO CM jS : CO "to cr> H- 1 ;-Jj/3cr>j»j»oioip>joo g V SS "o"co CM "to CM 00 "co Cn ~%a *» 03 cd i-j p a> a> cm _3 cm S co-JcDCoCncMcocnocn 13 l-i c^ hP ... £10,297,032 £1,058,762 tO to .(-■ On CM l-« 00 CDHKJ m j-. jXJ ,_i CM t-'Cn CO O CM 0 CD tN3-g"00^1% , '<l*'C7iV5 >o CO 4=» CO I-" CO CD CM Q 4i CO CO m cn *. ai hi co hj 25-3 c> co * * ton CM 3 si

Expenditure. Permanent Appropriations— 1910-11. £ 1909-10. £ Difference. More. Less £ £ Civil List 34,375 33,730 643 — Interest and Sinking Fund 2,458,452 2,397,461 60,991 — Under Special Acts . 482,119 452,491 29,628 — Subsidies Paid to Local Authorities 103,017 94,208 13,809 — Territorial Revenue 40,397 36,400 3,997 Endowments 153,459 158,066 — 4,607 Old-age Pensions 366..033 342,053 23,980 — 3,642, £50 3,514,409 133,048 4,507 Annual Appropriations — Legislative Departments 37,611 28,634 8,977 _ Department of Finance ••• 48,023 36,703 11,250 — Post and Telegraph Department • 911,819 855,862 55,957 — Working Railways Department ••• 2,270,814 2,168,189 102,625 — Public Buildings, Domains, and Maintenance of Roads 81,105 86,729 5„626 Native Department 21,651 18,874 2,787 — Justice Department 370,182 365,120 4,262 — Mines Department ... 22,457 24,704 — 2,247 Department of Internal Affairs 262,142 256,466 5,676 — Defence Department 212,939 194,050 18,859 — Customs, Marino, and Inspection of Machinery Departments 114,737 122,782 8.045 Department of Labour 22,725 24,212 — 1,487 Department of Lands and Survey 206,650 233,743 — 27,083 Department of Agriculture, Commerce, and Tourists ••• 1,184,579 189,914 5,335 Education Department 924,777 859,243 65,534 — Services not provided for 8,027 10,418 — 2.391 5,700,256 5,476,513 275,957 52,214 Totals 9,333,106 8,990,922 409,005 56,821 352,184 56,821

Interest Interest payable. earned. ibo lit. — £11,901,910 £103.000 £224,318 271,,200 46,882 125, POO 112,531 12,469 4,5501 4,550 — 17,600 48,750 31,250 28,000 26,335 1,665 17,364 16,356 1.CC8 197.989 271,601 73,612 32,680 39,858 6,972

1911. Increase. Passengers—• total number 11,200,613 59,471 Season tickets 222,104 22,733 Parcels 1,118,361 70,555 Coaching items 1,194,011 71,867 Sheep 5,911,291 784,529 Total live stock and , drays 6,284,959 852.565 Timber, tons 627,107 103,262 Merchandise, tons ... 808,444 63,777 Minerals, tons 2 655,250 169,129 Total tonnage 5,555,292 331,878 The gross revenue for the year was £3,494,182, or an increase over the previous