THE FINANCIAL STATEMENT

Taranaki Herald, Volume LIV, Issue 13484, 25 July 1907, Page 5

THE FINANCIAL STATEMENT

THE DEBATE CONCLUDED. ~ •"■- wit ~&at&, \r --a - GOVERNMENT. ACCOUNTING, CRITICISE^ THE. LAnI^^ESTION, - Per Press Association. When. the^Hoiis^jfte^.^, g^Q-J^dfty, Mr W. Fraser resumed the debate on the Financial Sta.tftmenfe. He acknowledged thViinprovem«nt4^jat had taken place 'in" fate yeafsTrithe' manner of presenting %hfe'do6ottn^-.J Efaas, however, surprised at tfie,{sta±j^nt that" " the transfer of the Public Work* Ftfnd had effected/a; having in interest of £27,000, ; Jfostifrejy must have been, meant for-.a^joWii/.There was no saving at all. The<*£2yl32,ooo paid in interest and si»teing^#sfijil[ was noli the whole ,anioun€' t&6. ( colony r paid. 'There I were bther amour's, including the Land for Settlement- loaney- The people shotild know exactly what the indebtedness was; every year,, and no doubt, if it-waaalf set out, it JwXjttid? b'i several hundred thousand .jp^vEndsriji excess' off the" amount seated... <jbt*t6 the public "debt of the colony, Severaifttems were properly deducted fromvithe gross amount, but he urged that the Government had no right to^dediicTLAf^QQaßankpfNe^ Zealand $psS4ffrfcl &tijffl%elsbf%ls] Government. He maintained, therefore, that the net debt was under-stated by that amount. He criticised the sinking fund, stating that the. money to be set apart was derived from borrowed money. He had no faith in setting aside, a sinking- fund whilst everlastingly borrowing. It was a pity so little interest was taken by the public generally, in the 1 question of finance. The apathy arose from the fact that the people looked to ' Parliament to see that things were kept right. He would like to see a. Public Accounts Committee that would .have power to inquire into every 1 brancii of the public accounts pn its. own initiative. Nothing ought to be concealed from a member. What did the" present Public Accounts Committee inquire into ? Absolutely nothing. It. only inquired into matters referred to it bythe House. It should have power to. bring officers before it and examine them. He contended it should be furnished with ; all information, whereas the fact was the information was- withheld frdm the committee. Turning to -kind matters, he said the Minister for Lands had last night stated that members opposing the land proposals -were the friends of the . big man, and the enemies of the small man, but that statement did not trouble him, and he was sure would not trouble those who sent him to represent them. He maintained that to give a man the freehold • was to encourage him, and under tne freehold a man would do more with his land than under any other tenure. This year's Land Bill waa ritffr bfet== ter than last year's. In its evident desire to do away with the freehold, the same principle underlay it, that the State should not dispose of a single acre except bn leasehold tenure, with revaluation. Mr Fisher complained of the involved state of the Financial: Statement, and compared it with that, of Mr Ballance in 1891. He said that since 1891 not a single Financial Statement had been issued which was so lucid and easily explained. He stated that since 1902 per* manent appropriations had increased from £2,434,480 to £3,079,079. When, the late Premier came into office the indebtedness of the colony, was £37,000,000; it had now increased by £22,328,000. The indebtedness per head had increased from £60 5s 8d to £67 2s 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. He contended that the Government had made concessions where they should not' have been given. Rebates had been given to farmers which should not; £21,000 was given last year on postal concessions, and £17,000 in telegraph concessions, and now it was proposed to give £"20,000 in further postal concessions which had never been asked, for. Then4he sheep tax was to be remitted, which was never asked for. A Member : The| Farmers'^ Union asked for it. ' ; Mr Fisher: Yes, pnd they asked for., the freehold, and got it, or are going to get it. Referring to the Midland Railway line, he said he could take any five members of the House over that line, and they would agree that the expenditure en the line was a most criminal waste of public money. Some of the land through which the line passed would not carry a sheep to a square mile. Referring to the finances and public accounts, he said it was not possible for any member of the House to obtain information of the public accounts of the colony except by- means t>f a Royal Commission. J3e added that the only means a member had of getting access to a particular document was by making a specific charge against a public official. Mr Buddo thought it better, before a settler was allowed to go on the,, land, at all, that the roads should be made. Referring to Native lands, he said settlement on these was going on N at too slow a rate, owing in a great measure to the fact that many Natives themselves were averse to parting with'tfieir lands. He realised that the Commission was doing excellent work, but lie was sure that there were large areas of Native land which would be difficult to deal with. In Hokianga he had found a large area of 500,000 acres in one. block. He suggested that this valuable land should be divided into alternate blocks, which would give the advantage of closer settlement, and at the same time allow of 'Natives paying rates and taxes. Touching on tariff matters, he urged that lighter slippers and shoe? should be allowed to come into the colony free, especially as they could not be profitably made in the colony. Turning to the flour duty, he said that it was not possible to grpw wheat profitably at less than 3s a bushel. He advocated granting protection up to 4s a bushel, but contended that a prohibitive duty should be placed on foreign flour, \t^ Mr Barber considered the Govern/-, ment should set an example in the eretK tion of public buildings. He differed from Mr Fisher in that he considered , the Midland Railway was one of the', most important lines in the colony, and the mineral country through which 'it passed was alone sufficient to warrant the Government pushing on with the line. £ O . ■ . z i The House resumed at 7.30. Mr Barber, resuming, urged that an ad valorem and weight duty should be placed on shoddy, which would have the effect of reducing the quantity of

p^oSd^ catering the colony, and would sag/sis^ inshe development of the colony's woollen industry. He contended that placing a duty on raw cotton supply would prevent colonial manufacturers supplying a good cheap material composed of new wool mixed with a little cotton, which was a good article and competed with shoddy. The latter contained no new wool, but only old and adulterated material. He urged that unless the industry received a little protection the worker in the colony would be brought to .the same level as the Sweated, worker of the Old Country.' ' Mr Thomson criticised the book-keep-ing system of the colony, and urged th&p it should be reformed. 'He advocated better payment of teachers, and urged that, the Teachers' Superannuation Fund should be placed on a more sound basis. He characterised the Budget as a business one, and commended the Postmaster-General for concessions ! granted. He advocated the State lendiitg .working miners money in the same manner as money was lent to settlers under, the Advances to Settlers Act. Saeh. a; concession would result in the development of mineral wealth. Referring to the naval subsidy, he thought we, should increase the subsidy by £60,000 per annum. Turning to the endowments, he urged that the Government should have utilised settlement lands for the purpose. As it was, under the proposal put forward it .would take years 'before any revenue would be atailable. Mr McLachlan considered the Leader of the Opposition's criticism of the budget was a bit washy, whilst the njtember for' 'Brtfce; in ""-criticising tiie railways revenue, showed that he was not up-to-date. He did not ftgree with the Government in alll'the remission of taxation proposals; J airtTwas particularly oppWefl to -fEfi ftmTslion of the sheep tax. Mr Izard suggested *tbst the Minister for "Custftms should bring down legislation to e«able^b:i|% juvcsse,of necessity, to take the. jju£y off the necessaries of life. 1 : R«g«rdinj^;the proposed postal concessions, he cjift not think the majority of the people were going to gain anything. Referring to the mail service via Suez, he urged that negotiations should be entered into with the Union Comgany'^d delas\ steamers leaving Sydney da Saturday until Monday, and tftus enable the English mail to he delivere<Mn Wellington on Thursday night or Friday morning. This would mean a gain of five days. He agreed with the proposals set.fortfcifor dealing with the restriction of Chinese entering the colony. He did not believe in the Crown parting with its lands. 'He advocated ■tfie leasehold system with thirty-three years' lease, which was a sufficiently long'lease, and should contain a-, provision for the perpetual right of renewal. .Me Hanan congratulated the Premier an bringing down. a policy for the improvement %>f £He people of the colony. He advocated the adoption of a protec.tiVrftJaKiff, f<M-r;tihft4iuEpQse ©iUbenefiting colonial industries. He was strongly opposed toJajlJo^^gTltotifJfi^^. to enter duty free, and particularly in regard j to the bodies of? ea^rs, whicli coulomb© made here and give employment* to numbers of workman. Referring to. the land policy oft tlie Government, he "said He was satisfied with it, but would &ke to see the graduated Jand tax commence at £20,000 instead of .£40,000. HeicJjn- ! tonded the landless people of the colony, were not receiving the attention deserved.^ The t tendency on the parti of many members <of Me House wai> ,to legislate for the men already in possession 6i land. • >n - - -*' l -> . « : THE PREMIERS REPLY. The Premier rose to reply at 11.15. He said the criticism so far as it J&ad gone, bad not disclosed any weakness in the Financial Statement. The Government had never experienced any difficulty in .meeting; loanpra? they became due.,, and new "w.oijljdt.'. The proposed million loan was to be borrowed, not in England, , but >in Njew; Zealand. Time and again money' had been offered in Australia at a good premium, and ihere wasvno heed to go r to 1 England for a loan. ( There was no weakness in the proposals put forth. The same people who complained vof borrowing money 'were always endeavouring to procure votes for the-ereciaonof laVge public buildings in their own constituencies. In Auckland Jie had experienced these demands,, rand the member for Wellington Central had that ,d«y> advocated expenditure "' of money dn the Posjt Office in Wellington. "What," he asked, "is the use of anyone dealing in colossal hypocrisy in urging the Government to cease borrowing, when every day. there are; 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' are asking these grants for their own. constituencies are talking to their constituents and- deprecating borrowing • money." The Premier quoted figures showing the amounts expended on public works in various portions of the colony. He suggested that members should render assistance by ceasing to ask for grants for . their own constituencies if they desired to cease borrowing. Dealing with the i eductions of the Customs tariff, he said every one of the industries had the opportunity of placing its views before the Minister. Never, he said, was there a Customs tariff which had given such general satisfaction as the proposals set forth by the Government. The whole matter of Customs had been gone into with a view to assisting industries, and at the same time reducing- duties on the necessaries of life. The Government was prepared to listen to suggestions jfrom the floor' of the' House, with -a view to amending the tariff further, if it could be shown that industries were being interfered with. There appeared to hare-been an idea that the reduction on motor cars was intended to benefit rich people. It was put before the Governmenfe'tha^Kt number of business men who were desirous of obtaining motor cars for the purposes of. ijhoir business were unable to do so owing to the duty\ on the-m. There were 3000 motor cars in" the colony, and there should be many more. He asserted that if we had a proper share of these cars we would employ a number of workmen in the way of repairing and attending them equal "to 1 two-thirds of the railway servants, and as\ the .number ofjiabtor cars increased would eventually employ 'as ; many.^ ■> '* r { '•* a <

Since Adam delved! and poor Eve span, Since first the human race began, Mankind has suffefr6d countless ills, But. suffered. .most, from coughs and • cMs.' "^ Foundations they for all disease, But now the hacking cough must cease, For science now makes all secure With W. E. Woods' Great Peppermint Cure. 101