POLITICAL ADDRESS.

Timaru Herald, Volume XLII, Issue 3511, 30 December 1885, Page 8

POLITICAL ADDRESS.

(By Telegkaph.) THE HON. MAJOR ATKINSON AT HAWfiBA. Ha web a, Dec. 17. Tho Hon. Major Atkinson addressed his constituents this evening. He said ho considered it necessary to reply to speeches made by tho Premier and the Colonial Treasurer. Both had been guilty of great misrepresentation of which ha complained bitterly When the Government first took office it was upon 1 ilisprai'O of their own points and praiso of themselves. Then thoj claimed to be judged on their merita, but now their own merits had again dii-appeared, and once more it was the 1 demerits und misconduct of their opponents ' that was relied on. Much good would have ' been done, it wag said, had their oppononls 1 not prevented it, and bad as things were they I would have been worse had this Government 1 not been m office. A Government should ' have some better reason than that to ehotv that they were entitled to the ' confidence of the country. Ho had great i respect for Sir Julius Yogel as a ma", but it was his ways he did not like, and he should point out one which he objected to. Whe r > Sir Julius Yogel came into office he said the finances of New Zealand were elastic and buoyant enough to satisfy the most exact- > ing financier, and that all that was required was better man»geuient. Then certain promises were given. Reduction of the ex--1 pendituro vras one, and m connection with this 1 <ho Hon. Mr Stout said that if he could cot save £SO,OOO or C10O.IXX) m two Departments alone he would leave ofßc-e. He (Major Atkinson) had shown last session that there had been no saving. The Colonial treasurer had also said that there should be a earing, especially on education, though the system was to bo improved at the same time. There hud been no such saving. Hi> nlso pledged himself distinctly tlmt the property tax should bo roduced m 18-<3, and abolished m 1885, but tho tax was rondo higher last session than over it hud been sinoo tho year it was first imposed. There was to bo fresh vigor m the public works policy ami m place of the colony doing as it had been doing, there should be progress by leaps ann bounds. In pursuance of tl>at policy relief rom sinking fund was promised, and to secure the result seven and a half millions more woro to ba borrowed without any extra charge- on the revenue, while depression should disappear and prosperity return. m addition to this local government was to be put m a more satisfactory state. All these promises were distinctly made, but they had not been fulfilled. Dealing with the last session he said that though the Government cl iraed credit for having all their measures ready, the fact was that they wero m a most unready condition. When members met there was not a single i measure ready. 'Jhero were a large number of Bills put before tho-Houßo, but few of i them could hnvo boen considered by the Ca met, for if tboy had considered they I would never have laid th>m before thcHous;in the shape they did. He vnentioned several I Bills, aucli as. the Mortgage IVbentures Bill, and tho Companies Bill. Which wcrn comi plelely changed several times, and wholl> recast before tho Houne was at last a?kod to ■ ••onsi 'or them. It was true the Opposition . did not attack the administration of the Go vernment on the Address m Reply, though the creation of Justices of the' Pence, and > ejjislativo Councillor*, and other anch acte, i wonld'hiive given Ample- room for doing so, but the Government having mode greut 1 promises, and announced an important policy ready fOT submission to the Houro, the Opi position were ready to judge thorn on that, policy. As a matter of fuct, however, the policy was not ready, for the Public Works tatement, ft most important item, was not brought down till tho 25th of August, and all the important policy Bills wena bio'itght down m » stalo of imperfection which was a di«« i grace to the Legislature. Instead of perfecting iheir. policy during tho recess, the Government had shown busy idleness m rushing about tho oountryi and 1 were totally unprepared. It whs his opinion that the explanation was that the policy or 1 the Grovemmoht hud nover yet' been revealed. Sir Jutiuß Yogel said that tho House- was not prepared for his policy, and therefore he had simply waited his timo iv order to eeizo the, opportunity for developing his own policy, and that was a policy of ouormouß borrowing. Reviewing the finance of the Government, he reiterated his usßortion that tberb bad been no u- tempt, lit retrenchment. Tho appropriations on last yoar'i 'ttcoouiit of tlio Consolidated Fund woro about £7000" less than tho appropriations of tho year before, but thai' was mainly . rtue to tho transfer Of l.egiilativo expenses from the Estimates to permanent appropriations, nnd to a transfer of defence .chargea to loau, and n derroaßc m tho costof surveys, which was roallv no decroaae tit all, seeing that survey work was falliue. .behind. He had tiken no account of tlie increase) for interest, although ho might nave dono >o, seeing that tho Treasurer bad told thorn that , under his nlanagomont - they could borrow seven and a half millions without any increase of expenditure. As to a reduction o£ taxation thorp had been i)one, pecauso i« njfMifion to tho i roperty lax thro lwd bets an Increase m tho tariff and m the stamp duties. I . The Treasurer qajd tho object of the proposed change m the tariff was for protoot)oniitr.,rea«oi», but the Tromjcr' stated pp»i-, tlvoV tbat it vras a qu«^tioa of- money *$$ tfolTre*tr»3o6rproi(x:h'cai| »o<l t>e(»opUSin>| '

f the action of the Opposition m getting the ariff rejected for the purpose of spoilng the Government finance. Tho real eason, however, wub that both protecionists and freetraders agreed that tho Joverrment did not want more rever ue ["hat was his Major Atkinson'*) sole reason or opposing increases. However, failing to nake reduclionß, and bavinir increased the axation, the Government must be ht-ld to lave failed m finance. With regard to railray management, the last Government had >een turned out principally because they delided that the railways should pay a fair hare towards interest on tho cost of contruction, and tho present Government :ame m with a great Bourish of trnmpets ihout managing tho railways and giving a jetter return. The result of "their effort* had Deen that with a greater number of miles of •ailway opened the returns had been less than ;hose obtained by the late Government, and :omplaints became rife aa to a non-political Board. That,, like most others, had disappeared, and it was so absurd that he hoped it would never bo revived Hgain. As to loan sonversion ho held that the conversion of the live per cent loan was a bad bargain, because the colony really got no present benefit, and m seven years' time woul i have to givo 4£ per cent bonds m exchange for 5 per cent bonds, whereas every indication showed that the colony would b>' able to borrow at less than 4^ per cent. He had been urged to undertake the same operation, but had always been convinced that the colony could oltain better terms if it would only take ime. The present Government, however, did not mind sacrifising the interests of the colony m order to make a epla-ili. Ho feared that the reinstated financo would o"d m a deficiency this year, though he htped it would not; but there was a falling off m railway and customs revenue, which indicated deficiency, notwithstanding increased taxation. Tho publio works policy of the Government was to be a trump card. Great vigor was to bo shown, and works were to be pushed on, and m that way tho colony was to be lifted out of its difficulty. He noticed that the Premier and Treasurer gave two different accounts as to what was tho intention of the Government, each opposite to tho other. The Premier, m addition, contradicted himself, and therefore it must be assumed that the Colonial Treasurer spoke tho mind of the Government. Ho said that the Government had iuteuded to carry out a vigo ous policy, but were pieventod from doing so by the Opposition. He craved justice, and asked how it was possible for him to remove the depression when he was not allowed te carry out his public works policy. He regretted that he had been unable to carry out the works which ho hud desired, and that tho O po*ition had prevented a vigorous prosecution of the p iblic works policy. That this was untrue official figures amply proved. He iMajor At-insoi) di.l not believe that the Government h.d any intention of fulfilling the pledge about a vigorous policy. The moment Sir Juliuß Yogel saw ' the House was not prepared to sanction a scheme beyond moderate limits he became moderate becan c he wanted time. Ho only asked fora million and a half and said that with that he would carry on works with vigor, but vig <r was not shown and to him it was evident that the Government were not sincere m their declarationi". The Government proposed to expend £2 885,000. There was room for the display of a vigorous policy with that sum, for it was £800,000 more than the previous Government had had. There was no objection to their proceeding and every voto they as cd for was granted, but all they expended was £1,336,000. This was their vigorous policy. Tho Premier took credit for this, nnd eaid that the Atkinson Government during their preceding five mmths of office, had spent £100,0' O more than tho Governmnt had. Railways, the Government eaid, must be pushed on because they wero reproductive works, but the figures showed the Government with the " vigorous policy " spent £663,00 only, while during the year beforo tho " dozing " Government had spent £662,00 '. The difference between them was £1000. The Government wero not *bort of money. They had £1,600,000 at their disposal at the beginning of the year, which he (Major Atkinson) had left, and thej had more money m hand. At the end of the session they had spent nearly £150,0ii0, and then had the six million loan and the million and a half loan to draw upon, so that there could have been no difficulty. The expenditure, as he hud pointed out, had only been £1- 0,000 more than the proceeding year, but whereas the Atkinson Government when they were turned out of office had incurred liabilities to the extent of £730, 00, the Stout Government at the end of the re r had only liabilities to the extent of" £497,000 In other words while the Stout Government had spent £100,000 more than their prede essors they ha>l put le*s work m hand by no less than £230,000. This was before any Opposition had interfered with them at all, and when tho Government were al owed to carry out any work they pleased up to tho amount appropriated by Parliament. This year the Government asked that £1,600,00" ■should be granted to them. Tbe House actually grunted £2,150,000, but iv the Public Works Statement tho ilini.tor for Public Works eaid that they did not propose to expend during the year more than £1,2i'0,'00, or m round numbers a million and a quarter, it was said that t) c opposition by reducing the Estimates had hampered tho Government and created degression, but the Government had only applied for a million and a quarter; and a 1 ir^e portion of that was for defences, so that while Ust year the Government 1 spent £l,33f>,Oi>i upon public works, this yearthoyonly proposed to expend a million and a quarter, of which, a larj,'O sum, £150,080 wa« to be spent m defence works. It must be recollected that tho Statement had been considered m Cabinet long before the Opposition had decided anything about reducing the Esti mates, thus the Government themselves had decided upon limiting their expenditure to a million and a quarter. How then was it po-eit>le for the Government to say that tiny were anxious for a vigorous expenditure, and that the Uppositi n had stopped them P The Minißtor thin year had asked for railways a sum of £1,3*7,000, and the House granted him £97a,000. They wcro told that tbe country was to be ruined and distress to be brought about, because of that small reduction, and because the House was not prepared to vote moro. The total amount urdnted to the Whitaker- Atkinson Government for two years previous to tho accession of tho present Government whs lens by £1.100 000 than the money granted to tlie prosent Government during their first two yoara of office, yet tho St ut Gover' ment had spent less than their predecessnrs. They could have Bhown more vi or if they had chose to do. »o. They have shown that they arc utterly insincere or incompetent for (heir iiositione. Ho believed that they wero insincere, and thul tho Treasurer was Anxious to start aome eitravagant soheme, and was seeking to net an excuse by accusing the Opposition of having him from carrying but his policy. The reason the reductions had been nia'te m the Estimates was because the Opposition considered that rote tho Government £2,100,00 i instead of £2 600,000 was to iivo them quite enough margin when they pro posed to spend only One million ana a qunrfcr, und it was known that if they granted the larger smii there mußl have been authorised a new loan, or Government would have had an excuso for doing that which thoy had sineo threatened to do, teize the North Island trunk' loan. It was untruo that the reduction of tho Estimates stopped works m any way ;' but if nil tho money askod for had boeh grinted thoro would hove been great prrsnure brought upon tho Government by their political friends to exceed the limits whirh they bad Fct themselves iv the Pubic Wor s Statement. There was no necessity for the Oovrrhinent to stop works or to. discharge publio ofllcers. Tlio effect of tho reduction was simply to prevent the necessity for a further loun. The Promior aud tho Troosurer had accused him of wrongfully divorling a portion of the three million loan, but that had boon oxplainod. and ouo object of tho ono million and a half loan wa« to r>coup the money to various lines « inVh had tyeen expended on rolling stuck under cjroumstances detailed iit tlie timo. With regard to : tho North Island trunk loan, ho condemned the i thrvnls: which h;id b?on made by the Premier and Treasurer. Ho was glad to notice thfty had boon scouted by. friend*, and foes \ al(le from. 6r>o end of tho colony to another, j $ai thst tb« Cro>eVo)B?B.f', fonee aloobtnsolv '

liraae, liad dropped it like s " hot spud," ut none the lees it was a terrible disgrace to ie colony to have a, man m the position f Premier making uee of such threats. fe protested m the strongest possible Tins against the political morality of 10 utterances of the Colonial Treasurer ad Premier on this subject ' W'ilo 10 late Government was m office, and uring the first jear of office of the present k>ven ment, the North Island trunk l.au ad always been dealt witli as being entirely >parate from the other publio wori« money f the Government, and it nu only the other ay that be discovered that last session lie North Island Trunk Bailway loan ad been scheduled m tho Appropriation Let. Ho took blame to himself that be had ot noticed this when the Bill was passing brotigh the House, but be had not thought ; possible that the Government could do ucU a thing without bringing the matter .tider the notico of the House, which they iad not done. He could not say whether it iad been done intentionally or accidentally. t might have been one or tho other. He was erlain thatif ti.e inaitfr had been brought uidevtfce attention of the House it would lever have been allowed It was a special loan md should have been continued to be -pei-ially routed. He had no doubt the Houeo on - assembling would restore the loan to its old position. However, the action of Government m talking as they bad of taking this loan was simply to frighten people. They bad no right to take the loan, and they had imple money to meet nil vutos without taking it. They had OTer £2,00<>,000, and had undertaken to spend not more than a million and a qu.rter. With regard to the East and West Coast and >clson Railway, he had alwaje looked on it as a part of tho mam scheme which would have to be carried out some day, but they must take their turn after tho completion of other lines which promised to be more profitable, ihe colony would not be justified m spending £3,000,000 or £4,000,000 upon these lines at prosent. The House had grunted certain concessions if a company would undertake the construction of the line. He disapproved of the nclion of tho Government m proposing, while negotiations were still pending, to vote a sum of £1 50,01 0 to commence tho con- ■ ruction of the line. As to the District Railways be hurl always felt that the colony would have to acquire the linos. Ho supported tho proportions made laat session us a means of putting an end to the existing state of affairs. Their l.ical government policy was to crown the edifice which the Government was building up. He referre I to he failure of the Government m respect of the Local Bodi s finance and Powers Bill, pointing out that the ct as passed granted subsidies for six months, instead of for 25 years, as proposed, and contii o • eight clauses as against 67 when it was introduced. He hoped they would hear no more of »u-h a Bill us that. The ftct van neither the Premier nor the Colonial Treasurer ".new anything about the requirements of tho country districts. Vow übout local gover. ment. I hey were anxious to do their best, but they had not the knowledge. The Roads and Bridges Construction Act had been r<pcak U, and nothing had been set up m its place. Something must be done to help localities with the coni.tr uction of roads which they could not otherwi.-e do. Ihe railways were valueless without roids. He ridiculed the Hospitals and CharitaMo Aid Bill as totally unworkab c. As to the question of protection and free trade he thought lit was unwise to raise the issue as the Colonial Treasurer was doing, because revenue mu4 be had. The Customs revenue was so necessary that the colony could not afford to remit taxation which should be repainted by the requirements. Aa to nutive affairs, he should have to leave that subject and others to be deult with ii a speech which ho would deliver later on, but he might say that ha was a/raid native affairs were being mismanaged. He strongly objected to the Native Lauds Disposition. Bill, which would have placed far too. much p >wer m the hai da of the Native Minister. He >cf erred to the fact th-it Wuhanui, m evidence last session b fore the S stive Affairs Committee, had professed utter ignorance as to tlio eettlouienta goiog on on tho line of railway, and said he could not reconcile that, evidence with the statement of the Government that blooks of land were bein^ acquired there. I He Bpokc of the state of parties during last session. He said the Opposition led by himself had been prepared to giro the Gorernment support m a 1 good measures and had done so and at the same timeeffeetiycly stopped bad measures. They were not anxious to turn the Government out if they had proved to "be sincere, and it was only when the Government had made a mess of everything that the party lie led had, n t. wishing to take office themselves, decided to give Mr Ormond or Mr Montgomery support, m case fi.ey could iurn the Government <>ut. When efforts to bring that about failed, the party led by him felt it th-ir duty to plnce their opinion upon record, which they had done by a series of resolu« tions which he had given notice of, and which with the exception of one had been carried, but the Government declined to allow themselves t<> be (•■at out. Heclaimed that the policy contained iv those resolution* had beenadopted by or forced upon the Government later on, except the resolution m favor of the stoppage of the North Island main trunk lino. At to the future, the Government having failed m everything they had attempted, would do doubt try to recover their position by a now departure. They were now pultiug out feelers with that object m view. There was no doubt that prosp rity could be reelored by a largc'unmml expenditure for a short time. Ff the colony wore to go m for ft loan of eighteen millions, it was certain interest could not bo provided out of tin* revenue, and he wished to say distinctly that he was entirely opposed U>, and should rerist to the utmost, any proposition which might be made by any party whatever for payiug interest out of loan. That might bo the proposition brought forward, und it would be. for the people to consider. He did not believe for a moment' that the colonists of >ew Zealand would ever submit, to Buch a thing. He did not believe" they would ever eoußent to raise money for the purpose of constructing works which, it was. impossible could, be re« productive, m order .U> gain immediate udvant go. ' He could not believe that the colonists would adopt a policy which though it might mean fictitious prooperity for foitr or five yean, would reßuit m such a collapse a* had never yol been witnessed m Now Z alnnd. Ho believed that the true policy was that a moderate ejetein of publio works must bo pusbrd on steadily but borrowing must be gradually contracted and not increasedi Borrowing must not be' for the purpose of restoring prosperity by leaps and bounds, but be kept nithin such limits that tho interest- might be easily provided out of ' revenue. He believed that a largo number of tho' publio men of New Zealand were not | prepared to go m for extravagant proposals ■ which might be brought forward by the Government. Hi« policy was to labor and to waits a policy which- Sir Julius Vogol could not understand. Xho Treasuror did not understand waiting for progress, The colony wanted a steady and cOntinuo >s progress. Those who had come to the colour to make it their homo, wanted to do so gradually and steadily and by continual tvork.,\hd not by lying down and waiting. Neither did they want to be handed over (o great (peculators who httotcned to be ri"-li ana who ended m a Court of Bankruptcy. A vote of confidence- was carried unanimously. _______^____