MAJOR ATKINSON, M.H.R., AT AUCKLAND.

Timaru Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 3589, 1 April 1886, Page 3

MAJOR ATKINSON, M.H.R., AT AUCKLAND.

Tho following is the report of Major Atkinson's speech, which waa crowded out of our yesterday's issue : —

JUajor Atkinson said that he appeared m response to a requisition, which he had much pleasure m complying with— first, because it was naturally gratifying to him to have received so hearty a request from a city of such importance as Auckland ; secondly, that he was akojleased to give the people of Auckland an opportunity of hearing him after having heard two other prominent leaders — Sir Julius Yogel and Sir George Grey— and so being m a position to have the views of all parties before them. He appeared before them to speak from an

OPPOSITION FLATPOBM. Now, it waa not the duty of the Opposition platform to propound plans ; that was tho business of Government, but as Government had outlined no policy, it was to the interest of the public that some one should speak out. Tho Opposition should step out of its ordinary lino, and outline some sort of scheme, that it may be discussed on all Bide 3. There was a possibility of great borrowing and great public expenditure, and this being so, ho proposed not merely to criticise the lines laid down by tho leading men of the Government, but also to point out what plan, to his mind, should bo substituted. First, ho wished to examine what fell from Sir Julius Yogel respecting tho deficit when his Government took office ; second, as to the expenditure on public works, and other loans, since 1870. First, as to Captain Russell's motion nnd its effect on expenditure with respect to tho North Island Trunk Railway Loan. First, as to THE DEFICIT. One certainly did exist, but it should not be forgotten that his (Major Atkinson's) Gjvernment had paid off £230,300, whereas Sir Julius Vogcl had paid oft nothing, and showed a small surplus of £22,000. Now ho (Major Atkinson), on tho same principle, should have been credited with a surplus of £80,000 if he had funded instead of paying off the loan. Now, as to BOBBCWING. Since 1870 we had borrowed and spent about £22,000,000, giving the figures m round numbers ; and while spending, we had put by a lavdc sum as a Sinking Fnnd, amounting m all to two or threo million?, consequently the net increase of debt was only about £19,000,000. In tho published statistics it would be seen how Buch portion of this money was really reproductive to the Treasury, how ifc was spent, and also, separately, the amount expended m raising the loan. Dividing this proportionately among the items, they would find the loan apportionment to be — railways, £12,250,000 ; immigration, £2,250,000, and this might be also considered as directly reproductive, every new arrival at onco contributing to the Customs, and thereby increasing the revenue of the colony j postal and telegraph, £500,000, which, as returning from seventeen to eighteen thousand per annum, might be considered as reproductive, besides tho great convenience to the public. Thcso were all directly reproductive. Wo had a native lands expenditure of £1,000,000, which, however, was so far productive that a considerable area had been sold and occupied. Roads, again, should be considered reproductive m relation to railways, which, without their aid as feeders, would certainly not pay ; but he would leave these out of the question. Without these, we had fourteen to fifteen million pounds' worth of reproductive works, or, m other words, fourteen shillings and tenpence halfpenny out of every pound of loan expended on works of a reproductive character. 'J his was

PBACTICAL, For Sir Julius Yogel had told them tho other night that if only five shillings m the pound were spent on works other than reproductive, the returns from reproductive works would pay interest on tho whole, leaving them to infer that wo had not done this m previous year 3. As to Captain Busscll'a motion, lie was much surprised m reading the statement made by the Treasurer, that no Government, after such a vote, could have made provision for carrying on public works ; nor was there any more reason for statins; that if a vote had been carried there would have been a great increase m the railway workshops of tho colony. If thero had been any vote at all for workshops it had been carried, for the only amounts for railway works were struck out. The proof of this was that Government asked for £2,600,000 for works, but with the understanding that this amount was not to bo spent iv tho year, but brought down and laid before the Hou^ofor approval, m order that Parliament miglit retain tho control of the votes for works not only for tho current year, but also of forth-coming works. Tho amount asked for and voted was therefore usually about double what wa3 intended to bo spent. Government asked for £2,600,000 : they had m tho Treasury £2,145,000 cash available, and thoy asked therefore for half a million more than they had m hand. If tho House had agreed to what the Ministry asked, the latter must havo said to Parliament, either give us a special loan, or lot us uso the North Island Trunk Eailway loan. Now, the House thought that Government hud quite enough to jog along with, and therefore refused to grant authority to spend more than they had m hand, cutting down the demand by about half a million, and yet you have been told the colony was brought to the yergo of ruin because only £2,150,000 was voted. Ministers had been all orer the colony saying that if tho House had not cut down the vote, they would have done all sorts of works. Now, m the House, tho Minister Qf Public works said he only intended to spend ono and a quarter millions. Sir Julius Yogel told you here, gentlemen, you have not only to meet current liabilities, but also to provide for liabilities amounting to one and a quarter millions more. Supposing, KIR TnE SAKE OF AUGUMENT.

That Government pnly spent the amount they promised the Honse, and yet committed the country to a further equal amount— if this be so, the Ministry have actually involved the colony m tho full anionnt asked for, and yet go about tho country saying that they could not obtain authority for necessary public works! Now, if they had only spent the amount allowed, they would have had m hand some £900,0C0. The liabilities last year only amounted to £860,000 above the average of the previous five years. Can it be said, therefora, that the Act of tho Opposition had delayed woris, and brought the colony to the verge of ruin ? Next, a v/ord or two on the HOETH TBT7KK EAILWAY lOAN.

It would have been impossible for Government to have spent a farthing of this m votes of last session, for they had £2,145,000 cash m hand, and their votea only amounted to £2,Vt0,000, 8O Uiafc tiieiy cry was only to disturb people's minds. It would bo seen that the Opposition, m granting the rotes it did, took every precaution that the North Island Trunk loan should not be infringed upon. The figures aro patent to every one. Now ns to tho policy of the praeenfc Government, it was difficult to say what it wns, as. they appeared to havo no policy. They sent up ONB BALLOON APTEB ANOTIIBE, which went into space and wore seen no more, but the statements of their real meaning were only known, for language seemed to be used to conceal thought. Sir Julius Vogcl said m addressing his Auckland hearov'3 £l)ut he knew his own mind and the mind 3of his colleagues, leading them to suppose that ho was submitting a duly-considered Bcbem.e, which ho thought should bo submitted to the peoplo aftur a dissolution. Now, m saying this, Sir Julius Yogel was, m a sense, threatening Parliament, therefore he (Major Atkinson) had a right to criticiso tho scheme propounded. Tho first part of the schemo was the big balloon of the ten million loan. Many men looked forward to tho time of in-

flated expenditure as an opportunity to realise and clear out, but he had no sympathy with such men. The Premier, apparently, did not coincide with the big borrowing scheme ; he had.a good deal of prudence, and showed it m his speech at Dunedin tho othor day, bo they were now told they would not have that scheme, but a lesser scheme, including an expenditure of a million and a half per annum. The Colonial Treasnrer, at least, seriously proposed tho scheme as one on which a dissolution ought to be granted. Let us Bay he increased the taxation through tho Customs by £100,000 with tho object of borrowing £2,000,000, spending most of it on reproductive works. It might reasonably be asked, why start a new policy beforo we had worked at the old one? Tho reason given was abundance of cheap labour and cheap material. Sir Julius Yogel had asked, would they not give the colony another chance, and cited as an instance New South Wales, and further asked would thoy hand the colony over to a few landholders, leaving tho rest of tho population praying that they might be able to escape from tho country. He would ask, had the Public Works policy of 1870 ever been so utterly condemned as it was by its own father, after 15 years, and 22 millions spent ? Ho would tell thorn that unless they got A FBESII STABT the colony must be ruined. If he believed ruin imminent he would say, " abandon all intention of further borrowing ;" but there was no truth m the idea. For tho Treasurer of the colony to make such statements was most detrimental to its financial character, and deterred capitalists from aiding us. The £10>>,000 asked for additional m Customs was originally intended to defray subsides to local bodies. Now, it was supposed tho unfortunate local bodies were to be dropped. It waa stated the year beforo that if the Sinking Fund were dropped taxation would be required till seven millions had been borrowed, yet only two millions had now been borrowed, and they were already asked to make provision for interest. If two millions per annum was spent on public works as indicnted, m the fourth year there would bo a sum of £120,000 a year. Two per cent was apparently the highest return expected from tho railways, and he (Major Atkinson) doubted whether that would begot from the

EAST AND WEST COAST R&ILWAY. Now this was put forward as a reasonable scheme— one which is to givoa fair return for expenditure incurred. Against this would be pul tho natural increaso of revenue from increased population ; but that could not be taken into account, 113 it would be require 1 for increased charges for education, postal and other charges. Tho real reason of the proposed grand scheme was to cover up the lurge expenditure of tho East and West Coast Railway, to which Sir Julius Yogel was irretrievably committed. Auckland and Wellington had to wait sixteen yours, and would have to wait four more, for connections. Surely Christchurch and Hokitika coidd wait till tho work could bo reasonably undertaken without unduly burdening the colony. It was not fair to lake the colony by the throat because a member of the Ministry represented a Canterbury constituency and said " The Kast nnd West Coast Railway must be constructed ! " He would resist to the uttermost milking 5 per cent nominal contribution per head to the Customs revenue, and would abo resist any increase of taxation, except to meet tho engagements o£ the colony on necessary works. At the samo time it. would be unwise to stop further Lorrowins. Bailways should be completed to paying points ; Auckland and Wellington should bo connected, another section of the Northern line pact Helcnsvillo constructed, and the Otago Central ond some other lines completed to paying points. At the outside a million a year was sufficient to keep the colony jogging along. A ROAD STSTEM Was an essential complement to the railway system, and must go on at ti moderate Tatc, and must be properly governed. He approved of Sir Q-. Grey's PABTITIOIf OP LAND Schemo, tentatively, m districts v.hero the circumstances were suitable, m order to test the sincerity of the people who said they wished to go upon the land. There was plenty of land, but the right class of people who were willing to go upon it were scarce. The BUSHING OF rrBLIO WORKS Through, for tho sake of inflated expenditure, meant an equally sudden ending. What he meant they could readily imagine. Let them learn a leißon from tho New South Wales deficit. That colony wns suffering just as New Zealand was m 1870. IN CONCLUSION, Major Atkinson referred to loenl Industrie?, giving credit to Government for wh it it had done m the matter. He also referred to centralisation of labour and boy labour, the ousting of adult labour, and the housing of the industrial classes, as subjects requiring immediate attention of tho Legislature. Ho condemned Mr Ballauce's Native policy, aa productive of great future trouble. The natives should have ample reserves for their uso, and tho rest of tho lands should be bought by the Crown and purchased, tho money being funded so as to give the natives a permanent maintenance j but he would never be a party to creating a ehis3 of Maori landlords m the North Island. Ho expressed his opinion that the thanks of tho community were due to Mr Bryee Nativo Minister) for putting not only himself, but the colony, right m the eyes of tho Empiro and of the world, m refuting the gross calumnies heaped upon them m a so-called History of New Zealand.

Major Atkinson concluded amid cheering. A great many questions wero put and answered, and a cordial vote of tbanks passed unanimously for tho address. A hostile amendment was rejected with hisses, only two or three hands being held up for it. Tho meeting did not break up till nearly 11 o'clock.