New Zealand's Finances.

Observer, Volume XVI, Issue 921, 5 September 1896, Page 22

New Zealand's Finances.-

SPEECH BY MR WARD

Ward is the terror of the reporters. Whenever he takes the bit in his teeth, he runs clean away from them, and leaves them panting behind. Even llanxard can only write broken sentences, freely interspersed with ' oats,' trnsting to the speaker to fill up the gaps. I think, having regard to the interest the speech created, you might go oat of your usual coarse, and give, at anyrate, the following summary of it. Replying co Hawke's Bay on Thursday night, he said Russell had once advocated a loan of £50,000,000 (Lord Baye us!) though he now protested loudly against a modest million. He showed that £300,000 had been spent in Canterbury in the purchase of estates alone for settlement since the present Ministry came into offica. He went on to show how unfair to the colony it is to compare its indebtedness per head on the basis of population with that of Great Britain, having regard to the difference in the growth of population. Maunders, the father of the House, sits like his grandsire, cut in alabaster, thinking that there ought to be no more cakes and ale, or that no dog should bark when he opes his mouth. But iSaundera, who ought to set a good example, makes more and longer interjections, or rather interlocatary speeches, than any other member of the House, and so he chips in with a little gag about what Stufford did in the days when he vai-i yonng, and not quite so garrulous as he ia now. Whereupon Ward wanted to know whether Saunders had disabused his mind of the deiusiou that the whole colony of New Zealand was one vast void of a sheep run, at which Rip Van Winkle wisely held i his peace. Also Ward desired to be in- ! formed whether Selwyn had any particular objection to numerous centres of population, mildly suggesting that there was some difference between the condition of the colony 25 years ago and now. He went on to point out that if the public services of the colony were on the same basis as then, the whole population would rise up and protest in tones of thunder, which was a nasty jar for the old man, whose memory ought still to be vigorous enough to carry him back to the time when he got up in the House and emphatically declared that a European worker, like a Chinaman, ought to be able to live in contented affluence, and lay up a magnificent pile for his heirs, on 1/6 a day, or thereabouts. Ward, resuming, said if things were arranged on that basis they would have distress in every part of the Colony, at which the Ohsekver again rises to remark that there would soon be no distress at all, except for the crows, because the people, or at least the masses, would be econoinis-. d off the face of the earth. Were the Opposition, asked the exTreasurer, desirous of stopping settlement in the North Island as well as the South Island — the latter with a kind of afterthought — or the purchase and settlement of native lands? Let those who opposed it go back to theirconstituents and tell them so. Let them follow out their remarks to a logical conclusion But this class of people know as little of logic as they do ot — well, what do they know anyway, except to draw their salaries ? Before the session closed many of them would go to the Governmeut, hat in hand, asking for votes for roads and bridges and other unconsidered trifles, of course, in ' the interests of their constituents — with an eye to their chances of re-election. 1 Someone interjected at this stage ' When will you do it ?' to which Ward promptly replied, ' Perhaps at the Day of Judgment,' a retort which elicited a volley of laughter. He went on to refer to the effect upon the finances of the country by the prospective settlement of hundreds of thousands or ( millions of people in the colony. He showtd that Saunders voted in favour of increasing the ordinary expenses- of the country to the extent of £600,000 a year. Turning from this point, he launched out into trenchant justification of the appointment of Warburton as General Auditor, at the salary fixed (£600), seeing that he had to control a sum of £4,000 000 a year. Jusc at this stage, Pirani, who amongst his accomplishments of 'Interjection General ' includes that of an all-consuming ambition to become the future Colonial Treasurer, threw in another of his nasty little remarks. 'He had better work for £.00.' Whereupon the > jsserver once more rises to remark that it is rather singular that a young New Zealander like Palmerston should chime in with an old fossil previously mentioned, and adopt his own ideas of the extent to which the labourer is worthy of his hire. Will he go back to his constituents and uubnrden himself to the same effect '! Awarua, brushing aside with the contempt they deserve these little darts of the Helot of the little phalanx of the Left Wing, went on to show that Selwyn, in his brand hew patent ideas on taxation, had relied upon his imagination for his facts.

Poor old Selwyn ! With the impurturability of aged vanity, he merely stroked his beard and tried to look wise. The real question, continued Ward, was whether there was to be a non progressive or steady, progressive poliiy in this country, or words to that effect, whether, in point of fact, Selwyn.like another Canute— and mind you, the old man, with his venerable beard, does not bear an ill resemblance to the ancient monarch— Bhould sit on the shore of the sea of politics and bid the tide roll back. The ex-Treasurer, being near the expiration of the time limit, put on more steam, and careered away from the ill-fated Hansard-m&n with a speed that took away one's breath. He showed how opponents of the present Government had used every art and stratagem and subterfuge to prevent the introduction of capital to the colony, and while the Government had transferred large sums from the Consolidated to the Public Works Fund, the gentlemen who presumed to sit in judgment on their acts had never seen their way to develop anything in the shape of a policy. Then, with excellent tact and judgment, seeing that the clock was on the stroke of the naif hour, he wound up with a powerful peroration, a speech which was listened to throughout with rapt attention, save for Palmerston's interruptions and occasional bursts of applause. But if the half hour j had not come there would have been at least one inquest on a member of the j Hansard staff. AXJTOMATHKS.

A Frenchman of some literary distinction, after studying English for a few months, wrote to an American friend : 'In small time I can learn so many English as I think 1 will come to the America and go on the scaffold to lecture.' It was the ' kid's ' first ride. He was entirely innocent of hands, seat, or anything else, except pluck. Jnst a mite of six stone, in scarlet cap and jacket, and legs all boots. His mount was a conglomerate of vices. He would bite, rear, bolt, buck, do anything but go straight. You could Bee it all at a glance, in the beast's eye. It could look round a corner. His training was a caution. .No boy would ride him work, and his owner had perforce to lead him round the track, the biggest seat of work he ever had ; and the regulars enjoyed the fun. No three tracks were wide enough for the brute, and no fence high enough when he felt that way. He was entered for a welter, and there "was a big field. On race day only two thought about him. His owner-trainer and the kiddy who was to ride. They had their hands full. Saddling up was a treat. Luckily the starter was in his best humour, and looked over the antics of both horse and rider. Sometimes it looked as if there were no rider, that part of the boy's anatomy which should have been firm in the saddle occasionally presenting a star gazing spectacle. But the race 1 There was no race. Something came flying past the judge's box lengths ahead of anything else — a steaming, snorting thing, with eyes afire and streaming tail — and clasped around the outstretched neck were a pair of scarlet arms, whilst a red, round head circling a pair of laughing eyes was halfburied in the streaming mane. He didn't pull vp — he couldn't. Horse and kiddy disappeared off the course altogether, the flash of the beast's hinder plates as they cleared a six-foot stone wall being the last that was seen of either. The tote didn't pay out on him ; he never weighed in. They ran the race over again, and the favourite won. And the owner of that mad prad is still looking with bleary eyes for the lost kiddy and his mount. Those who require to use Spectacles will find a very large assortment to suit almost any sight at Miller's Fancy Repository, 110, Victoria-street. Prices to suit any pocket, viz., 6d, 9d 1/- and 1/6 per pair ; Eeal English Pebbles, 3/9 per pair. Coloured Spectacles for sun. and dust, 6d and 1/- per pair, sent post free to any addreßs in New Zealand. Anyone mentioning this paper when purchasing or sending will have a case value for 6d presented to him. — Advt.