PUBLIC WORKS AND IMMIGRATION.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 729, 23 September 1870, Page 3

PUBLIC WORKS AND IMMIGRATION.

— ♦ The following, taken from Hansard, are the speeches made by Mr Jollie and Mr Richmond on the motion for the second reading of the Public Works and Immigration Bill. They were referred to in a letter from Mr Jollie, published in our issue of Monday last :— Mr Jollie, who spoke from under the gallery, and was indistinctly heard, was understood to say that, although he believed any opposition he or others might offer to the Bill now under consideration would be as unavailing as that already offered to those other proposals of the Government of which that Bill was the necessary consequence and complement, he was, nevertheless, not disposed, by his silence, to allow it to be imagined tbat he in any way assented to the Bill as it now stood, or was at all inclined to share in tbat " enormous responsibility " which the Colonial Treasurer, in his financial statement, truly said the Government had undertaken in proposing such measures. Notwithstanding the modifications those measures bad undergone in that House and elsewhere, he must altogether object to their passing, for considered them still fraught with danger to both the financial and political interests of the country. He would not, on this occasion, reiterate all the objections he entertained to the Government scheme, but he wished to glance at some o I its main features, and would refer for a moment to the extent to which he considered they were now about finally to commit themselves and the country. The Bill befor

them together with the Immigration and Public Works Bill, and the Defence Loan Bill, not merely authorised the raising of £5,000,000 by loan, but gave the Government the power of extending the financial engagemeats of the country, in one form or other, to the enormous amount of £13,000,000. By the present Bill it was proposed that they should provide for an expenditure in money of £2,000,000 on railways, £1,000,000 on immigration, £400,000 on roads in the North Island, £300,000 on waterworks on goldfialds, £200,000 in purchase of Native lands, £60,000 on telegraph extension, and £40,000 remained to be hereafter apportioned, — making £4,000,000 altogether ; whilst, under the Defence Loan Act, there was to be raised another million, of whch £790,000, or, including what was intended to withdraw outstanding treasury bills, £827,000, was appropriated for defence purposes, and £ 1 73,000 for certain purposes of an exclusively provincial character. Then, under clause 23 of the Immigration and Public Works Bill, authority was given for expending on railways—or encumbering the resources of the colony, in the shape of subsidies for their construction, guarantee of interest, or laad to be given In payment — a further amount of £5,500,000, independent of two and a half million acres of land required for the Nelson and Cobden railway, but which, inasmuch as it had already been set apart by Act of Assembly for that purpose, was rather an incidental than an essential feature of the proposals now before the House. Putting that aside, therefore, the practical money value which the various plans and projects as the Government represented or required was not less than £10,500,000. The House might remember that on a former occasion he had recognised the necessity of a further loan, but limited to £1,500,000, or, at the utmost, £2,000,000. Now, taking the latter amount, what he should have proposed doing was this : First of all, he would have taken up the £500,000, or whatever was the actual amount of the floating debt ; another £500,000 he would have appropriated in aid of defence expenditure over a period of five years ; £200,000 he would have set apart for the purpose of inaugurating, cautiously and tentatively, a system of immigration at the expense of the colony ; the remaining £800,u00 he should have proposed to expend on public works of the most immediately necessary and useful character, in equal proportions within the two Islands. To that extent, and for those purposes, further borrowing might perhaps be justified, under all the circumstances of the colony ; but the proposals of the Government, as they were originally made, and to the extent they were now about to adopt them, were, in his opinion, quite unauthorised by the actual condition of the country, and immensely beyond its prospects and resources for a long time to come. It appeared to him as if both the Government and the House altogether forgot or ignored the present position of the colony, and the engagements it had already incurred. They seemed to forget that wehad already borrowed seven and a half millions — that the proportion of debt for each man, woman, and child in the colony reached £30 a head, whilst in England it was only £25 10s — that the revenue was little over a million, and the existing debt charges, general and provincial, absorbed £474,000, or nearly half of it, whilst the annual expenditure on account of the national debt of Great Britain was little over a third of her revenue. They forgot, besides, that the interest and sinking fund on the debt of the colony, existing or yet to be incurred, had, nearly the whole of it, to be sent out of the country to the home creditor, instead of being returned to and again fructifying through the pockets of those who contributed it, as in the case of Great Britain. They appeared to forget, also, the position in which the present taxpayers of the colony would be placed if these new undertakings were to be proceeded with, and heavy additional taxation imposed on them, as would be absolutely necessary in order to meet the cost. The fact was, as it seemed to him, they were about to repeat, in the case of the colony, on a scale immensely increased, the dangerous experiment which the province of Southland some years ago ventured on— that of largely overestimating its resources, speculating wildly on the future, and plunging into debt, beyond reasonable necessity and without reasonable hope of being able to sustain the burdens which it would entail. Southland, however, in her trouble had the colony to fall back upon and the colony of course came to her rescue ; but he need hardly remind the House that New Zealand, should she now blindly place herself in a similar position, could look for no helping hand. There was no escape or resource for her in the difficulties she might and would get into through the prosecution of these schemes, except ' further taxation, which, whether direct or indirect, he believed would not succeed, nor long be borne by the people, for the burden would be too great, and then there remained nothing for it, probably, but the easy though dishonourable course of repudiating their engagements. If he wanted anything to confirm the views he had expressed of the proposals of the Government — of their character and probable effects — he had only to refer to the manner in which they had been spoken of by the press and people of Australia ; and he believed it would not be very long before they heard that quite as strong an opinion on the subject had been expressed in England likewise. When referring to the modifications the Government had made in respect to the sum to be borrowed for railway construction — the reduction of that to £2,000,000, and the proportionate increase of the amount for guarantee, &c, he had intended to refer to the case of India, and the large railway transactions which the Government of that country had undertaken during the last ten or twenty years, for the purpose, chiefly, of pointing out that the system of guarantee, upon which the Indian Government had hitherto entirely relied in constructing their existing lines of railroad, was now universally and unreservedly conde.-rned by th a ithorities of India,

and about to be entirely departed from for a system of direct borrowing and of construction under the immediate agency of the Government itself. A very interesting discussion took place on this and other matters in the House of Lords in July, 1869, when the Duke of Argyll made his financial statement as Secretary for India; and if honourable members would refer to that debate, they would find that, whereas the Indian railways— which, it was to be remembered, were a strategical necessity rather than b commercial or economic one — had been heretofore constructed by capitalists or companies on a guarantee of interest at 5 per cent., and at an average rate of £18,000 per mile, it had been determined for the future t i borrow— which they could do at 4 or 4£- per cent. — on the security of the lmd revenue, and, in order to avoid the confusion, delay, and loss attendant upon the system of guarantee, to construct them under direct Government superintendence and control, by which means it was calculated the cost per mile for the future would be reduced to £12,000. But when they heard that, a question naturally arose, irrespective of the system to be adopted, why, if the Indian railways are still to cost, under the most favourable arrangements as to finance, construction, and supervision, £12,000 per mile, railways are expected to be made and placed in proper working order in New Zealand—generally, he believed, as difficult a country as India, and with resources and conveniences for such purposes incomparably inferior at the present time — at rates so low as tho3e which had been named and so much relied on during the present debate, namely, from £3000 to £5000 per mile ? Leaving, however, these subordinate points, he had intended to conclude by reading to the House from a book now bofore him— Dr Arnold's Lectures on Modern History— & striking passage descriptive of the evils necessarily incurred by nations and communities when they largely and prematurely, though it might be from actual necessity, anticipate their resources and burden themselves with huge debts ; but at that late hour he would refrain from unnecessarily lengthening his remarks. He would only further say, that by the scheme of the Government, and the immense addition which it contemplated to the financial obligations of the country, it appeared to him they were going to abandon what Dr Arnold had somewhere termed "the highest earthly work — the work of government," its proper sphere and objects, for objects merely material, and to a large extent, secondary — for advantages that were premature, and, undar the circumstances, not to be realised except at too dear a cost ; that, along with a railway policy, they were also about to initiate what were known in the home country as railway morals ; that they were about to associate and identify the institutions of the country wite schemes and projects of every class, and to give to the race of jobbers, speculators, and contractors, a most undue importance within it. The Colony, no doubt, possessed great resources, and a noble position was before it were its affairs, even now, after all the difficulties it had had to encounter, properly cared for and administered. They might, he believed, have made New Zealand morally and politically great, for there was the material, and, also, men of sufficient talent and experience to govern her aright. But they had fallen upon evil days ; they were being tempted out of the right path ; they were proposing to do what would dwarf the country's healthy growth to maturity, impair, if not destroy, its legitimate progress and development, and also divest it of all moral dignity in the eyes of those who, from the outside, watched their proceedings. It seemed to him tbat, by their present policy, they were departing from the first principles of all government, that they were about to pervert the very instincts and aspirations of a people, as well as disturb and endanger the interests and prospects of every class of the commuoity, as now existing. They were, in fact, attempting and about to effect a revolution, whereas the art and business of the statesman was, as had been well said, to avoid revolutions, and "render progress at once continuous and calm." Speaking as he did, with such feelings and under such circumstances, he could not but recall two lines from Goldsmith's "Traveller," which had dwelt in his memory ever since, as a boy, he had first read them, but which now, although he had always thought them so true, he felt to be completely contradicted by the actual course of public events in New Zealand: — " How small of all the ills that human hearts endure, That part which laws or kings can cause or cure." Goldsmith, he felt sure, had been a colonist of New Zealand, and witnessed these vagaries of her Government and Legislature, would, poet as he was, not have written, or, having written, would have been disposed to expunge, those liaes; at any rate, he (Mr Jollie) very much feared that no lengthened residence in New Zealand, and experience of the effects of this great experiment on its financial and political position, would be required to convince ordinary men tbat laws and law-makers are sometimes a real power, capable of inflicting on a community a vast amount of mischief, and on poor " human hearts " bitter misery. Mr Richmond: Sir, I intend to follow the example of the hon. member for Gladstone, and not address the House at any length on this occasion. When first these plans became known to ma I looked upon them as the hon. member for Gladstone has described them, as in the nature of a revolution— a sort of coup d'etat, and a coup d'etat of a very inferior quality — and nothing that I have heard, during the debate, from the Government in favour of the scheme — and there has been little said in favour of it by any one else— ha 3 at all tended to reassure me on the subject. The temper of this House is that of persons iv a state of collapse — in a state of despon-

dency, ready to grasp at any remedy, however improbable. If I were to name tboae in this Legislature who appear to me really to have any belief in the great schemes which we have on hand, I should be limited, I think, to some three or four persons — to the Colonial Treasurer, and probably thehon. member for Wairarapa, and the hon. member for Clutha. Ido not know any oue else, unless it might be the hon. member for Omata. The schemes are, in a variety of way?, politically wrong ; in fact, I might almost Ba y> a great political crime. They undertake to anticipate the judgment which the Legislatures of future years might fairly claim to have a right to exercise in matters of this kind, and they extend or pretend to extend far beyond the legitimate functions in time of this Assembly. We must remember that we are not now burdening, by our operations, an estate which is in our hands to deal with as we may think fit, but that we are really burdening the industry of future years, if men in future years will consent to bear the burden. I have said that nothing which has occurred during the discusssion on this subject has tendei to reassure me at all. First of all, it remains evident that this scheme is not only out of all proportion to our resources, but out of proportion to any similar scheme ever undertaken by any body of men in any part of the world, and in any period of history. This unprecedented grandeur may be a characteristic of genius, but then we know that genius is often closely allied to insanity. If the scheme is outrageously large in itsproporcion, it is also conspicuously loose in its details; it is as ill-conceived, as scantily described to us, and as destitute of all constitutional checks upon those who have the charge of it, as it is possible for it to be. As it was brought down to us, it whs an un - limited gift to the Government of the day of money and powers to pledge the colony, and it has emerged from the Legislature scarcely limited. We had at one time a promise of great concession ; we were to have a diminution of borrowing, and we were to have a special Act for railways. Well, the special Bill brought down for the railways is exactly of a piece with the original proposals — utterly loose, and utterly without information — and hon. gentlemen know as much about what they are going to do after they have read the Bill as they did before. The proposal for a proper board, it appears, is still fought shy of by the Colonial Treasurer. Confident in his own knowledge of the business he is about to undertake, be still refuses the board which should advise and not control him, and which should protect and not interfere with him. These things convince one, if one needed convincing, that there is no adequate conception, although there is a verbal recognition, of the gigantic responsibilities which we have been undertaking. I agree with what the hon. member for Gladstone has said respecting one form of liability— the guarantee. It is the worst form of borrowing. The Loan Bill now before us really embodies, to my mind, the least objectionable part of the proposals for ways and means. If we are to undertake such a scheme as this, let us do it in terms and figures that we can understand, that we know the value of, and that character applies to this Bill, but to no other part of the scheme. Therefore, it is with some regret that I find myself obliged to vote against this Bill, because really this is the least mischievous part of it. However, I shall fee! it my duty to vote against it, becau-e, in its progress through the Legislature, the scheme, as a whole, has met with no serious amend* ments. Although I am not so well acquainted with the ways of the money market as the hon. member, I still hope we may get out of this prodigious escapade by being exceedingly well laughed at. That is the cheapest and best way we can get out of the matter. We shall in any case spend some money. The Colonial Treasurer, having in his hands the power of plunging us into the scheme, will do so as far as he can, and will give us over again the first act of the Southland tragi-comedy ; but whether he will get further remains to be seen. I hope we shall find that there are those at home who can take into consideration the broad features of our case, and that money-lenders arc not so ill-advised but that they will act upon the knowledge of our circumstances when they get it ; but I feel bound to cay that if I am wroLg in this, and that if the scheme proceeds to its natural conclusion, there will be good grounds in the future — in the misery, bitter complaint, and more than bitter complaint that is certain to follow .from it— for denouncing the whole affair in a manner which it is hateful to name when discussing financial matters. I can fancy what will be said by those who are now rising up, and who will one day legislate in New Zealand, and it will be excusable then for them to act on it, although it is not in order for me in this House to express it now as my opinion. They will say we have launched a profligate and gambling policy, and that those in the English money market who assisted us by their carelessness, are not entitled to consideration, and that we having, in point of fact, combined to rob posterity, posterity is not bound by our act. I venture to say, Sir, the time will come when the utter shipwreck of the proposals now before us will morally justify the people of this country in declining to be bound by our action. I move that this Bill be read a second time this day six months.