THE HON. MR WARD'S EXPLANATION.

Tuapeka Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 4258, 17 July 1895, Page 6

THE HON. MR WARD'S EXPLANATION.

A WANT-OF-CONFIDENCE MOTION THE RESULT.

WELLINGTON, July 12. On the House of Representatives resuming at 7.30 this evening, The Hon. J. t*. Ward moved that the circular issued to the public in London by the AgentGeneral in respect to the 3 per cent, loan for £1,500,000 be laid before the House. He said he proposed to lay before the House some information in connection with- a very important matter that had exercised a good deal of attention both in and out of the House. At the outset he said he would reply to the utterances of some hon. members which contained accusations against a gentleman holding a very high and important position in the colony — fcir Westhy Perceval, the Agent-General. Those who had been in London knew better than he could tell them that Sir Westby Perceval was held in the highest esteem by some ot the most important financiers in London for his integrity, honorable dealing?, and ability. As to the statements made against himself (Mr Ward), he took them for what they were worth, but at the same time he must say that it was extremely regrettable that men occupying most important positions in this colony should be subjected to aspersions intended wholly and solely to injure their reputations. It had been alleged that the circular which the Agent-General placed before the British public was misleading and unreliable. Well, he would wait until hon. members had had time to speak upon that circular, and then he would reply to any aspersions they might make concerning it. He was not going to confine himself particularly to the circular, but would refer to some statements which had been made concerning a statement of his in London as to the three million loan. At this stage Captain Russell objected to this subject being discussed that night, on the ground that there had been a distinct arrangement* with the Premier that it should not be discussed. Mr Ward said he did not know what arrangement had been made, but he had a document before him which embraced a very large field, and he did not Bee that it mattered whether it had reference to £12,000,000 or £3,000,000. Captain Russell repeated that a distinct arrangement had been made that there should be in the House that day no discussion upon the utterances of the Colonial Treasurer before the London Chamber of Commerce. The Premier said that what he had stated was that as a matter of convenience it would be better to separate the two subjects. Subsequently Mr Saundbrs asked if he would be in order in moving the suspension of the Standing Orders so as to permit the Colonial Treasurer to deal more fully with the subject upon which he was entering than he could possibly do hi the time limit of half an hour. The Hon. Mr Sedpon said that if the House concurred he would move that the Standing Orders be suspended to permit the Colonial Treasurer to address the House fully upon the matter. After some further discussion, the Speaker ruled that it would not be in order for a motion to be made at that stage for the Standing Orders to be suspended. Mr Wabu, on resuming his address, went on to refer to a statement he had made before the London Chamber of Commerce in reference to the decision of the Government to collect the land tax at an earlier period last year than usual. He told them hi London how it had been urged that the Government had decided upon this course because it was hard up for cash to meet the interest falling due in October. He had told the London Chamber of Commerce that the actual facts were these : Instead of being hard up for cash at that time they had lying in London and had still some £3,000,000 worth of unpledged securities of New Zealand, against which at any moment they not only could have raised the interest falling due, but could have got twice or three times the amount if it had been necessary to do so ; that some two millions of the securities were sent Home by himself previous to the financial crisis which swept over Australia, because he believed it necessary to be on the safe side in London, and in order that their position should be rendered free from risk. He had added that if they had not collected the Land Tax as they had done in anticipation of the due date they would have had to issue Treasury bills for the amount, and he believed anticipation of the due date of the collection of the Land Tax by a few months was preferable to that course. He told the London Chamber of Commerce that at the time they had these securities in London the public account was not overdrawn. Was that statement of his to the London Chamber of Commerce correct? Well, he said most unequivocally that his statement was correct, and he would now show them that it was so. When he heard that this statement of his had been questioned in New Zealand he wired from Wellington to the Agent-General as follows :— Wellington, 11th July, 1895. -Was I correct iv stating Chamber of Commerce, London, some £3,000,000 pledgeable securities available should emergency require? Immediate reply required. To which the Agent-General replied :— Your statement Chamber of Commerce substantially correct. When you spoke total amount over £2,900,000. Now, as some gentlemen would probably doubt what the Agent-General had said, he would tell them what those securities were which were available in London at the time of which he spoke. These securities amounted to £3,077,215, made up as follows: — Consolidated stock debentures. 1884, £1,306,100; guaranteed debentures, £800,000 ; Wellington-Manawatu Railway debentures, £20,000; Oamaru Harbor Board debentures, £33,400; remittance drafts to mature, £390,000 ; cash in the public account, £272,715 ; deposit receipts, £150,000 ; drafts in transit, £105,000 ; making a total of £3,077,215. Now notwithstanding this fact some persons in this colony had said that New Zealand was on the verge of bankruptcy, and a statement appeared in one of the English newspapers to the effect that New Zealand was utterly bankrupt at that moment. It had also been implied that these securities had been used for the ordinary purposes in connection with the finances of the coloDy. He, however, distinctly asserted that these securities never were used. They were sent to London to be there in case of emergency for meeting a panic should it arise, and whatever might be said to the contrary, he strongly maintained that the whole of the securities to which he had alluded were sent to London solely for the purpose of maintaining the credit of the colony there. The necessity, however, for using these securities had never arisen, but notwithstanding this he regretted extremely that a statement had been disseminated broadcast in London that this colony collected the Land Tax in anticipation of the due date because the country was on the verge of bankruptcy, and some of the people who made this statement knew very well that former Treasurers had been obliged, in order to carry on the finances of the colony, to collect taxes ahead. It was one thing for their political opponents to make such statements as these, but it was quite another thing for them as a Government to take upon their shoulders the great responsibilities which they had done last year hi order to prevent financial disaster to this colony in the great financial crisis of that time. He trusted that those hon. gentlemen would never have to go through such a trying time. To show the wisdom of the course the Government adopted in that financial crisis, the hoc. gentleman went on to quote from the public records of Victoria. The revenue was £8,343,387 ; but after the crisis in 1893 it had fallen to £6,959,228— a decrease of nearly £1,400,000 ; and in 1894 it had still further fallen to £6,716,814— a decrease of £1,600,000. Such was then: loss in the public revenue alone, to say nothing of the loss of private individuals throughout the whole colony. Had it not been for the prompt action which the Government of New Zealand took it might have been our lot to have had such a terrible fall as was the fate of Victoria. But now that everything was safe some hon. gentlemen could come there and accuse the Government of having improperly conducted the finances" of the colony. But in years to come, when the history of this colony came to be written, and it became fully known what this Government had really done for the benefit of the colony, the people would look back with shame upon the statements made by those who now so persistently strove to discredit and Injure the colony. Passing on, he referred to a statement of Mi- G. Hutchison, when speaking in the House last year upon the

Advances to Settlers Bill, to the effect that the whole of the three and a-half millions of securities of the Government departments should be sent to London and put upon the market, and money should be thus obtained to use in the finances of the colony. The hon. gentleman now laughed because tho^o same securities to which he had referred had actually been sent to London and lodged with our own AgentGeneral, not for the purpose of converting them into money, but for the purpose of assisting to maintain the credit of the colony. Mr G. Hutchison : Read the speech. You are misleading the House. Mr Ward said he would read the speech, and he then read to the Hou.-e an extract from ' Hansard' containing Mr Hutchison's statements to which he had alluded. That hon. gentleman had actually said that it was impossible to get money at 3£ per cent., and the senior member for Wellington said it could not be got under 4 per cent. Captain Russell stited that our loans could not be raised at more than 95i ; whilst his hon. friend Dr Newman also said that money could not be obtained under 4 per cent., and that if they wanted to have cheap money they could only get it by restoring confidence, and that if they would drop some of their bills and " all this amount of paper " confidence would be restored. Then Mr Buchanan, in referring to the Land Tax last year, had said : " We have got on the downward grade, and the time is not far distant when the financial disaster into which that side of the House invariably succeeds in landing the country will have to be faced by this side of the House." Every one of those hon. gentlemen had predicted failure in any attempt to raise money on the London market, and the result had been that some 'of their statements, having been Hansardised and published, had done this colony much harm. It was not the Government side of the House but the Opposition which had seriously damaged the credit of the country, although he must not say that they may not have been at the same time anxious to do what they believed to be in the best. interests of the colony. It had been said that our loan at 3 per cent, did not compare with the Western Australian loan, but he contended that it was recognised in London that the fact of New Zealand having published at the same time a 3 per cent, loan had the effect generally of hardening all colonial investments above New Zealand rates. In some of the best financial circles in London the success of the other colonial loan was said to be entirely due to what they termed "New Zealand's bold stroke." First, their political opponents said a loan would not be a success, and now that it was a success they hoped to depreciate what had been done by making inadmissible comparisons. Mr Ward then went on to quote the statements by the Leader of the Opposition, in which, he said, that gentleman had admitted last year that there was a plethora of capital, yet the success of the operations then proposed was doubtful. He referred to 93^ per cent, as the terms of the loan, and asserted that it was impossible to get money at 3£ per cent. Mr Ward strongly deprecated the action of some hon. members of the House, who, in order to damage the Government of the day, attempted to discredit and injure the colony. The total amount of the loan was £1,500,000, and the colony paid nothing for underwriting. They really obtained for the loan £1,416,601 2i. If members would deduct that from the total amount put on the market they would find that it loft £83,398 18s, which represented the difference between the nominal amount of the loan and the cash proceeds. Now, he had provided for a sinking fund of Is per cent, per annum to the interest payable on the 3 per cent, stock, in order to provide a sinking fund which would be sufficient to meet the advance of £83,398 185. It would be, therefore, seen that there was adiff erence of 5s 6d per cent, per annum in favor of a 3 per cent, loan subscribed at £94 8s 6d, as compared with a 3£ per cent, loan issued at par. The saving effected upon the loan was equal to £4,125 per annum, which at compound interest at the rate of 3 per cent, would during the currency of the loan amount in round numbers to £466,000 ; or, if invested at 3£ per cent., would produce £501,000. An operation which resulted in such an enormous saving to the colony was one which any country, and more especially a young country like New Zealand, might justly feel proud of. It had been disseminated broadcast in London that the Government were collaring the sinking fund and paying it into ordinary revenue, and these were the sort of statements which he had to combat whilst in London. In conclusion, the hon. gentleman strongly resented the imputations which had been hurled at the A gent- General of having published misstatements in connection with the finances of the colony. He asserted that the AgentGeneral had stated what was absolutely correct ; and he would go further and say that, instead of exaggerating the financial position of the colony, he had actually understated it by £178,000, extending over five years, because he had shown the surplus to be £178,000 less than he was really justified in stating. The hon. gentlemen on the other side of the House, supposing there was a surplus last year, wanted— actually wanted, to suit their purposes — to deduct last year's surplus from the surplus of this year, at the same time carefully overlooking the liabilities of each year. He regretted that his time was nearly up, and that he must bring his speech to an abru ,t conclusion.

Sir R. Stout hoped, whatever difference of opinion they had in politics, they should not bp charged with a desire to do the colony harm. He was pleased at Mr Ward's return, because they had had nobody on the Government benches in the Treasurer's absence to give the House any information. He hoped Mr Ward would not take offence at what would be said that night. He (Sir R. Stout) thought it would have been more fitting on Mr Ward's part to have dealt with the statements made against the Agent-General, instead of raking up old speeches of members. He (Sir R, Stout) still maintained after the Treasurer's speech that what Mr Ward told the London Chamber of Commerce was not true, and was not proved by the papers laid on the table by Mr Ward last year. That return gave them the amount of securities in London, and they were not unpledged. There were not 2\ millions at that time in London. Where had Mr Ward got his authority from?— (Mr AVabjD: "Perfectly right.") He said it was perfectly wrong, and if Mr Ward did not know it he was not fit to be Colonial Treasurer. He maintained that Mr Ward's statement in London was the most damaeing one ever made against the credit of the colony, and it was contrary to the paper laid ou the table of the House, an I contrary to what every member of tho House knew, fiespecting the circular of the Agent-General, he said it was untrue and misleading in every paragraph. He read portions of the circular, and said it stated the increase of debt was £44,000 (sic) less than it actually wa3. Was their credit to depend on such misstatements as these ? Then as to the interest charges during the three years the Government had been in office, he beld that those charges were increasing instead of decreasing, as was attempted to be proved by the circular. And this was the circular that Mr Ward described as being of too modest a character. Another paragraph stated that £800,000 of 4 per cent, debentures were still in posaession of the Government, but he held that that statement was most untrue, as every penny of that £800,000 was spent years ago, and did not exist at all. Now, they were also told in the circular that over £15,000,000 of the New Zealand public debt was represented by Government railwajs, which earn over 3 per cent, per annum on their cost. But they were told last year by the official records that it was only £2 17s 9d per cent., and if they allowed £57,000 for the carriage of mails they would then only get £2 18s per cent., not over 3 per cent., as stated in this untrue circular. They were further told they had not raised a loan for some time, but he asserted that by conversion of loans here, there, and everywhere they had been borrowing money. They should state the whole truth in London, and nothing but the truth, and they had no justification for bolstering up the colony in the way the Agent-General had done. The securities they really had in London did not amount to 2Jj millions, and not three millions, as the Treasurer stated. Why did the Treasurer not tell the people in London what he told the House last year— namely, that if the colony had the money the Government would not be taking the course they were doing with respect to the Land Tax? The Premier also had stated it was necessary to pass this Land Tax Bill in order to maintain our credit. He (Sir R. Stout) asked the House to read these statements about the Land Tax Bill, and also the papers laid en the

table last year, and they would then see that the statements made in London by the Treaurer did not agree with those made in the House last session. His opinion was that a blow had been struck at the credit of the colony, which would require great care to extricate it. .

The Minister of Justice said that Sir Robert Stout had asked them to give oredic to one another, but how did his present speech compare with that when he charged the Treasurer with deliberate untruths ? The return Mr Ward quoted from was laid on the table in July, 1893, and not 1894, as Sir R. Stout stated, when there were £917,750 of securities less than the Treasurer had included in the return. Sir B. Stout had stated that the £800,000 guaranteed debentures had all gone. Thef act was that £476,000 of these were free, and were held by the Government, whilst the remaining £324,000 were held by the Post Office Department, and could be used in the event of a great national crisis such as that alluded to by Mr Ward. Respecting the raising of the loan, he said that the number of people applying for it were only thirty, and they consisted of astute brokers and financial experts, every one of whom knew well what he was doing. The net returns of the railways were £3 0s 8d per cent. The Government did only what any private company would do respecting the railways. One would imagine from Sir R. Stout's tone that, in welcoming the Treasurer back to the colony, they were welcoming a notorious criminal instead of a statesman who had done well for his country. After going round the world and serving the colony in such a special degree, as was recognised by impartial people throughout the colony, Mr Ward came back to the House and found his bitterest opponents, not among the money-lenders, but in members of the House, who should have behaved in a very different manner.

Mr G. Hutchison thought the two Ministers who had spoken had not treated this important subject in as serious a manner as might have been expected. They had treated the subject with flippancy and no argument, and Hie Treasurer had bluffed the House as he had bluffed the country. It was quite a matter of speculation amongst Government supporters as to what line the Treasurer would take over his speech to the London Chamber of Commerce. But there was another audience to be considered — namely, the people of the colony and the people of London, when they knew the real facts of the case. If those facts were clearly known, and that the Treasurer was prepared to pledge the trust funds of the colony, would the Treasurer have been trusted by London financiers ? Certainly not. Bespecting the Agent-General's circular, they should consider what it conveyed to the people of England, who were r< ady to subscribe their money for this loan. None of the thirty money-lenders would have lent their money if they had been aware of tho real position. Coming to the statement of the Treasurer before the London Chamber of Commerce, he found in the report of that meeting that the chairman would tell the Chamber only what was truth. On that occasion Mr Ward had made several mistakes of a somewhat trifling character, such as saying that the last loan was raised in 1888 instead of 1887. But a far more serious statement was made by the Treasurer when he said the colony had three millions of unpledged securities. Could any man say these securities were unpledged when they belonged to the Insurance Department, the Post Office, and the Public Trustee ? That was not only untrue, but was diametrically opposed to the truth. What authority had the Public Trustee for sending securities to London? The highest amount sent was by the Post Office, of which the Treasurer should be the guardian, and who should not send the money of widows and children to London. The crucial point was whether Mr Ward was justified in telling the people in England that these securities were unpledged. He asked the House for what purpose these securities were sent to London ? Was it ever seriously contemplated to make advances against them? Why, for less than that men were before now in penal servitude. He admitted that capitalists were kind people, but they were quick to resent deception, and, if Mr Ward were to return to London, instead of addressing the London Chamber of Commerce he would address the unemployed on Tower Hill. This action of the Treasurer would do more than anything else to lead to the downfall of the Ministry.

Mr Montgomery had read the AgentGeneral's circular, and was bound to say that he had put the salient facts very clearly indeed, as it was his duty to do. He had put the case in a most favorable light, and any Agent-General was justified in putting the financial position distinctly before the people at Home. The statistics respecting New Zealand quoted in the circular were statements of which any Englishman might be proud, and he did not consider any serious criticism had been made of the circular.

Dr Newman remarked that the member for El'.esmere had spoken with enthusiasm of the Agent-General's circular, but he (Dr Newman) had never found so many errors in so small a space as that circular contained. They were deliberately incorrect, although the Treasurer had stamped them with his approval. They were told in the circular also that the net debt of the colony had scarcely increased at all, whereas it had incressed by over four millions. It was also misleading to say that the colony had £800,000 debentures, because £324,000 of these belonged to one of the -public departments. They were also told by the Treasurer that he bad three millions of money at Home, but he had actually to telegraph to the Agent-General to ascertain whether the money was there or not.

Mr M'Lachlan's opinion was that two great luminaries in the House had tried their best to shake tho Treasurer's statement, but they had absolutely failed to do so.

Mr Buchanan had been in hopes that Mr Ward would have been able to purge the name of New Zealand from the foul blot put on it by this circular, but he was sorry to say he had utterly failed to do so. The circular was as distinctly misleading as anything could be.

Captain Russell said that the Treasurer had not touched the real question at issue, nor attempted to show that the Agent-General's statements were true. What had the Treasurer told them that night ? Simply nothing. They were, however, told by the Treasurer what every Minister now told them — namely, that they were unpatriotic if they discussed the financial position in a different style from Ministers. They were also told that the Opposition only wanted to get back to office, which was a totally unwarranted statement. The Opposition, although they thought the Government an utterly bad one, had no desire whatever for office at the present time, believing as they did that Ministers' time would shortly come, and that the colony would not submit much longer to be hoodwinked by those half truths that were continually uttered by Ministers. The Treasurer had addressed the House that night in a hysterical manner, instead of viewing the position calmly and dispassionately, as a Minister should endeavor to do. Was it right to discuss the Treasurer's speech to the London Chamber of Commerce when they knew nothing about it, and when the Premier himself had stated in the House that the Treasurer should not be judged by a newspaper report, evidently inferring that Mr Ward's speech to the London Chamber of Commerce had been misreported. The Agent-General's circular, by reason of its misleading character, would do the colony great injury. The Treasurer also never made a Budget speech without deceiving himself as well as the House, for he dealt largely with figures, which he did not realty understand. They were told in the circular that our exports were steadily increasing, when, as a matter of fact, they had, from one cause or another, been decreasing for the last five years, and only slightly increased last year. Surely it would have been more honest to have quoted statistics correctly. Last session Mr Ward told the House that the Government had not and should not have sufficient money in England to meet interest payable on the 31st October. How did that accord with his statement in London in April last that the colony had three millions worth of securities totally unpledged? He had conclusively shown that the Treasurer had made two opposite statements to the House and the London Chamber of Commerce, and he would leave the Treasurer to say which statement was correct. He moved as an amendment — "That the Agent-General's circular be referred to the Public Accounts Committee for investigation and report." The Government could not refuse that amendment, as that Committee were set up by the Government themselves. The Premier could uot accept the amendment, as he could only regard it as a vote of

censure on the Colonial Treasurer and the Government. The Opposition were trying to do now what they had been doing lor years paßt— namely, to destroy the credit of the colony. They had done the same thing in 1879. He deprecated the attacks made on the Agent-General, who was a thoroughly honorable man ; and asserted that there was not one word in the circular that they could not get from the public documents. Captain Russell could not apparently discern between securities and cash, and he quite believed that the hon. gentleman was not able to discuss finance. The Treasurer, in collecting the Land Tax last year before it was due was only following the course adopted by other Treasurers. The total amount of Land Tax was £277,000, and of this the whole of it, with the exception of £14,600, was paid by landowners without demur. Who were the guarantors of the Post Office and Public Trust Office securities but the colony itself, and the Government were therefore right in using those securities if necessary. They were told that the Treasurer was bluffing the House, but he condemned the Opposition for referring to his colleague's statements as absolutely incorrect, misleading, etc. He defended the Treasurer from the attacks made on him in the debate, and said one would think the gentlemen who attended the meeting of the London Chamber of Commerce were fourth form boys. The fact was those gentlemen were keen financial experts and brokers, and were not so easily misled by the Treasurer as Captain Russell represented. They well understood what was told them regarding the securities. It had been attempted to be shown that when Mr Ward collected the Land Tax there were not three million securities in London, but he asked who knew better than the Treasurer how much securities had been sent Home between March and September. He held that securities were available as money if it were required, as the Agent-General was advised of their being sent Home, and the Government were responsible for the figures being given to the Agent-General. It was, therefore, uufair to attack that gentleman, and accuse him of deceiving the British public.

Mr Duthie said the Opposition were there to defend the good name of the colony, and to repudiate incorrect and misleading statements sent out. The Agent-General was responsible to Parliament for his action. The Treasurer had admitted the correctness of the speech he made to the London Chamber of Commerce, and that was what they had to deal with. He felt that the House would not for a moment admit that the colony had three millions of securities at hand, as these were the property of the various departments, and could not in any way be held to be unpledged, as declared by the Treasurer. He thought that the AgentGeneral's circular was so exaggerated that scarcely one clause of it would bear examination.

Mr Allen denied that the Opposition wished to discredit the Post Office, Insurance, or the Public Trust Departments. The contrary was the case, and the reason that this debate was being carried on was to defend those departments. There could be no other interpretation put on the Treasurer's words to the London Chamber of Commerce than that if the colony were not able to pay its interest the Government could take those unpledged securities. If that were the case it would be a bad day for New Zealand if the savings of the people in the Post and Public Trust Offices could be taken in that manner.

Mr G. J. Smith was somewhat at a disadvantage, because he understood that the present debate was to be taken in two sections. He held that when they went on the London market they should tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth. If the figures supplied to the Agent-General were correct, and were taken from public documents, then the Government should have no objection to refer the circular to the Public Accounts Committee.

Mr Mackintosh said that the Treasurer's statements were correct, and it was only natural that he would put the best face on matters in London. He considered that Mr Ward should be congratulated on what he had done in the Old Country. Whatever might be said in the House, there was only one feeling in the country — viz., that the Treasurer had accomplished his mission well.

Mr Flatman thought that nothing had been proved against the Treasurer, and he accused the Opposition of insincerity in this matter. Mr Bell said that the Treasurer had told the people in London that these securities were unpledged, which, if it meant any thin?, meant that he could use them if he liked. Mr Ward had said that at the time of the collection of the Land Tax there were three millions of securities in London, but there were not.— (Mr Ward : "There were then.") Why, then, did he refuse to permit the matter going to the Public Accounts Committee, so that he could prove the Opposition to be incorrect 1 He regarded the Agent-General's circular as a bogus prospectus issued by the Treasurer in London. He regretted that the Premier made a reckless misstatement, which was received by his supporters with laughter. He specially referred to the arrangement which had been deliberately broken by the Premier that night with respect to the conduct of the debate.

Mr J. W. Kelly moved the adjournment of the debate, which was lost by 34 to 23. The debate was continued until after two o'clock, when the division was taken on Captain Russell's amendment, which was lost by 37 to 16.

The Treasurer made a spirited reply. He taunted his opponents, who posed as disciples of truth, with being responsible for the animadversions cast upon the credit of the colony. Mr Duthie, when in England, had been guilty of making such statements.

Mr Duthik: That is not correct. It is utterly untrue.

The Speaker: You must withdraw that word. You must qualify it.

Mr Duthie : I have said nothing derogatory to the colony. The Speaker : You will disobey the Chair.

Mr Duthie : I can't help it. The Speaker : I can't allow you to disobey the Chair. I will be sorry if you do not withdraw.

Mr Duthie : Well, I will say it is contrary to fact.

The Treasurer, continuing his speech, said that he would not asperse the characters of his opponents as they had ttied to asperse his own character and that of the Agent-General. Those securities in London were absolutely locked up, and it was impossible to use them except in case of a national crisis. It had not been shown that he had made reckless misstatements, as bad been charged against him, but he had succeeded in ameliorating the effect of damaging statements made against the colony.— (Cheers.) The motion to lay the prospectus on the table was carried, and the House rose at 3 a.m.