HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 12122, 9 August 1895, Page 2

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.

Wellington, August 7. FINANCIAL STATEMENT DEBATE. Sir Eobsrfc Stout complained of tha enforcement of the time limit in this ..bate, and referred to the refusal of tho , Govern nm. to lay certain returns on the table, wbich he contended were absolutely necesssr. to enable memberß to p-operly discufs the Budget. Tha position of the Treasurer over the Budget was a mist humiliating one. He had appointed an expensive Commission to consider the tariff, and after bringing down hia own tariff he had told the House it could be altered apd ihe House could practically do as it liksd with it. He dealt with the financial position of the cobny at conbiderable length, and said that during the last four years the not public debt had increased by _2,29 1,109. He d.precated j the juggling of figure, which was now goi-g on, and said it was utterly absurd to say that there had been any saving on intsrest and Sinking Fund charges. H» referred to what tho Treasurer had oaid on the previous evening about Sinking F un<?s, and said any attempt to seizi these Sinking Funds was illegal, im proper and contrary to law. As to the question of surplus ifc was entirely how the figures were used. He could prove that there was both a surplus and a deficit, and both would be right It d mended on how : the borrowed money was dealt with. If ths borrowed money aud the previous year's surplus were eliminated then there was a deficit last year ff _229,19_. Tbe Treasurer's surplus of .3180,000 was obtained by carrying over last year's surplus and the money borrowed under the _aval and Military Settlers Act. Tha new tariff propossd by ■'__— Treasurer was not to encourage industry, but to get revenue mainly from the working olassei, who had to pay the bulk of it. Did tho Houseknow that tho Canadian tariff put before them in the Statement was not the tariff at pressnt in force there, but was only the tariff up to 1890. The new tariff wis brought down in 1894. What was to be thought of a Government which proposed a tariff treaty and didn't know 1 the tariff ? Thi items were altogether ■ different from these mentioned in the Statement, and itom. from which the Treasurer p-o posed to gain advantage by the .treaty were no longer ip forco, Wool, f. r instancp, such as could hot be raised in Canada _as free instead of I.J d as the Budget said. .Never in the history of tha o_ony had there been so much genuine distress among the working classes and yet theso peop'e were to ba burdened with more taxation. Ho did not altogother blame tbo Government for the distreai-, but they should uot ta.e oredit for having improved the position of ths workers What was wanted was careful and economic administration and not reliancs on th - * money lender. The Budget wa. only bettor than last year in that there were nofc so many wild cat sobem_ in it. ' Mo Seddon eaid they had listened to a very able speacb, but from one who had been br; 'efed by the enemies of tho people Judged by Sir Robert. Stout's work,.bowever, and not by hia expreSßionr, it would be found that the work cf the p_s3nt '.Government was practical and progressive, and • that, the country would be perfectly safe in their, keeping. Sir Hobert Stout bad refused to agree to the extension of the time limit -ben 'lis Treasurer wished to explain his actions fcotfye EToii_, and ha (Sir /Robert Strut) had forgot to mention that the returns 98V. d 'for had been privataly circu'ated amongst tho members. He (_r Seddon) acknowledged the ability with whioh the Tariff Commission had porformod itlabours. The Government were not ab !e to adopt all their reco'mmendatiors but the Treasurer was materially as listed in framing liis tariff by the report of the Commission. The fact was > c ir Robert Stout wap endeavouring to sow a little discord amongst the members of tho Tariff Commission, but his fchorae was not likely to succeel As to what had been said about th-. public debt, ho pointed out tbat the Stout Vogel Government bad increased the d.ht by _5.2l 0.806 in thvee years, nnd the Atkinson Government hid increased it by _„224,598 in the same space of time. Ihe present Government had Bom_hing to show for their net increase of _',291,72_ in tho purchases of native land, military and naval settlement, advances to settlers, consols, &c. Mr George Hutchison thought. Mr Seddon could be more pr< Stably occupied' in th. defence of tbe Budget than in attacking the head of a Government which he himself had so strongly t upported. The main grievance the colony bad against the present Government was that it constantly denied that it was a borrowing Government, and yet tbe faet remained that the public debt had increased in four years by over two million?. Some of the objects for wbich the money was borrowed wore meritorioui.bnfc others wero not meritorious, The state' iu which the tariff matters stood at pr.sjnt had a most unsettling affect on the colony, as nobody knew what he had to August 8. The Houso met at 2 30 p m. sib geohge grey's resignation f_e Speaker read a letter from Sir George Grey, resigning his seat as member for Auckland. '' Mr Seddon said he intended at au early date to p'ace on record a rts ilution' expressing the sense of the House of the djstinguisl)ed services rendered to tjja colony by the right honourab'p gentle : man. jr. a J. s_r_.'s notio. _* moti -n. Mr Soddon asked fche Leader of the Opposition whether he had be _t G.nsultod by _.r G. J. Smith before tho latter gave notice of motion to tbe effect that tho tariff proposals of tho Government were unsatisfactory, Captain Bu*sell said the first he had heard of the mattor was seeing the resolution in print. Mr Smith said he had not consulted any | msmber of the House before proposing i his resolution, and he hoped the Premier J would nofc treat it as a want of confidence ' but would allow membera to vote on it ai thoy pleased. DEBATE ON FINANCIAL ETATS_-NT. Mr Willis resnmed the debate on tbo Financial Statement. Ho congratulated Mr Ward ou having brought down such a satisfactory statoraent. He praised tho Colonial Treasurer for the great buicdss attending tbo raising of ths loan in London, and said that whilst recently in England he found most favorable opinions expressed regarding Now Zealand. He was not going to condemn tho new tariff, as he recognised it was impossible to frame a tariff that would giv. universal satisfaction, Mr G. J. Smith renelily admitted that | the Treasurer was acting in what J*. 1 "- considered the Jl _t interests of the colony, but he should allow other members to hive thei. opinions 'also. r lt was to be regretted that the public debt was being increased from year to year. Hu con. gratulaf od the Government on the establishment of the Department of Agricul. ture and Industries and Commerce. The tariff proposals were evidently intended for Ihe increase of the revenue and were not in the interests of the colony at all, ani would not tend to encourage in. du_ry. The colony could not afford to pay subsidy both tho Vancouver and 'Frisco mail . arvices. ' He regretted that tlie statement made no reference fco t'ho unemployed difficulty or the question o. o'd age pensions, " '