HANSARD CHIPS.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 2, Issue 230, 5 August 1879, Page 2

HANSARD CHIPS.

FOX ON THE LIBERAL PROGRAMME They, no doubt, considered that it was a very line, liberal programme indeed one calculated to evoke a great deal' of sympathy among the masses of tho people of this country. It would not have done [or the feast oi last session to be devoured at one sitting. There must he portions of the banquet put into the cupboard, to lie brought forward on a future occasion, The funeral baked meat!: of last session were called out to coldly furnish forth the marriage feast of this session. The honorable gentleman at the head of tho Government says: Poor fellows, poor serfs! here lam going to give yon your liberties and your rights. Why, but for them they might have had them a year ago- This grand and liberal programme we are to imvo piecemeal. It is to be made to last out for some time. Wo arc to have a little now, and a Utile more on some future occasion. It reminds me of the story of Lord Stowell, who had a taste for looking at wild beast shows, an exhibition which we have all seen in the Old Country. On one occasion he had gone up the ladder of the caravan where some wonderful animal was to be exhibited. Ho was about to hand the twopence to the showman, but the showman said, " We won't talce your money, my Lord ; it is only the same old serpent that you have seen so many times." So it is with this Lil'.ii.d programme—it is the same old serpi'.'.ii that we have seen so msny times. There is only this difference: The honest showman would net take his Lordship's money, but our showman wishes to take as much money as you can give him by the suspension of the Standing Orders. BROKEN PLEDGES. Mr Sheehan said it had been found that, from the beginning of 18G0 up to the present time, a very large number of promises had been made by previous Governments which had not been fulfilled, and the non-fulfillment of which, he believed was greatly the cause of the present trouble on the West Coast. Dr Wallis' anecdote.

I have been reminded of an anecdote of a Julius Oajsav. I was invited to have supper with a friend in the Old Country. Wo had a good supper, and something else iiftcnvars, We enjoyed ourselves very much, The lady of the house was becoming impatient, and her leaving the room was a hint that we should separate. My entertainer began to assort his rights, and said he could do as lie liked in his own house. He .said, " Yon must remember lam Julius C;esar here." Instantly the good lady popped her head, inside the doer, and shouted, " Julius Caesar, come to your bed." He obeyed her. Our Julius Castr. Sir George Grey, is equally obedient to the laws of the land; he is equally ready to carry o .it the orders of the House of Representatives. ' i,iissi:aiißH ami oossekvatism: Said .Dr Wallis, though a Liberal myself, I am aware of the fact that Liberalism hi'.s many weak points, and the knowledge of this ought to 'have a restmuiug influence upon those Liberals who are threatening to desert to the other side of the House. A Liberal Ministry is in various Hspoc-s weaker and more easily subverted than a Conservative Ministry. I may be permitted, on occasion like the present, io go into particulars, and to show the House what ihe weaknesses of Liberalism are, in order to induce others nob to be led away by those weaknesses. One of the leading principles of Conservatism is this; "Host and be thankful." The leading principle of Liberalism is, "Forwards and upwards and onwards." People standing still mayjje despised, but they never excite active hatred and enmity: Id people who, like Liberal,), will neither rest themselves nor let others rest, naturally excite a great deal of hostility and enmity. That is invariably the of aII Liberal Alinistriw that have been formed.

LOLLESTOX ON TIB LAND TAX,

I venture to say the expense of the Civil Service has increased by £IOO,OOO a year; and I venture to say, also, that the administration of the Land Tax Act has been beneath contempt. Anyone who knows what lias been going on knows that the administration lias been a perfect byword, in the part of the country I come from, the very people who have been making the assessments have been receiving payment for preparing the objections to the assessments which they themselves have made. Sensible Saunders. I loolc upon it as the duty of every member of the House to avoid every subject upon which he is not likely to speak I in a manner which will enlighten other honorable members, and, fooling that to be the case in reference to myself with regard to this Native question, I do not intend to enter upon it at any great length now. I find myself very much in the same position as an honest old farmer whom I once met at a teetotal meeting, After listening to all that Dr Morgan, who addressed the meeting, had to say on the subject; after hearing what that learned gen'leuiav; informed up were the dreadful consequences of the consumption of alcoholic lit] nor—how the system was broken down by it, how certain absorbents took it from the stomach and conveyed it to the brain, and produced paralysis—my old friend the farmer said: " I know nothing of this her., halcoholic; but I know this, that whan my neighbours take it they make fools of themselves, and I daesay it would be the same with myself." SAVXni'.lis' OI'JXION. Above all, Sir, I will never support a Government which is capable of trying to hold those seats by holding up one class of the community as objects of envy, hatred, and revenge to any other class, and by sowing seeds of animosity throughout the colony which are only too easily scattered, but which may never bo recalled. Tub Prophetic Bees,

Wo have appealed to the country, and the country will .support us, for it knows that wo are not desirous to get the public lands or the public money for ourselves, and that we are anxious to do all we can Tor all the people of this fair country of New Zealand. Sir, wo do not fear the result. And therefore disappointed men —men who hunger after office, who desire revenge, who desire anything they can get for the benefit of themselves unci their friends—will attack us as the Premier lias been attacked day after day. But, Sir, our destiny is before us, and we shall move towards it. HODGKIXSCft- OS THE I/AXI) Tax.

I am sorry to say there have been rumour in the papers that the Ministry still further contemplate in this direction a progressive land tax on properties valued at over £ISOO. I have very great hopes,however, that this rumor is without authority.; If the Ministry remain in office, I believe that no action of that sort will be taken by them ; but I have reason to •believe that the very rumor in existeuce has deterred many persons who contem-

plated investing from doing so. It is not so. much the tax that is objected to, but when the burdens are shifted on to the minority people become alarmed, not knowing where it will end ; and any such unfair or partial taxation will meet with my most determined opposition. And I think that in opposing it I act as a real friend of populat and democratic government,

Sir Dillon Bell on the Land Tax. Does not the country want more than anything tho free introduction and the free employment of English capital. We hardly possess accumulated capital here of our own. The extent of our annual savings is necessarily very small. Every one acquainted with tho elements of political economy must realise this by simply looking at the volume of our trade and commerce. And I say it is a suicidal tiling to pretend that we can afford to frighten away capital, as we are most certainly doing by such taxation as was last year carried, and by that which is now threatened. Sir, there are endless proofs of the fact that by the passing of the Land Tax Act of last year capital Ires really been frightened away, and will not flow in'as it used to do; and if you press on much further burden upon the landed property of the country you will only check the development of your resources.

The events of the last twelve months have opened the eyes of the working classes to the rubbish which they have deluded. The past twelve months have proved the unvarying truth that; at tho return which the proprietor can get out of his land by the outlay of his capital upon it bears a proportion to the taxes you place upon your land, so the more you try to tax his land the less is his willingness to spend money in employing labor. When will you learn that the fear of this taxation is the most fertile cause of the want of employment which now exists. THE ARCAI>E MEETING. The Hon Sir F. Dillod Bell.—lf it were language, Sir, 1 should call that an equivocation. Does the honorable gentlemon mean to say that, if the Premier attends public meetings here, and now, to form throughout the colony the" Liberal Association?" to piomoto the carrying off of his own measures, he is not flouting the Parliament in its own presence ? The Legislature will not submit to it. If this indocent action is tolerated, I, for one, would be glad to go out of Parliament, and retire into privacy, where I might hide the shame every man of honor must feel at such practices. The Greytown Branch Line,.

Mv llicliavdson said :—Another matter has just occurred to ray mind of a somewhat similar description, 1 saw au advertisement calling for tenders—which, I believe, are to be sent in to-day—for a branch line to Greytow'n- Now, as far as I can ascertain by looking at the different Acts, the only authority the Government ever had for commencing the construction of that branch line—which is, I believe, about three miles in length; what it is to cost Ido not know—is contained in an amendment Act of the Public Works Act passed last session. In the 23rd clause of the amending Act two or three words were put in, and I am perfectly certain nobody in the House understood them At any rate, I asked what they meant, and I was simply told, by an honorable gentleman sitting on those benches, but who is not in the House, that amendments contained in that clause were only to meet the technical requirements of the department. The words were—"with branches," They were added to the Fourth Schedule of "The Public Works Act, 1876," after the word " Masterton;" and the consequence of those words hating been slipped in there is that the Government have power to make any branch line they think fit, and of any length, between Masterton and Wellington, lam sure no member of the House had any idea that such power wa3 given by the addition of two or three words which was stated to be technical amendments required by the department. If we had had any idea that they conferred Buch power a great deal of explanation would have been required from the Government. I point out this as another caso where the Govcrnmeut are most decidedly exceeding the powers this House supposed it had conferred on them,