MR BUNNY ON- THE GOVERNMENT'S PROPOSALS.

Wellington Independent, Volume XXVIII, Issue 3883, 14 August 1873, Page 3

MR BUNNY ON- THE GOVERNMENT'S PROPOSALS.

The following is'fche first half of the Hazard repor.t.of Mr Bunny's speech on the proposals contained in the 'financial statement delivered on Friday night last, on the question being put that the House' should go into Committee of Supply. The remainder will' be given in s future issue : — '.' Mr BtrNNY^Sir, Ibelieve it is the privilege of 1 any hbn member, on the m>! ion for going in Committee of Supply, to express his yiewi 'on the proposals set. forth by the Coltnial Treasurer in IriS'finunci-l *tatiMnent. I .am not going to address myself (o th« various proposals containe/d in that statement, < iiher as* supporter o> ! "opponent t>f the Government, but I will lay before the Hoii3p my views as regards the nature of tlio*e propostW, , and bow, in my opinion, they will effect the policy which has be»n adopted by the 'colony. There ,is no member of the Hous'» who has more , strongly ■ Advocated lh« policy of the colony going in for those l»rt»e works which nave'^now 'been -Undertaken than 1 hiivc, nnd remarks" l make' and views I may express, will be simply those which strike me with reference to propositions mad« by' the Treasurer in his statement. I think I wi»r the fir*t wembrr of this House who came forwurd and prouosi'iJ that the^oolony should borrow lurgu an ma of money for public works, and I r eel Mint the carrying out of that policy will be tjm in>iki»s» of thjs Colony o£New. Zealand. I can a*cur.! the P/eniier that.anything Isay will n^t in nny shap.Q or form be meant as. opposing the Government; but I. maintain that every member of this House has a perfect right, and it is t)>» duty of every member to express his views upo,ii measures which bear so important nn :^i^t^AJoiii}ik WxxinjLi>!ibjjLth9t-p*i i <'y--ft" Athorefore I hope that whatever I do say w.ill ba taken _s the expression of the opinions of a member who takes the greatest interest in seeing that policy-carried out so as to make it a success to the country.' I shall divide my ob> B3rvationslnto three heads. I shall address the House upon what are called the ° colonial works'; 'I shall then jnake some observations aa regards* the most important portion of the statement, namely, the question of provincial borrowing; and I shall also' make some remarks upon the alterations in the tariff, and 'generally upon the manner in which the revenue is . raised.'' I do not agree with the doctrine which . has'been adopted by this House— and which therefore, the Government are of course perfectly right in bringing down in their proposals —that we, for colonial -works, should give provincial guarantees and securities. I maintain' that, as regards colonial worke, they \ ought to be made by the colony and charged as against 1 colonial revenues* It seems to me that if we once deport from that principle we are placing 'the provinces in a position which will materially affect the bringing of this policy to . a successful ißsuel' We' are too apt, and the 1 Government has been bo in its propositions, to separate the colony from the provinces? What .' .is 1 ' colony -of New' .Zealand ? It '[,M made up of the nine provinces, and r whal? are the provinces but this colony P I , ;Vwill"inore especially direct my remarks to the • ; effect 'the propositions made in the financial V^'fitlkteiaent : will. 'hare on the North leland.

What' aw the proposals contained therein P The Colonial Treasurer decides that for all railways to be authorised hereafter, positive and absolute seourity is to be given ; that is, the colony shall take from the colony security for eaoh work they are about to make. That rule «p the present time has been simply applied to the North Island and not to the South. The "application of it now is only for future railways, but we have expended some millions of mon«y in the Middle Island for railways without calling upon that Island to give a single foot of land as security for the outlay. The North Island has been called upon to give security before a single mile of railway has been attempted to .be constructed. To show the effect of the mode in which this policy has been carried out as regards this particular province, I may state some facts. I Two years ago, the authority of this Assembly I was given for the construction of a railway from Wellington to Masterton, it being simply : a stage of a main line from Wellington to Auckland. We were called upon to give security for that particular work, and we gave land amounting in round figures to 3(30,000 acres out of the best block in the province. Up to the present time we have only got a little bit of a line under contract, from Welt lington to the Hutt, and from the manner in whioh that line is being oarried out, I do not think it reflects any great credit upon the : public works of the colony. A contract for a ■ second section has been entered into, but we ' have tied up our block of land, and there it ;is, as it were, wrapped up in a napkin and put aside in the colonial cupboaid ; and instead of the province bringing this land into settlement, and making roads and bridges to enable people to settle, it is like so much dead waste set aside as security to the colony. If -the land had been operated on by the Provincial Government, and they had, along with , the construction of works by the colony, also prepared these lands for the settlement of the people We hope to introduce here, we should thereby have increased the valne of the colonial work, and have enlarged the capacity of the country to settle people. Under the law, £350,000 worth of land is tied up to, meet an expenditure whioh, in two yeavp, has amounted to a sum not exceeding £50,000. Suppose, that blook of land should be sold, what are we to do? The proceeds are lo go into the colonial chest to pay the liability of the province for the colonial work, so far as it passes through this territory of the province. It does seem to me the most I absurd thing in" the world that we who borrow all round are bound to borrow. all round, and if we do our duty we must borrow all 'round, we should take the money for which the land might be sold, : and with it pay the liability to the colony. If the land were sold for £350,000,, and that money were again itwice turned over in making roads and bridges through the waste lands of* the province it would enrich the colony ten times more than if it were paid to the Colonial Treasurer on account of this work, which ought to be a colonial charge. Woli then, sir, what had we to do the other day ? The Assembly last year thought fit to change what they had previously authorised to be a * tramway into a railway — and I think quite right — at an increased cost of £90,000, that railway being also a portion of the main line between Wellington and Auckland.' Ido not think any tenders have been called for this Work ; but when the Government were in a position to invite them, what was the "province called upon to do? The Government' were about to call for tenders for a certain portion -r-I think about ten or eleven miles — and they said to the Provincial Government, "Give your seourity." What was the result P We gave the security ; we handed over to the colony a block of land about 46,000 acres, also land well; adapted for settlement if properly developed by expenditure of money. If this system goes on, the whole waste lands of prov;noe like _ that of Wellington, 1 which are limited in extent, will be tied up as useless barren waste in the hands of the colony ; and what for P To give, as it were, a Becurity to the colony for its own colonial works. But how is it worked in' the Middle Island ? Have the provinces there been called upon to give any security ? No ; they who have had the wealth of the country in their huuds have not been called upon tojgivsußL--Btngtß"Btitinilg security, "wHTIo those" "who have got but little have that little taken from them, and are prevented from taking a part in carrying out those* functions whioh it is the duty of the Government of the couutry to perform, namely,' to make the country fit to' live in. We are told that for the future the Middle Island will be culled upon for security j but if we look to the loans already authorised, there will be very little to call upon the Middle Island for. They have au enormous expenditure on iccount of their vast landed estates, which are left in their hands to dispose of from day to day, and to put money into the provincial chest to spend as they think fit. Ido not think that these proposals are calculated to advance the country, op to carry out that which is the object of this country, namely, to make *h<» lands fit for settlement. . I do not think it. ]'« wise on our part that we should tie up, us it were, ihe provinei'il palate, and aay that whenever tli&t is cold— -and when it will be sold nobody can tell, for -it is very difficult to know who is going to open up these waste lands — I do not think the colony is likely t,o do it. and I do not think the Provincial Governments are "likely to do it— but the result will be as rejjsir-flfl colonising* purposes in the North L>luml, thut when we have given the security which wo may be called upon from time to time to '10, there will be nothing left for us to offer. And 1 think/ it is well worth the con* of 'this. House to say whether it is wi,->o to confine on in a direction of that sort. It ecoras, to me that if we make, .a railway line from Wellington to Auckland, iv order to nmkn that work a payable one, and one wl.uih will be a credit and a profit I to die couttty, we ought as far as possible tp encourage the various local Goyernmenti i<> Utilise their waste lands, to make their roa'h, ' : und to innVe their bridges, so that the country nj-iy bi> fit for people to live in. Became, ajt.houeh we may have a line from Wellington to.Ausklund, if. at the same time, we do not c\irry ont these other operations, the colonial work to a certain extent will be. a failure. But it! we wan r. to make that colonial work a success, w« ought to provide the means by which 1 (><• feeders may be given to these main lines, nh'l the country opened up and rendered fit tor settlement. Why, sir, if... 1, were asked wlit»tber it would be better that we should have eimply what may be called colonial main lines of railway, and not open up the country _by_meaoe of roods and bridges', T would say at --the. present moment I believe it would be wiser for us to take the loads and bridges and. leave the railways alone. But I say we ought to carry out the two together, and by so doing really make the work a success ; whereas, on the other hand, it Will be a decided failure. I trust the Government will see the unfairness ofj their proposals to the North Liland. Now, sir, t will make a few observations upon the proposal of the Treasurer as regards provincial borrowing. The Colonial Treasurer in his speech states, — • '" I do not know whether the committee are prepared to consider one of * the most important subjects demanding public attention j but I feel certain that there are few honorable members who look upon public questions from a colonial point of view, who do not feel that the time has* come to decide in what manner for the future the Legislature intends to 1 sanction the construction of a certain class of' public works which, for convenience sake, I 'will call looal, because either they do not belong to the ; main arterial system of railways, pr because they are of interest only to the province in which they are to be constructed. I specially allude to such works as roads, bridges, harbour works, reclamations, buildings for educational and, in some oases, for charitable purposes, goldfields works, and light. branch railways and tramwayß." 1 do not see in the financial statement what I thought I gathered from the Treasurer when he delivered it : that he believed these works

would '.take millions to carry out, and that they were of the greatest importance to the country. I qnite agree with the hon gentleman that they are of the greatest importance to the country ; that unless these works are constructed we shall never make the country what it ought to be. And then, sir, I Bay it is the duty of this House, if it admits the importance of these works, at the same time to give the greatest facilities it can for raising the money. The Treasurer's proposal is that we shall have the power to raise the money, but he says,— " The Becurity, it will be proposed, Bhall in all eases,,, be of a more or leas tpecial nature. For reclamations, we propose that special security shall be given over the proceeds from the. land reclaimed ; and if reclamation is effected in connection with harbor works, then the security maybe over harbor, jeifcv, and wharf dues, or any one or more of them. I As to school buildings, hospitals, and lunatic aßylumß, it will be proposed that the security shall be over reserves or endowments appropriated for either of those purposes, but without necessarily involving power" of sale." Now, it might be said by a Government, " We will not allow any borrowing at all for these works, because we do not believe them to be necessary for the advancement of the country. We maintain that it is not necessary for you to make your roads ; it is not necessary to bridge your rivers 5 it is not necessary to make the country fit to live! in ; and' there-' , fore we will not give you any of these powers." But when the Government come down and : admit the great importance Of these worke, I say then they are in reality as much colonial as the. other works, and there ought to be 'every facility given for raising the money required for their construction. The extraordinary part of the Treasurer's proposal is this : The.v provinces* are not to. bavo the colonial guarantee for these most important workß, ! upon which the success of the whole system 'depends, but they will give the colonial guarantee to road boards. The road boards are excellent institutions in themselves, but I say the importance of carrying out 'these public works is equal to anything that the road boards may have ■to'&ue. 'Supposing the proposals of the Government were carried into effect, what would be the result P We are borrowing upon specific Becu'rities; we are hedged in all round with every difficulty; the lender has not the power of sale ; we must, if we want to borrow for educational purposes, set apart a sufficient reaerve for educational purposes to enable us. to go into the market and raise money. Well, the Treasurer told us only yesterday that he disapproved entirely of setting aside these large reserves for educational purposes, and said it was a step in the wrong direction ; but we have a right to test the effect of- this statement of the Government as regards the particular province in which we may be interested. Let us test it in this province. We want to borrow certain • sums of money for educational and hospital purposes, and what have we got to do P Before we can do that wemußt set aside very considerable blocks of land, because, if we do not, the lender of the money will take the same view as the Government in their proposals, and we should "have to hand over to the lender at least double the value of the money raised. The lender not being able to sell the security in any shape or form, the only object which would induce him to advance the money would be a high rate of interest, and therefore we are compelled to give a high rate fer j works as important as any the colony has got to do. If that is carried out 1 in this province, it will entirely put a stop to anything like, public works, - We have not got the land that the. Middle Island has. They oan make reserves of millions of acres for these purposes. If we want to set aside such reserves to enable us to borrow money under the restrictions imposed by the Government, we would have to pay a very high rate of interest or not get the money at all. We will be handing over the waste lands of the Crown, for it comes to that, to private individuals and private companies, and I do not think that is a policy which this House ought to support. I maintain that . if the works are such as are calculated to advance the prosperity and increase the .jEft*** 1 "f. fihfl ffol""^ ■" nnirhti f,n h»3»»---placed at the disposal of the colony, for it is the colony after all, every facility for money being raised. The Treasurer should not say in one part of his speech we are raising our money at4Jper cent, and congratulate ouraVlvts upon that successful result, and in another part say for works equally important, if not of greater importance, you shall pay the very highest rate of interest, and you shall have every difficulty thrown in your way, before you can get the money. I did not knon w whether the Government will carry these proposals — very likely they will — but the result will be diastrous to their policy and a complete stop to anything like public werjks in the Norfch Island.