Parliament.

Woodville Examiner, Volume XIX, Issue 3303, 4 September 1901, Page 3

Parliament.

Tuesday. Mr McGowan resumed the financial debate. Ho said those members who bad been sounding a warning note as to our finances should remember if roads and bridges were required "and asked for, they could not be carried on out of consolidated revenue, but must bo provided for out of -loan money. He defended the increases that had been made in departments of which he had control, and with regard to the New Zealand police he said it was the cheapest in any of the colonies of Australasia. The Hon C. H. Mills, and Messrs J. W. Thomson, E. G. Allen, Willis, Haselden, Flatman, Pirani, Massey and Arnold also spoke. The Hon. Mr Mills twitted the Opposition with remaining silent instead of criticising the Budget, as it was their duty to do. He described the Budget as a full, clear and comprehend ive statement of the finances of the colony. It bristled with facts and figures which could not be controverted. Some members had complained that it did not contain surficieuc pabulum for au hour's speech, but ha contended that it would require two or three days to do it full justice. He pointed out that the gross public debt had increased during last year from. £47.874,000 to £49,591,000, but he defied members to point out any of the items of the increase which could have been -&-yoided. The gross public debt has ./'increased in the ten years un to the 31st March last by £10,700.895, but the colony was able to show a very good asset for every pound spent. Of that amount £7,794,780 was expended on direct interest-earning objects. Referring to the Customs' revenue, be said that the new tariff adopted last sesbion practically gave away the sum of £131,335, but since then there bad been an increase of £20,836 in the revenue on spirits, of £15,843 on tobacco, and of £10,055 on cigars and cigarettes. The Customs were also aB buoyant in other ways that there was no fear about the future prosperity of this Department. It was conducted in an economical manner, and the cost of collection of revenue compared very favorably wiih the other Australian colonies. He gavs figures to show that there was a steady internal progress throughout the whole colony, and said that when the revenue from sugar, tea, spirits, and tobacco went up it was good evidence of the prosperity of the country. As to tha charge of profligate expenditure, he said all the Government wanted was careful investigation. He emphatically denied that instructions had beeu given to the Valuation Department to put up the laud value, but the Department bad to make 231,965 separate valuations, and the number of complaiut3 in proportion had been very small. Thailand values in 1895 were 188 millions, and last year they bad risen to 147 millions, although only one-third of the colony was properly valued at the present time. In considering the increase in expenditure, it must be borne in mind that several li~w j Departments had been created, which meant heavy expense ; uud i»j considering thtlincrease inthepnblicdebt they must not loso sight of the assets that bad been acquired. The total •increase in salaries in the whole of bis Department ouly totalled £lO2l. He spoke of the financial and social success of the estates that had been acquired by Government for ekse settlement, and expressed regret that larger blocks bad not been taken over in the Marlborough district. Mr Pirani, referring to the Farmers' Union, said he did not think it would enter the areua against the present party in power, but he predicted it would throw it-3 support into the movement in favor of an elective Executive, and strike a purifying blow at the present system of party government. In bis opinion there was cause for alarm, not. so much because of our increasing expenditure or decreasing revenue, but because of the unpromising liuancial outlook outside of New Zealand altogether. Sir J. G. Ward, who had only I-ve minutes in which tu speak, denied the statement of Mr Massey that the returns bad been held back deliberately, and quoted the practice in other colonies to show what the practice was there in regard to the Bl return (that of the public :«.e----tuiintsj. In Now South Wale?, on the lyib .''«'.;.', 1899, tlio AuditorGeiienv! pruc;,-ed the Bl return for' tbj year iv.dic,?; the 80th June, 1898. In Victoria ti:. leturn was presented on the '■» L b(p!ember, 1899, seven r.iOJ-.'.L'j •j.L'.cr mo expiration of the financial year. In West Australia it was not till January, 1901,

that the return was presented for the 80th June, 1900. The same difficulty that was experienced hero in obtaining information for the Bl return was experienced in other colonies, as was shown by the fact that in one case the return was delayed over ten months, iu another over seven months, and in another oase five- months. Sir J. G. Ward went on to quote from a speech of Mr Maescy to his constituents during the last recess, in which he had spoken of the large vote obtained in the pieecediug session for the North Island Trunk Raiiway, saying that it had been nearly double what had been voied in the previous year, a statement whioh had been received with gmit applause. Yet Mr Massey now urged a reduction in expenditure. If he were sincere, and those members were sincere liko Messrs Graham, Meredith, G. W. Russell, Hornsby and Millar, let them send in a requisition to the Ministry staling that they were prepared to ie-' - duce the pjiblic works expenditure by half a "million, and agreeing not to kill their brothers, but to allow votes in their own districts to be reduced. He would predict that those five members, if they do so, would bo excluded from public life by their constituents. The Minister's speech was interrupted by the 10.30 p.m. rule, and the House rose.