THE COLONIAL TREASURER AT HAWERA.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume IV, Issue 956, 30 May 1883, Page 2

THE COLONIAL TREASURER AT HAWERA.

The Hon Major Atkinson addressed his constituents in the Hawera Town Hall last" night. The Mayor was chairman. Major Atkinson commenced by speaking at considerable length concerning the functions of Parliament and the necessity for party government. He accused the Opposition of delaying business, and went on to say that unless it had reasonable chance of success, which the Opposition last year had not, it showed a want of patriotism in delaying the measures the country demanded. The Government last session were charged with delay in passing very important measures on such subjects as local Government, local and generalfinance, public works, loan and native affairs. On the 16ih June—and it would have been ten days earlier but for his illness—the Financial Statement was delivered, the native bills were all down, and in fact the whole policy of the Government was before the House. If the Opposition had really believed in its strength, it would have at once tried conclusions on some general principle; but instead of that they pursued the extraordinary course of attacking the Financial Statement on small points immediately it was delivered. Soaker after speaker rose to the attack, and Government replied, so completely routing the Opposition that never again did it muster up courage to attack the Statement. So far as the policy of the Government was concerned, the Government tried without success to get the principles discussed, and it was not till the 9tk of August that the Opposition brought down a no-confi-dence motion re the Loan Bill. The motion was “ That the financial proposals of Government were not satisfactory”—a motion so wide as to catch every member who was not satisfied with what the Government proposed to do for his particular district. But the House never intended to displace the Government, and so the debate was flat and the Opposition defeated. The Government, supported by a large majority, then proceeded to carry its measures, and carried every one of them of importance with scarcely an alteration. The Opposition became indignant, and talked of undue haste—a cry which had been kept up ever since. If the Opposition delayed business in the earlier stages of the session there must be haste in the death—in the latter part—but every member had the opportunity of making himself acquainted with every measure. In June there were introduced no less than twenty-six Bills, in July nineteen, in August fourteen; most of them being of great importance, so that it was absurd to say that the House had none of the Government measures before it until the last moment. As to the legislation of the session he pointed out that one of the objects of abolition was to decentralise power, and to give local bodies full authority over local matters, t > secure which various Acts had been passed, giving local bodies nearly as much power as they ought to have. No doubt the powers given could be increased as the country developed, became more thickly populated ; but at present the time was not ripe for much further extension. If the country would think for a moment as to what powers local government should possess, there would be great difficulty in pointing out any duty or power which should be exercised by local bodies, but was exercised by the central authority. No doubt new districts felt the want of roads, and the want made itself felt in the pressure put on the Government to attend to this road and that ; yet immediately a Government had done anything it had been accused of jobbery. If it put on the estimates money for a district represented by a supporter, it was favoritism ; if for a district represented by an opponent, it was to purchasers vote. In either case the Government was held equally blameable. To put a stop to this sort of thing the Roads and Bridges Construction Act had been passed, and he claimed for it that that Act would relieve members of the Government and House of great difficulty. Now any money voted for roads and bridges was put into -a general fund and administered as it were automatically. There were the regulations, the machinery under which money was to be distributed, and the Government had nothing te do with the matter beyond carrying out the regulations, and the grants were made equally to all so long as the money lasted. It had taken three sessions to pass the Act, but now it was on the Statute books it would be regarded as one of the best Acts ever passed for the establishment of the independence of local bodies, and the relief of Parliament fnm pressure to which it should not be subject. The rumors so industriously circulated about the centralisation of power in Wellington we-e absurdly contrary to fact. After referring to the Crown and Native Land Rating Act, Major Atkinson went on to speak of finance, repeating the arguments used in last year’s Financial Statement. Mr Montgomery, in a speech lately, had said he entirely, disagreed with the arguments, and he (Major Atkinson) thought he had at last got somebody to criticise his contention, but he was soon disappointed. Mr Montgomery assumed that the Property Tax was put on to make up the difference between the revenue the railways produced to the colony and the interest on the cost of construction, and then argued that the Property Tax was unfair. Mr Montgomery went no further than that. He answered that the Property Tax was not put on for such a purpose, so that the argument tumbled to the ground. Mr Montgomery went on to say the railways improved the value of land, not the value of personal property, and therefore the land and not the personal property should pay. He (Major Atkinson) held that personal property had increased enormously in consequence of the Public Works policy. It was trueland had been increased in value to a large extent, but had not the merchants made their fortunes ; had not shopkeepers grown richer ; had not the laborer saved and bought a farm ; had not all classes become richer owing to the Public Works Policy T All classes had largely benefited. What was the fact 1 Directly the route of railway was fixed, the owner of land out it up and so'd it in small pieces, making an enormous profit, which profit was invested in all

sorts of ways—becoming pqjsonal pro- I perty. Why should personal pro- i perty not be taxed ? • Why tax the i holder of land when the real owner was j perhaps the money-lender, who would : escape? Why should the till a r of the soil alone be taxed ? There w:s tbi-ty millions of money borrowed upon the land of the country. Were not the people who lend that money the real owners, and why should they escape ? If that were done, a man wno Benefited by a railway had only to sell his land, rud let threefourths of the money remain on mortgage, and he would escape taxation, making the unfortunate occupier pay for the increased value, which the seller had in his own pockets. Mr Montgomery urged that the present taxation all fell upon the working classes, because, as he said, political economists agreed that taxation upon goods was always paid by the consumer. If that were so, than no taxation upon wealth, except unproductive wealth, was passible, and they arrived at the absurdity that it was absolutely impossible to tax the merchant or farmer, or anybody else, except upon his fixtures or his ploughs or money turned into articles of luxury. The thing wa absurd upon the face of it, and, moreover, 8 the same law would apply to an income tax. It was not so easy to shift the burdens as Mr Montgomery made out. Mr Montgomery urged that the State should not make railways through private land and get no share of the advantage. That was an entirely different question, and it seemed to him (Major Atkinson) perfectly fair and reasonable that if the value of a man’s property were largely increased the State should take a proportion of such increased value, ani it was a great pity that that principle had not been adopted and carried out from the start. There were serious difficulties in the way of going back, because a large quantity of land had changed hands. It was impossible to trace the benefit and tax the right person ; but as to the future works, he could see no ' reason why the Assembly should not con- [ sider and devise some means by which ' persons who were largely benefited in ' respect to the capital value of their lands ! should not contribute a fair proportion of the increased value to the State. The ? proposition to impose rates to make up a deficiency in railway revenue seemed ' most untair, because railways were made as a matter of public policy—perhaps run- > ning through poor districts to connect with rich ones, or through sparsely popu- ’ lated districts to carry out a public policy. ! The advantages of a railway to.the whole ’ colony were not thoroughly appreciated. t The speaker then went into statistics to j show that all classes benefited by the rail--1 ways, as if that means of haulage was not 7 used some other would have to be resorted r to. It was absurd, because the interest on the cost of a railway was L 500,000, of which only L 350,000 was covered by the returns } from the railway, to say that therefore c the colony lost LISO,OOO, and that parti- ' cular districts must be taxed to make up " the amount. ! Until some more successful » critic than Mr Montgomery appeared, he fc (Major Atkinson) should adhere to his opinion that the taxation as'' at ■ pre- ' sent imposed is tolerably fair. Major f Atkinson then pointed out that the 1 results of the last financial year were r satisfactory, and the Government had B decided to strictly adhere to the resolu--8 tion not to spend more than a million a J year on public works. As to the land * question the Government would continue * its policy of getting the land settled in the 1 proper sense of the word, and not merely 9 made a sheep walk. A fair price would f be demanded for the land, the revenue, f less expense of survey, being returned to 0 the land in the shape of roads and 8 bridges. The Minister of Lands had taken * a great deal of pains in connection with * this question, and hai devoted a great 9 deal of time, energy, and knowledge to it, ' He had done mors than any other man 7 had ever done in the matter. Since June, [ 1879, 35,000 deferred payment settlers 1 had been put on 366,000 acres—surely a f very satisfactory result. There wore * 42,000 acres set apart- under the system of l perpetual leasing for the purpose of trying ‘ the experiment of a new system of land 3 tenure. The Government hoped shortly ' to be able to judge of the probable result b of the experiment. Major Atkinson then paid a high compliment to Mr Bryce, and 3 said that it would be a terrible misfor--3 tune if he ceased to be the Native Miuis- > ter. In connection with this was the quesr tion of dealing with native lands. It was 3 a very awkward qestion, which would * require careful consideration by the 7 Assembly. The system of Govern- ’ ment land purchase was now nearly wound ‘ up, but it was apparent the withdradal of | the Government from land purchasing 1 operations had not got over all difficulty. 1 There were grave scandals in connection 1 with native lands and the Native Land ' Court, and there was no doubt that steps , would have to be taken by the Parliament shortly to sit to remedy some of the evils. | As to ,the future, he had nothing very startling to reveal. The policy of the | Government was laid down very clearly in the Acta brought in last session, and the I Government wouldcontinue toworkon the liberal and progressive lines pursued J hitherto. Public works would be carried ' on vigorously within the limits previously 1 referred to. Local bodies would be | strengthened and rendered independent. ; The native policy would be the same as ' that which had been successfully inaugu- ! rated and carried on by Mr Bryce, and that firmness, self-reliance and courage would no doubt soon bring about the state or things so earnestly desired by both races living as one people. In regard to the session, the Government would bring down a number of consolidating Bills, and social measures. There would be the Abolition of Entail and Settlement Bill, a Bankruptcy Bill, and a Bill to deal with married women’s property on the same lines as the English Act. There would be a number of other Bills, to which he need not specifically refer, in continuation of the policy of last session. Whatever might be the result so far as the Government itself was concerned, a large amount of social work was sure to be gone through, but a great deal must depend on the position which the Opposi tion took up. The speaker denied that he had gone on this Southern tour for the purpose of fishing for a policy, as Mr Montgomery had said. Men who had taken a leading part in the framing and passing the Abolition Act, the Counties

Act, the Land Act and its amendments, the Property Tax Act, the Roads and Bridges Construction Act, the Native and Crown Lands Rating Act, and the various native Acts were not the men to go fishing in the waters of the Opposition in the sense in which Mr Montgomery used the word, but if fishing for a policy meant endeavoring to guide and construct public opinion by public discussion, by personal observation, ascertaining what were the wants and requirement of the people, and endeavoring to give effect to them, then he pleaded guilty, and should always be found fishing for a policy. In that sense statesmen who could in the course of half anhourdevelop from theirinner consciousnest Bills upon any subject, great or small, which would give perfect satisfaction to everyone, must come from the ranks of the Opposition, for they were not to be found in the ranks of the Government party. Major Atkinson then went on to speak of the Opposition, saying that though Mr Montgomery had spoken, the Opposition had not, and that the latter would do what Sir George Grey determined, not what the member for Akaroa determined. Ho concluded by saying, that in his travels about the colony he had beeu gratified by the numerous signs of progress, and thought there was a certain amount of depression and money was

tight, and likely for a while to continue so, owing to over-speculation and overimportation. He was certain in a short time all this would pass away, and that future progress would greatly exceed that of the past. In reply to questions, he stated that he did not think the Government would attempt this session to introduce any Bill to reform the constitution of the Legislative Council. He defended the two recent appointments to the Council, and held that whenever the Government considered it necessary to reform the Council, it would probably have to call many more gentlemen to the Upper House. A vote of confidence was carried unanimously, no amendment being proposed.