PARLIAMENTARY

Ashburton Guardian, Volume IV, Issue 1010, 1 August 1883, Page 2

PARLIAMENTARY

LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL. Tuesday, July 31. The Legislative Council met at 2.30. BILLS. The St John’s College Removal Bill and the Timaru Racecourse Reserve Bill was read a second time. The Criminals execution Bill was read a third time and passed, The Otago Harbor Board’s Reconstitution Bill was brought in by Mr Whitaker and read a first time. The Confederation and Annexation Bill, the Taumutu Native Commonage Bill, and the Metrihuka Native Reserves Grant Bill were received from the House, and read a first time, IMPORTATION OK STOCK. In reply to the Hon Mr Peacock, the Hon Mr Whitaker said the Government had decided for the present to prohibit the importation of all stock whatever. The Council rose at 3.10 p.m.

HOUSE OP REPRESENTATIVES, Tuesday, July 31. The House met at 2.30. BILLS. The Parliamentary Witnesses and New Zealand University Bills were assented to by the Governor by message. QUESTIONS. Replying to questions, Ministers said:— That the Government would be prepared to give assistance to other bodies besides the one Canterbury Company for the introduction of diamond drills in to the colony. When the Springfield Company had done with the drill liberal arrangements would be made with other bodies. —That the blankets and flannels used in hospitals were provided by the local Committees, but those used in gaols and lunatic asylums were for the most part manufactured in the colony, unless the prices asked for these articles were out of all proportion to that charged by the Horae " manufacturers. The telegraph forms were printed in London, as ne colonial printer could do them at the price, —That it had been ascertained that the confinement for ten or twelve days of persons susnected of lunacy in a building other than the asylum would b* injurious, instead of beneficial, in cases of suspected lunacy.—That until certain returns bearing on the subject had been got he was not prepared to say what the Government would do in the matter of fencing where the railways abutted on sections sold to deferred payment settlers. —That the Government was disposed to make the same concessions in the railway carriages of linseed as were given to grain, but as regards the carriage of grass seed they saw no reason for changing the tariff. —That in the other colonies it had been decided to quarantine imported dogs for six months in view of the case of hydrophobia in New South Wales, sind ' the same course would bo followed in New Zealand.

MUST READINGS. The following Bills wore introduced and read a first time :—Waimato High School (Mr Steward) ; Wanganui Bridge (Mr W. Johnston). SUPPLY. The House went into Committee of Supply. The Hon Major Atkinson moved that the period of two months mentioned in the Public Reserves Act be extended for a further period of one month, so as to provide supplies, up to the end of August. Agreed to. PROPERTY TAX BILL.

The Hon Major Atkinson moved the second reading of the Property Tax Bill. He said he proposed to give Mr Montgomery and Sir George Grey an opportunity of bringing forward their motions, as to substituting a Land Tax. He would' therefore content himself with merely moving the second reading of the Bill. Mr Montgomery said the first question that would* be asked by the country was, why was this Bill necessary'? When they proposed additional taxation the question arose was this tax a fair one in its incidence ? He did not think it was, and it would not be required if land improved by railways and public works was directly taxed to meet the charges caused by the money borrowed for the construction of such works. The present property tax was one upon the industry of the country. When a few parsons subscribed capital to establish a company to start an industry, they were at once taxed, with the additional aggravation that in many cases they were taxed before they were in a position to make any pecuniary returns to the investor. It was also a tax upon persons who improved their land, and even their insurances were taxad through the insurance companies. The whole of the money invested by merchants and traders was also taxed from the moment it was invested. The property tax was unjust to industry and to companies. He then went on to speak of the land tax, arguing that money invested in land should have the same consideration as m®ney invested in anj other way, Land had increased and would continue to increase in value with the increase of population. The returns from land were, not immediate, but they , came' by and by. It was a condition of the title given by the State to land'that it should be improved, and if not improved it was for the State to say how it could get at it by taxation. He had no hesitation in saying that such a tax should be imposed as would make its owners improve it. Land that was held simply for increased value was simply standing in the way of the general progress and improvement. That was the general view of the question. Railways and public works had given property immense value, and in that view was it not reasonable to say that such property should bear a large proportion of the public taxation rendered necessary by such- works ? It was only the expenditure directly calculated to benefit land that ho would tax the land for. For the general expenses of Government an income tax should be imposed. He denied that the finance of the country was in a soun 1 condition. They wore on the brink of a financial disaster. He calculated that the landed estate of the colony was charged to the extent of at least L 50,000,000. He computed that the total the colony paid was no less than L 0,547,000 in interest alone every year. After paying that sum out of the colony, he would ask how much was left in profits to the people '( At the present moment the state of things all over the colony was si agnation in trade. The fact was, they were spending too much money on useless departments, and sending so much out of the colony as interest on their debts, that they could not look for anything else than a continuation of this stagnation. If they were to meet the position of things as they should they would have to reduce their expenditure. That was the only safe course they could follow.

Mr Dahgavillk blamed the Treasurer for not giving fuller explanation of the Bill. He argued at considerable length that that there was no necessity for the Loan Bills being passed last year, but so much had the present Government become bound up with a certain financial institution, the Bank of New Zealand, that it had to consult the interests of that institution in preference to those of the people of the colony ; but fer its necessities the Government could have gone on without any loan being floated last year. Major Atkinson called himself the Treasurer of the colony, but in reality he was only an accountant to the financial ring in Auckland and its willing tool. Ho could not stay a day unless he had that ring at his back. He read from the published propectuses the name of the Premier as a director to a new project—the

New Zealand Mortgage Company, L'raited, launched by the Bank. The time had arrived when they should put down their foot and say we will be no longer governed by this financial rina. That Company would only be taxed to the extent of their paid up capital, whereas they could lend L 2,000,000 which would not be taxed. That exemption he computed to be equal to 12 percent on their paid up capital, and to that extent they would, under this Act, bo benefited, as against private persons who brought their capital to New Zealand for investment. He felt that anything lie could say would not affect the result of this motion. The Bill would be carried. The Government no doubt now could do as they liked, as it had done since 1876, when the present Premier and his partner, Mr Russell, received LIO,OOO from the Bank for their services in getting .the Legislature to pass a Loan Consolidation Act, which, had greatly benefited c tbat institution to the loss of the colony. It was a shame and a scandal that the name of the Premier of the i colony should appear as a director in the prospectus he had referred to, especially when they would not let Sir J. Vogel as Agent-General act as director of an agricultural company. He warned the Government that the position on which they stood was not as stable as they imagined. It could not bp when its foundations were class legislation, financial terrorism, political corruption, and public wrong, all tending to selfish aggrandisement. Mr Turnbull said he had no doubt but the motion would be carried, although at the same time he would vote against it. Interrupted by the adjournment, 5.30, EVENING SITTING. The House resumed at 7 30. The Hon Major Atkinson, who had been called on to reply just before the House rose, said he had no desire to to bring the debate to a premature close if any hon member wished to speak. (Cries of “No;” “Go on.”) He said was this what the great financial debate had come to, and was this the discussion of the great subject of taxation ? It was almost an insult to the House to have the financial position of the colony discussed as Mr Montgomery had done. Unless he could do it better he would have to be deposed from his position as a sectional leader of the Opposition. He then proceeded to criticise Mr Dargaville’a speech, which he said was one of the many speeches which should not have been delivered. Where were Mr Dargaville’s facts on which ho had staked his reputation for common sense 1 The fact was he had none to begin with, consequently he had not lost it by the statement he made tonight. After such statements the House in future would be careful about believing in the hon member’s facts and statements. His idea about doing without the loan.of last year was a most astonishing statement. His theory on that subject was a financial problem he could not solve. To place the smaller loan on the local market would have been most injudicious, as it would have withdrawn money from the Post Office Savings Bank at P er cent in order to pay 5 per cent on it as debentures. Had Mr Dargaville had his way and no loin floated, they would have had nothing to go on with on the Ist March, and they would have had a large liability to meet. As to the Bank arrangements of the colony, the whole subject was gone into some years ago, and on the recom--1 mendation of the Public Accounts Committee, advertisements were issued inviting tenders frpra the Banks. Only one tender was sent in. None of the other Banks were strong enough to open up the necessary branches throughout the colony. What these Banks wanted was to get the Government into the, hands of associated Banks, but that would be i most dangerous, and he for one would never consent to such a thing. It would make the Banks the real Government of I the colony. The speeches they had heard to-night were a very fair representation of the policy which proposed to turn out the Government first and then talk about a policy afterwards. Great fault was found with the Premier for becoming a director of a financial company. He claimed fer himself and the other members of the Government to become directors of any sound legitimate concern. It was absurd to suppose that because a member took part in the Government of the colony that he was to debar himself t om tiie ordinary rights of a citizen. He admitted that there was a commercial depression, but the reason was that the commercial men had imported LI,OOO, > 00 of goods more than they were able to pay for. He denied that that depression was participated in by the general public. The fact was that the men were forcing their goods into the market, and the public gained the advantage In the past winters the} had always had a ery about unemployed, but this winter ihey had had no such cry. The statement that they were paying interest out of borrowed money was utterly ungrounded. Mr Montgomery—We’ll undertake to pr *ve it. The Hon Major Atkinson continued. He would in due time 1 call upon him to make good his promise. They had been asked, was direct taxation necessary ? The answer was that the House and country decided it was. They were told that Mr Montgomery would put on a land and income tax, The latter in its very nature was an easy tax on the rich and heavy on the poor. The man of wealth was content with 10 per cent on his money, whereas the small man had to make 25 or 30 per cent, to make a living at all. In that way the poor men would pay three times the amount of their rich neighbors. The industrious and thrifty, who put their capital to good account and got a fair return, would be taxed a great deal higher than the lazy and indolent, whose means and opportunities might be quite as good as the other. He (Mr Montgomery), was only a recent convert to the land tax. A few years ago he spoke against such a tax, as the quotations from Hansard he would read showed. Probably more than a third of the landholders had acquired their property since their lauds were benefited by the public works. In that case they would be taxing, not the rich man who benefited by these works, but the man who actually paid for these benefits. As a matter of fact, wherever railways wore made the land in greater or smaller areas was cut up into small holdings, and portions of the purchase money of these left as security for land. In that way this unearned increment had been converted into personal property, so that to get at the men who were the aclual gainers they would have go for personal property. Again, the question of unimproved lands was a most difficult one to deal with. II he grew crops or grew mutton it was all of the nature of improvement. He regretted they had not had a real instead of a sham debate on their finances.

The motion for second reading of the Property Tax Bill w« then put. The House divided —Ayes, 40; noos, 33. On the question for committal of the Bill, Sir George Grey denied that facilities had been given for debating the question fully. Not a single word fell from the Government side of the House until the Treasurer rose to reply. After discussion, the Bill was ordered to be committed on Thursday. BANKRUPTCY BILL. The Hon Mr Conolly moved the recommittal of the Bankruptcy Bill, for the purpose of considering clauses 61 and 130. The House divided—Ayes, .9; noea, 27. The two clauses as amended were carried, and the Bill was ordered to be reported with amendments.

BILLS OF EX'HANOB BILL.. This Bill was further considered in Committee, when the following was added as a new clause : —“ No bill, note, or cheque shall attach any liability to any aboriginal native unless it shall (if not written in Maori) have a Maori translation endorsed thereon, and shall also show upon its face that the note or cheque was duly interpreted to such native at the time of the making or acceptance thereof, and that such native understood the liability for payment imposed thereby. BILLS. The Bankruptcy Bill and Bills of Exchanv.e Bill were reported with amendments, and progress on the Married Women’s Property Bill. The House adjourned at 12.5 a.m.