HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 1885, 5 July 1888, Page 2

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.

The House met at 2.30 p.m. . CONTAGIOUS DISEASBBAOT. ' Considerable dtadutfsloui took t>lao) on the report from/ the Public Petition! Committee on the petition of Mary Steadmin Aldis, for the repeal of the Contagions Diseases A ot. „"=,; Mf Fiah moved that the evidence taken before the Committee be printed. Several members objected to ths print* Ing.of the eyldenbe. Mr Peacock omved It be referred to the Reporting »ncl Printing Committee. After dlsouaslon Mr Fish's motion wu lost, ;.-;■, . .. . ■ -•-,'/:. -„'/• •' Mr Goldie moved an addition to Ur Peaoook's amendment, that the Committee should also be asked to report whether or not, In their opinion, the evidence should be printed. . CUSTOMS DUTIES BILL. The Premier moved that consideration of the report of the Customs and Excise BUI be postponed till 7.30 p.m., a* the olause referring to the Midland Railway, which he wished to insert In the tariff was not yet printed. * . \ The motion was agreed to. :- COMMIT IKB OJP BT7PM.Y. -'\ 5 The Premier moved that the Hpuge go Into Committee of Bappply; for further: consideration of the estimates. \ . Mr Withy: moved as an amendment that In the opinion of this House Government should if possible during the reoeti. further reduoe the publto expenditure •by £100,000 pc? annum, > : '„ Mr Hobba supported the amendment, bs he was oroplnlon that farther redactions were absolutely necessary, knowing as he did that Government were paying more than the average rate of wages. He thought reduction In this reipeot was practicable, and should be given effaot to. He obj oted to tying Government to a bard and fast rule to reduce by £100,000, but should b-y satisfied if £80,000 or £90,000 were naved. -' Mr Goldie uupported the amendment, and said that the country demanded fur* ther reduotlono. Mr Reeves (St. Albann) thought <that £100,000 was too ma oh to ask for, and although he would support the amendment be hoped the Hbuai) would give an opportunity to reduce that amount to a reasonable sum. He should make a pro* viso, however, thU any redaction that was contemplated should not affect salaries of less than £100 a year. Mr Moss thought that the question should be postponed till the House was m a better poaiilon to consider it. Mr Fish thought the amendment a thorough waste of time, and showed on Mr Withy's pnrt an utter want of confidence m the Government whioh that boo gentleman tried to get out of. Any Government would accept such an amendment, but next eessloD, Government would no doubt say it was not possible to comply with the resolution. Government could not retrench to the of £100,000 unless it was at the expense oitbe" working men of the country. He should oppose the amendment. The debate was interrupted by the 5.30 p.m. adjburnment. ■ The House resumed at 7.30 p.m f CUSTOMS DDIiBS BttJD. t j The Customs Duties Bill was recommitted, and to olause 14 a proviso twas added bringing the alterations made sto'ce May 30th into foroe on the date inch alterations were made. V - A new olause was added enabling the Midland Railway Company to Import their plant under the existing law upon entering Into a bond that such plant was to be used solely for the railway and not sold or otherwise employed, ' Bitters m bottlea, jiro, etc., 16i.per gallon wbb lusevtod la the sohedule. : Braes and copper manufactures not otherwise, enumerated, were Increased to 20 per cent. " " Cordials In bottles, jaw, ©to,, 16a- per gallon was inserted. . ,-..;.•*>* Hesalanß not exceeding 4d per. yard, IB per cent was struck out, Liquors, 16a per gallon, was Inserted. Papierm&che ware wai lnoreaaed to 20 par oent. Silk and silk velvet, 25 per cent, was altered to include satin and plush. Scrim doth, 15 per cent, was struok out. Pearl ash, potash, and oauitlo potash were placed m the free list. / „ A In auawer to a question, the Premier said that these alterations would not give any inorease of revenue ' On the motion for the third reading, Mr Beetham mnda a final protest against the imposition of a protective tariff whioh he felt sure would hamper rather than encourage manufactures. There ware many other ways m ; which the gnsgolql balance o'ould ' be restored"' wlthoul Imposing sooh a maas of ektra taxation. 'Tm» proper settlement of the watta lahda and an Improved management of the rail ways were among them. Mr Ballance showed Mr Beetham's position was anomalous lor he had been a protectionist a few years ago. Ha denied that protection would have an evil effeot on industries as a competition would cheapen local manufactures. As to land I settlement, the Government's policy h,ad I broken down so far as deriving oash rs« venue from''the sale of lands. Jb|e took; oredit to himself for placing more people I on the land than had been done for years previously. He hoped the freetraders would take their defeat amtoibly,* and did not regard this Bill as final, but considered it would meet the purpbsa for at least three , pears. Of course anonialiei would arlaer as was always tbe case 'ln suoh "phaseV of legislation. He admitted that the agricultural industry had aoaroely received fair ojosideration, and saggasted that ,a committee ml^hb bo ftpp^lntel m enquire Into and report from time to tlni3 what ch«agei were needed. Mr McArthur defended h's aotloa and ooraplatnad of tha- langn^ge used by tft' Premier' tow jc Ji $

quoted a state mant by Mr Brace to the «f£jcttbat Sir Harry Atkinson had promised last session not to lutrodaca a^y protective duties. The Premier t aid this was untrne. Mr Brace remarked that to the bes*; of his recollection the statement was accurate. Mr Mo Arthur continued to comment generally on the tariff, asking how an> one could suppose Us effect would not be to raise prices. He compared the Premier's fiaanoial operation! to Mr Mioiwber'a prao'ioes end hoped it would not be nuny years before the inevitable reaotlou set m. Mr Fergus replied to the previous speaker's strictures ard claimed that the Premier was perfectly consistent m his policy. The position of Government had been one of extreme difficulty and if membars were dissatisfied all they had to do was to give them a short shrift Be reviewed the Tariff to show th*t the bulk of the duties were required principally for revenue purposes and there was tery little i comparatively put on to those who were best able to pay it. Mr Bruce defended the freetraders, who ha asserted would yet prevail. He repeated that Mr MoArthur's statement was correct so far as his memory served him. For Sir H. Atkinson to give htm the He uhe had, was degrading to his position M Premier. Captain Russell said that Government were not pouring oil on the troubled water. He feared that the ultimate result of tha Tariff-would not be an increase In the revenue at all, though it might be swelled for a year or (wo. It was his firm belief that if people realised the enormous amount of taxation pot upon them they would return sufficient freetraden to utterly reverse the present policy. Moreover the tariff wonld defeat its own objact is the uprlte of looal Industries would diminish the revenue. It would, however, Increase the cost. Among the other reasons he had for opposing the tariff was the faot that the colony had already developed manufactures to a great extent, even more so than Victoria, and he did not sea where they were to get an outlet. He quoted from bis English experience to show that the prevailing impression of all classes at Home was that on* chief products were 11 theoretical politicians and deficiency bills." This tariff would give a at ill worse Impression and by reducing Imports wonld ruin our shipping lines. Mr Allan spoke briefly from a freetrade point of view, strongly protesting against the Bill and the position taken up by Government. Mr Hutchison moved the adjournment of the debate. The Premier made personal explanations regarding his conversation with Mr Brace, What he had really said was that be would never be a party to make « tariff for purely protection purposes. His remark abont the statement being nnteoe was not levelled at Mr Brace, and was not meant to Impute such a thing against hliu. . The motion for the adjournment was agreed to, and House rose at 12 15.