HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 1886, 6 July 1888, Page 2

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.

The House met at 2 30. MELBOURNE EXHIBITION. The Premier moved that Mr Speaker be inatruoted to oonvey to the Speaker of the Legislative A'ssombly of ViotorU the appreciation and aeoepUnoe of the cordial invitation of the New Zealand .Home of Representatives, but a* the name time regretting that aa the General Assembly is now In session many members would be prevented from attending the Exhibition who would otherwise bo desirous of doing so - The motion was Agreed to. - ODSXOM DOTIBB BILL. Mr Hutchison resumed the debate on the thild reading of the Customs Duties Bill. He avd thai* he was not one of those Protectionists who had given m their allegiance to Government. He twitted Captain Rasteli with having retailed to the Houaa the opinions .of people at Home oa the colony. As to the tariff, however, commendable it was m other respects, it had been greatly impaired by the imposition of the tea aud gait duties ' Me Levestam took exception to several > of the abatements made by the member for ! i Hawke'a Biy when criticising the tariff. r Mr O'Oonor aaid that he was a Proteo- , tlonist, buf; he considered thai the tariff threw a heavy burden on the mining population. Mr Izird protested against the third reading although he knew it was Idle to do ao at the present stage, Mr Fish said that the tariff now brought m would do a large amount of good to the I oommunltyl He censured Mr Saoble . MoKezle for having tried te Id j are the manafiourern of colonial barbed wire which was quite equal, m his opinion, to the imported artible. Mr Taylor strongly supported the third reading. 1 Mr Thompson (Maraden) would vote for > the Bill, bnt felt that the Protectionists would be disappointed at the result of it. i Mr Tanner oombaited the views, advanced by Mr Fiah, and said he wished to make a final protest against the passing of the Bill, which was now m a different position to what it was formerly, Inasmuch 1 aa the schedule attaohad to it had been > passed by the Protectionists i Mr Reeves (Si Albaos) denied that the I tariff was brought down for revenue purposes, as many of the da tie* were deoidedly imposed for protective purposes It was, m fact, a more drastic tariff than the Protectionists bad ever dreamt of, or ever would have proposed to the House. The debate was interrupted by the 5 30 p m. adjournment. The House resumed at 7.30. - Dr Newman suggested that we should import a board to manage our fioances as : well ai the railways. Ho ridiculed the idea of calling the Budget a Freatrade one. The country was prepared for a certain amount of taxation, but not f<r auoh an amount, especially when the larger part j could have been avoided by careful administration and rearrangement of the finances. He warned the House that the worst was yet to come, and that there would be a large defioit at the end of the year. Mr Pyke thought the Protectionists very moderate to be satisfied with such a j tariff, which was to all intents a revenue one. Mr Merchant combatted aome of Dr Newmans statements, especially the state* mient that the tea duty was raised for the purpose of providing local subsidies for the Taranaki district. Mr Scoble MoKeozle reminded Mr Pyke that he had been a Freetrader trhen the Storit-Vogol tariff was brought down, and that he was Chairman of the Freetrade Committee Ihla session. Mr Pyke Inter] oted— " That w»S a Protective tariff, this Is not.' Mr Mackenzie continued: Revenue duties could be taken off when times got better, but there was no drawing back from protective duties He quoted from the speech of Mr Fergus to his constituents, In whioh he stated that (he oountry could not bear any more taxation and that a further increase of duties would amount to prohibition. He oharaotertsed the Premier's policy 'as merely stunted VogelUm. Mr Peacock discussed the education question at some length. 'He advocated raising the school age to fix. and charging fees m the upper . standards. He was opposed to the Bill, but as the Houae had affirmed the principle he should not vote against it. Mr Grimnnnd again protested against the Imposition of tbia tar ff. Mr Boohanan defended himealf from a charge of disloyalty, and treated the local subsidies question from an adverse point of view. Mr Taipua opposed both the Bill <md the Native land policy of Government Mr Menteath denonncod the course the Government had taken, and drew a sombre picture of the evils of tha tariff. In four or five years they would be grappling m a death struggle with the curse of Prqtcp tfon. Mr Moss aa'4 that the men whq had aßsjate(J*to heap millions of debt on the 1 pountry had for eyer extinguished Free|trade m New Zealand It was useless for them to pine for it now. Naturally they verp somewhat sore, but Protection would have conic whether they l'ked it or not. The Premier In reply claimed that the tariff was not a protective one. He had followed exactly the same lines as m 1879, •nd put on dntlea m a way whioh seemed most advantageous to the country. He was neither a Protectionist nor a Freetrader, though e»oh party, no doubt might claim him us suoh. ti e would never agree to Impose duties simply for protective purposes. He replied to the ptlnolp&l arguments against the tariff adduoed by Mr Beetham, Mr Macarthur, Captain Raiaell, Dr Newman, and others. He oomplalned that the opponents of the Government had not given them credit for the faot t u .at £180,000 of the new taxation would go. to relieve loan m buildings and subsidies. Neither bad any of them expressed willingness to increase ( the property tax, though they were quite ( ready to lower the exemptions, la contusion ha said ho and his colleagues had thought this tariff out and brought It ! down, and they were not going to be ( separated. If ono went all went. Now j the tariff was out of tha way the Honss I was free' to select another Government if | it pleased, but they must understand that they would not submit to such innuendoes as the member for St Aibaas had let fall that afternoon. ' ' ' The House divided, and the third ' reading was carried by 45 to 23. • On the motion that the BUI pass, l speeches vrpre made by Mr Se4don and Mr Fish of a personal nature, as to thß former's action during the progress of ' the Bill. i Mr Fraser having made a few remarks l m the same direction the Bill pasaed its t final stage. . j q i The House adjourned, at 1 35 a.v* 3