SWEETENING THEM.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1272, 30 October 1911, Page 2

SWEETENING THEM.

v ELECTION YEAR. nOW THE VOTES ARE BOUGHT. (liy TclcEranh— Press Association.! Clin'stchurch, October 28. Jnterviowc.l regarding the work of. llio BKi-ion, Mr. Jan:;.;, Allen, M.P., referred to tlio hours during which tile liou.',a tat between OctolKl' 1G and October 27. Jle said that the sitting hours have averaged ten Iwurs six minutes daily, exclusive of lime for adjournments and of timo spent at commit.w, the last-men-tioned meaning two or three hours daily. Tlio figures showed, !ie Kiid, that sensible men coiud only como lo llio conclusion thai, during the last days of the session, it was a caso of "legislation by exhaustion," and, against this stato of tilings, tho neoplo of the Dominion should protc-t at tho coming elections. Referring to financial matters, Mr. Allen said that i'l must bo absolutely startling '.o tho pcor.Je of the Dominion to recognise that the annual lioiw. or tho npproprial'ions for Deinrtmental ex]»ndiinro oui of the Consolidate Fund for the year 1911-1912 (including the appropriations made in tho Supplementary "Es'.imalcs) amounted to .£This war, an increase on tho annual appropriations, made for tho pro vious year, of .C793,.'W(i. Ho did not know of any previous increase in the annual appropriations approximating tho increase given above. Tho next largost increase mvi probably thai of the election year, 1903-9, when this annual appropriations showed an increase, over those of the previous year, of ,£532,131.It looked as if the increases in the appropriations could bo taken U6 a kind of election barometer. Tho fame applied to tho appropriations mado out of tho Public Works Fund. Although the total public works appropriations for 1011-12 (including those on tho Supple,mciiitnry Estimates) totalled £1,010,05'.!—au increase of .€43,878 on Hiof.9 of the previous year—it must be recollected that, in the financiai year 1910-11, there liad been an increase of .£000,03!) on the appropriations of 1903-10. This also was an election barometer for, in every year since the Ward Government took office, there had been doa-cases in the Public Works Fund appropriations, cxcept in the two years just mentioned, and in the election year 1908-9, when thcro was an iner«iso of .£39G,2i)G. Turning to the expenditure out of the Consolidated Fund, Mr. Allen said that tha figures told the same story. Of course, ho could not deal with the expenditure for 1911-12, but, in the election year 1908-9, tho expenditure showed o. very big increase of J!490,139 over that of the provious year, and lie was prepared ta guarantee that, lor 1911-12, tho increased expenditure would be as great as in 1908-9, as compared with tho expenditure for 11)10-11. The figures relating to Public Worlis expenditure told tho same story. The first year of tho Ward Government (190G-7) showed an increase over the previous year of .£390,153. Tho following year (1907-b) showed a decreased cxiienditure, but tho next year (1908-9, election year) showed an increase of .£293,839, and the next two years showed a (/'crease. Now, election year had como round again, and lie hesitated to say what llio increased expenditure would lx> as compared with that of 1910-11, but it would be pretty large. Mr. Allen added; "All these figures indicate how llio public money is used, as it seems to mo, for electioneering purposes." Continuing, lie said that, if there was added to the annual appropriations, tho permanent appropriations—these mado to meet interest and sinking fund charges, and for expenditure under certain Acis— then the increase in the appropriations over those of the previous year readied tho enormous sum of .£991,787. There had never been anything liko this incre«so sinco ho was a member of Parliament. Of tho increase mentioned above, ,£190,7(18 ivas due to increased provision for interest and sinking fund. As Mr. Ballanco had said of the Dominion's finances years ago, their pi'Meni condition was such that ' : sune mcu should pause."