MR. T. E. Y. SEDDON.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1830, 16 August 1913, Page 6

MR. T. E. Y. SEDDON.

"A FISHING EXPEDITION." Mr. T. E. Y. SEDDON (Westland) said that as a perfect example of a fishing expedition, tho present Budget was unprecedented in tho history of the Dominion. The Government had failed to bring down humanitarian legislation. Mr. Pearce: What about tho old age pension?

The Prime Minister: Oh, they blocked it.

Mr. Seddon said that it came as no surprise to hear the Prime Minister accuse the Opposition of blocking tho Old Ago Pension Hill, 110 was proceeding to (T.i into the details of the matter, but was informed by the Speaker that ho must not refer to a past debate. Anyone would realise, ho\said, that tho Opposition had not opposed tho old ago pension scheme, but had resented t.lio tactics of tile Government in bringing up a Bill of 72 clauses at two o'clock in the morning. Regarding tho recent controversy about the wages paid to workers at Bealey Plat, Mr. Seddon said that the Minister for Public Works had stated that tho union leaders had denounced the small contract system, that the men at Bealey Flat were not working, and that they were being watched. The men in question resented these imputations, and desired tlrat tho whole matter should be inquired into. Mr. Seddon expressed some curiosity as to tho personnel of tho proposed Advisory Board of Agriculture. Mr. Sykes: It will be a good one. Mr. Soddon said that tho member for Masterton was easily pleased. Ho had himself known what it was to sit as a privato member on the Government benches. Members in that position had to take statements from Ministers without raising any protest. In Opposition they were "more irresponsible" and more determined to find out what the position was.

The Prime Minister interjected that the West Coast would have a representative on the board.

Mr. Seddon. said that ho hoped this representation would not be lira that upon tho Westport Harbour Board. Ho hoped that tho Minister would not be guided by political feeling, as ho probably was when he made appointments to tho Westland Land Board. Two prominent Reformers, lie stated, were appointed to the Westland Land Board, regardless of the fact that other persons as suitable could have been appointed. Mr. Seddon further statod that a member of the Land Board who had done his duty admirably was dismissed without any warrant.

THE EDUCATION SYSTEM, WHO ARE THE TEACHERS' , FRIENDS ? Mr. J. H. ESCOTT (Pahiatua) replied to an assertion 'by Mr. Seddon that the Government, had pursued o, "Spoils to tho victors" policy. He pointed out that tho Government had reappointed consistent supporters of the Liberal party to the Wellington and Hawke's Bay Land Board, and challenged Oppositionists to cite a single instance in support of tho accusation they had levelled at the Government. The education system, Mr. Escott remarked, was not in a satisfactory position. 110 was confident that the Government would tackle the subject and that before the Parliament was out tho education system would be on a better basis than it had ever been on before. The strictures of Opposition members regarding the salaries of school-teachers were ridiculous in view of tho manner in which the Liberals had neglected the tcachcrs during 21 years. Mr. Escott went on to urgo that tho number of education boards should bo reduced. In fact, all the boards might be abolished, leaving one central authority iii Wellington to administer a uniform system of education throughout the Dominion. At present different standards •obtained in different education districts, and this was wrong. With one central board in Wellington, larger school committees with extended powers might be created. He recognised that teachers were not getting the salaries they were entitled to. It was ridiculous to assert that the education question should have been dealt with in the dhort time that the Government had been in power. As long aa the past Government was ill office, very little was heard from its supporters about | school-teachers. It was only when the present Government came into office that an agitation was raised. This showed that the school-teachers knew their

friends. Regarding criticisms of the Budget, Mr. Escott said'that'the answer of the Government would be in performances, and not in promises. The policy of tJie Government had been often enunciated, and before the present Parliament came to an end a great part of that policy would have been placed upon the Statute-book. The Cook Islands. Next he referred with sonio satisfaction to the administration of the Cook Islands. He did not say that things were as they ought to bs at the Cook Group, for it would-tako years to livo down tho maladministration under the previous Government. Some bush beer-drinking still went on, but ith.cre was much less than formerly. A deal of land still awaited cultivation in the group, and the Government might do more to develop tho Islands. He suggested that a direct steam service should be run to the Islands instead of merely a service going on to tho French possessions also.' Ono result of this was that Islanders went on the steamers 'to the French possessions to work the cargo, and they were being taken away from their proper vocations. Also they came back very- often to spread diseaso among their own people. He w6uld like to see the fruit trade with' the Islands developed by 'this subsidised steam service, and also ho would like lo see fruit which was brought from Barotonga carried on tho New Jtailand railways at tho same cheap .rates as tlioso charged for tho carriage of locally-grown fruit.. This would in time so develop tho Inlands 'that they would be. able to bear all thoir o-wn costs of administration without being a cliargo on tho Dominion. He paid ■ a high tribute to the work done by Dr. Dawson, who had taken an appointment at Nine at a reduced salary (.£■lso) in order 'to live down tho false charges made against him while he was Medical Oilicer at Rarotonga, and in order to benefit the natives, in whom he was genuinely interested. .Misleading Criticism. He traversed tho statements of the member for Wnirau about tho defence system. It was not intended, ho said, to do more thau train and equip an expeditionary force, in order that, should New Zealand' be called upon to help the British arms abroad, there should not be tho same chaos as existed when the contingents were sent .to South Africa. Those

men were'sent away with unsuitable kit,and without a single wagon tor transport or ambulance. This was all that was intended.' He was not in favour of keeping established. a permanent expeditionary force, which would cost tlw country more money. It was difficult, he said, to discover what the Opposition laud policy was from the speech of the member for Wairau. llhey spoke against the freehold, but in a dubious way, and they had voced for the Government Bill of last year, as they would have to vote for the Government's policy Bill this year. He stoutly defended the freehold tenure as the best for the settler and tho test for the State, but ho did not urge that tho Government ought to part with the freehold of national endowment lands in which the

Government ha<l a very largo reversionary interest under the leases. He quoted from the report of the State Fire Insurance Department to show that the offico had had the best year on record. This, lie said, v.'as tho best answer to those critics who had sought to misrepresent the present Government by saying that tney were seeking to cripplo the oQico and bring it into suoli disrepute that it would not bo able to ca.rry 011; but the report of tho year's work was the best possible refutation of this misleading criticism, by whioh tho Opposition sought to get back to office. The Back Country. He urged tlifit better moans of communication; by railways preferably, should bo given to the back country in his district. Ho was not in favour of concessions being given to railway companies, but when tho Government could not build lines 110 thought the settlers should bo allowed to build thorn, either with borrowed money or with subscribed capital. Of course there would liavo to bo proper safeguards of the interests of tho State, and there must bo a provision that the State should buy back at a rcasonablo cost at the end of a term of years. Ho believed, however, that tho time was rapidly coming, with tlio growth of motor traction, when tho back country could be well served by power-driven vehicles if (lie mnin roads of tho back country were improved. To make this possible he hoped the Government would come forward with a scheme for tho reform of our local Government system. He believed there were possibilities for the development of a very fino hydroelectric scheme in the Jtakuri Gorce, whioh would supply power for 1.110 run--1 nine of a light line of railway into that

district: Ho hoped that when this Government went out of office they would have increased tho prosperity of tho country, and added.to (ho sum of human happiness in it.

"DIGNITY AND IMPUDENCE." A PROMISCUOUS ATTACK. Mr. G. W. RUSSELL (Avon) said that tho "dreary drip of the last speaker's eloquence" alter tho brainy speech of tho member for Wairau—(laugiiter)—reminded him of Laudseer's picture "Dignity and Impudence." Referring to the speech of the member for Grey ho said no one couid have listened to tho speaker without realising that there had come a new force into New Zealand politics. Doubtless there was a strong body of peoplo in New Zealand who held thv opinions so ably put forward by tho new member for Grey; but after the new member had been longer in politics he would know that one could not realise all reforms in one year. He would learn that the surest way to progress was to achieve a measure of reform and make it a firm foothold from which to advance another ■step. He freely admitted that the Budget disclosed a satisfactory state of the Dominion, but this, "in spite of a year of Conservative mismanagement." But evidences of mismanagement were already apparent. Construction of ten lines of railway had been stopped, notwithstanding tho fact that seven new lines, all political lines, had been commenced; other evidences wero tho huge withdrawals from the Post Office Savings Banks, the growth of an unemployed difficulty, and an increase in the cost of living. Tlhis Conservative mismanagement had given rise to widespread unrest in the ranks of Labour, which had expressed itself at a congress of 400 delegateSj who met with the avowed intention of putting tho Government cut.

Mr. Lee: And not putting you in. Mr. Russell said the Government had also reduced advances to settlers, and had caused grave dissatisfaction among teachers of the primary schools, first of all ■by neglect, and thon by a certain appointment which, was being investigated by a committee of the House. On the other side of the ledger they- had given military pensions, and. pensions to widows at a reduced age. Mr. Hemes: What about the freehold? Mr. Russell: I will deal with that presently. Ho said the Budget disolosed also an alarming evidence of inoreaso in expenditure, a heavy increase in the national' debt, a climb-down from tlio policy of non-borrowing, no reduction of taxation, and an entire absence of policy t'lirougliout. Tho country was. disgusted with this failure to declare a. policy. Tho Prime Minister had been expected to declare his policy in his speech at Christchurch. Mr. Massey: I never said so. Mr. Russell said that when Mr. Massey failed to state his policy, at ChristchuroTi, tho people of tine country wero told to wait until Parliament mot. Parliament had met and still thero was no policj-—no definito line of policy on which the Government could go to the country. Surpluses. The increaso in the revenue for tho year had been .-£701,000, but the increase in tho annual appropriations was ,£719,000, and this, with the increase in permanent appropriations, brought tho tofAl Increase of expenditure over the increase of revenue to The Reform party when in Opposition bad said that Lib; eral surpluses were always arranged l for by tuuler-esitimating revenue and. overestimating expenditure. The revenue last year exceeded the estimate by ,£795,01-1, whilst the expenditure was .£116,000 less than tho estimate. It was easy _to see therefore where tho Minister for Finance got his surplus. Mr. Russell enumerated sums whiclf he asserted had been saved by the Government upon the old age and widows' passions' votes. He stated that £100,221 had been saved upon the amount availablo for land settlement.

The Prime- Minister: Do you mean the lands vote?

. Mr. Russell: Yes. . The Prime Minister: Then you are wrong. Mr. Russell: I am dealing with tho Budget. He continued that the Government had saved i2G,9G7 on tho education vote. After dealing with some other items ho stated that tho Prime Minister and Mr. Allen came to Wellington from Auckland in a special train which arrived only a few minutes before tlho ordinary mail train. In tho case of the famous banquet, at Milton, again, tho ordinary'train was not good. enough for these pure democrats. Mr. Ma Key: That is not so. Mr. Russell insisted that it was, but

wa? met b.v a chorus of denials from the 1 Government benches, while the Prime Minister ejaculated: "Absolutely wrong." Laughter "rose from the Government supporters as Mr. Russell began to violently abuse the financial administration of tlho Government. ' The Scope of Language. Ho said that he found it difficult, within tho scope of. the language permitted in Parliament, to refer to a table contained on page 8 of the Budget. In this table the Minister for Finance had the audacity to say that on June 30, 1912, there was a deficit of ,£879,000 in connection with the affairs of this country and that by June 30 following he had converted this into a surplus of £1,799,000. "Docs the lion, gentleman in his heart," asked Mr. ltussell in mournful tones, "wish tho country to believo that that was the condition that tho finances of New Zealand wero in?" Zeal in Scoring. Mr. F. H. Smith: Cheer up! Mr. Russell asserted that when . the Government took over the finances of the country' and found .£807,000 to credit as a genuine surplus, they had tho effrontery tx> say that thero was a deficit of »t879,000. If tho hon. gentleman had one spark of shamo in his nature ho would go and tear this page out of the Budget and say: "I admit that I have done my country a wrong. In my zeal for scoring off my opponents I liavo done a wicked thing and I beg pardon of my country." (Laughter.) The true position was that .£5,607,000 of borrowed money had been "shot" into tho country and that having used that borrowed money tho hon. gentleman found that he had got some of it left and said: "Everything i 3 all right." Not only had the hon. gentleman done what. he knew was an absolutely unfair thing, but he liad printed a table which his journalistic hacks throughout New Zealand had been printing without tho explanations. "The Dominion" Accused. He would tako The Dominion. It ma quito true that it had published a leading articlo which gave some of the explanations given by tho Minister with regard to this. absolutely incorrect and untruthful table: but at tho end of its article The Dominion had printed the tablo itself, eo that tho averago man,

reading tho article down, would read the table and would not carry away tho explanations. Did the hon. gentleman think it was fair to publish a table that was unfair and was being mado that use of by his journalistic hacks? A more disgraceful and improper thing had never been done. Tho present Government had increased the expenditure for two years by ,£1,'156,000. "Let the hon. gentlemon challenge his own figures if he likes, but tlieso <i.ro tho figures absolutely taken from his own Budget." A Literary Comparison. Ho quoted a statement attributed to Mr. Allen that when he went Home he went to a respectable broker to secure precedence for New Zealand and that tho precedonco was obtained and the loan iicated. Mr. Russell compared tho Hon. Jas. Allen to Moses in Oliver Goldsmith's story, "Tho Viear of Wakefield," and provoked a good deal of laughter as ho read extracts from tho story. The elVeet of Mr. Alton's visit to London, ho continued, was that Now Zealand stocks were now placed permanently upon a. four per cent basis on the London market, while the stocks of other countries were quoted ot threo and a half. The total increase in foreign borrowing for which the present Ministry were responsible, up to March Ml last, was X4,7(i1,.1fi0. In addition to this they had had .£750,000 from the magnificent surplus produced by tho Liberal Administration. Moreover they had raised from April 1 down to dato .01,010,000, making a. draiul total of borrowed money, for which the Government was- res|K>nsibls since taking office, of .£0.521,tG0. 'Tie defied tho Minister for Finance to get out of tlmt. Leaning on London. Tho Government was eoing to absolutely leun upon tho I<ondoil money market, Tt woo trains to ffuorautoo ia 10.

cal body loans on the London market. Worso than all —ho was ashamed that lio should liavo to say so—(laughter)—they were going to take rower 10 lloat their Treasury bills in London. (loud laughter.) And this was the Minister who said that tlio country ought to ba weaned l'rom <i sorvilo dependence upon the London money market. JJitl the Government still say that when they tcolc office there wero commitments in connection with loans to local bodies amounting to .£770,000 and only .£17,000 to meet them? Time after time the Government had made this statement. The actual po.-ition, as shown by tlio Budget, was that on .luiio 30, 1012, the total commitments were not •£770,000, but .£711,000, and the cash in hand was not i! 17,000, but „C9G,000. Ho thought that the Minister owed something more than an apology to his predecessor in connection with that matter. Ho stated that the Government had torrowed nvoncy on a Treasury bill from tho Loan and "jlerc.int.ile .Agency Co., of which tho Hon. W. Fraser was a director. It would appear that there was no need for tho loan, and he thought tho loan was influenced by a member of tho Ministry to save the company from having to hold money idle. "Stinking Fish." Next he spoke of what ho called "The Stinking Fish table" in the Budget,' in which the Minister set forth the loans falling due. It was stated that .£21,800,000 of loans were falling due in. the nox't nine years. Dr. Pomare: Is not that true? Mr. Russell: I don't-say it is not true, but what need is there to bring in a stinking fish table • when of the whole of that money only nine millions is owing in London? Borrowed Wit, Then Mr. Russell raised much laughter on his own benches by a series of quotations from Shakespeare, which he put forward as descriptive of tho several Ministers of tho Crown. Following were tho quotations, and the Ministers to whom they wero applied:— Tho Prime Minister—"Man, proud man, dressod in a little brief authority, most ignorant of what he is most assured, his glassy essence like an angry ape plays such fantastic tricks before high heavc-n as make the angels weep." Tho Minister for Finance: "I am, Sir Oracle, and when I ope my lips let no dog bark." The Minister for Justice: "God made him; therefore let him pass for a man." Tho Minister for Public Works: "J would croak liko a raven. I would b'ode, I would bode." The M'inister for Public Health: "In faith, he roars liko any sucking dove." Tho Minister dor Marine: "He hath no drowning mark upon him; his complexion is perfect gallows." The Minister for Railways: "The pound of ilesh which I demand ia dearly bought, and I will have it."

Tho Native Minister (Dr. Pomare): "I don't much dislike tho matter but the manner of his specch."

And of the Ministry as a whole: "Masters, it is proved already that you are little botter than false knaves."

Mr. Russell condemned the administration of tho Public Servico Commissioners, and lio hoped that tho State moneys would not be handed over unreservedly for ' expenditure by tho Commissioners, but that the several items in c-ach vote would 1» voted by Parliament class by class. Whatever happened, tho rights of Parliament must not bo filched away.