LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1864, 25 September 1913, Page 3

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

THE STONEWALL. Slr,-r-Tho impression left on one's taind when considering tho recent stonewall of the Opposition is tho reverse of favourablo to that party. Am I right in supposing that their opposition is basod on tho non-presontation of Departmental reports? A very ditfer- • ent thing to tho non-presentation of financial reports, which tho Seddon-cum-Ward Govornmont always withheld. Why? Becauso thoy, a? thoy always did, wished to hoodwink tho public as to tho financial position of tho country. Tho Seddon-cum-Ward party, if wo tako into consideration tho amount they added to tho'Public Debt, plus the. / yearly revenue, must havo had tho handling, or mishandling rather, of, well near £200,000,000 of monoy, part of which is represented by tho nonf laying railway lines in tho Middle Isand; but this prodigal waste of moneys . kept them in power. When tho next I big European war breaks out wo will bo in a parlous stato, with all these short-dated loans coming due. Tho Prime Minister put his finger on tho crux of the Opposition contention when he drew attention to the reports nod Estimates of 1911. It was there shown that in many cases tho Departmental reports wero presented weeks after tho Estimates relating thereto had beon passed. Let us review one , or two of tho most activo members of the stonewall. Mr. Russell, a member of tho short-lived Mackenzie Government, which, directly it mot Parliament, was turned out of offico, in its short tenure of office had time enough to recommend His Excellency to appoint three gentlomen to tho Upper House — all of whom were from tho Middle Is- , land. Seeing that tho North Island has the largor population, this does not seem what it to be. Again, one of thoso. three, tho Hon. Mr'. Parata, in tho Upper Houso, gives the Maoris in tho Middle Island, some 2000 in number,. over-representation. I would submit this sum for solution by the hon. members: If 2000 Maoris aro represented by two members, how many members should over 1,000,000 palichas be represented by? lam told .that the Maoris north of Auckland, who wore loyal during the AVaikato war, havo never yet been represented in tho Upper House. Auckland members will know what would havo happened if the.y had not remained loyal. , Mr. C. Parata was very active in the recent obstruction. Let him reflect on these facts. The majority by which the Hon. Mr. Hordman was returned exceeded the total of votes recorded at the election of a member for tho Southern Maori electoral district. Do notthe facts stated hero indicate that tho timo has now arrived when the Southern Maori electorato district. should be . merged into tho Western one? Not having timo. to pursue this very much, a brief reference may be made to Mr. Wilford's position, and the heavy handicap placod on the City of , .Wellington and adjoining boroughs through the action of the-party ho supported in connection with the straightening of the Hutt railway.' The Otira tunnel is another monument to' the mishandling of public moneys. The Hon. Sir James Carroll, tho Hon. Mri Ngata, and the Hon. W.. D. S. Mac Donald know perfectly, well that if tho money mis-spent on that tunnel had been expended on a continuation of tho railway south through the Bay of Plenty that it would havo opened up some of the most fertile tracts of New Zealand, with an unequalled climate, and yet they voted for a Government that, as before shown, Have mis-spont nioneys. The unfortunate part of it all is that this tunnel, having had so much money spent on it, will have to be. carried through.—l am, «tc., ' SICK OF IT ALL. Wellington, September 17, 1918.