IMPREST SUPPLY

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2296, 2 November 1914, Page 7

IMPREST SUPPLY

LAND. SETTLEMENT AND ROADS : ELECTORAL ROLLS House met on Saturday at 2.30 An Imprest Supply Bill was introduced by Governor's Message The Hon. J. ALLEN explained that the Bill provided only for a small amount of money, sufficient to carry the Government over for a few days, until the Authorisation Bill could be put through. The amount in the schedule was £207,100. . "• , The first discussion raised was on the compilation of the electoral rolls, a subject so exhaustively discussed on many occasions during this session that little how remained for members to say. Members said that they were suro that manv neople would be left off the rolls

and disfranchised, and suggested that for this election people bo allowed to vote on making a dealaration that they are of voting age, and that they have lived for a certain time in the district. Iu no other way, it was could tho dislocation caused by the alteration of the method of compilation be repaired. Mr. Bradney said that if people took the same trouble to get on the roll as they did in writing to membors about being left off the difficulty would disappear. He did not deny that inanj; nainos had been struck off the rolls in error, but contended that electors should themselvos put the mattor'right by obtaining and filling in enrolment forms. Several Opposition members denounced these views as "Toryism." Mr. Harris said that if declarations were accepted large numbers of electors entitled to vote in one district might vote in another. He reconimended that tho fact that the rolls were open for inspection should be widely advertised throughout the Dominion. Ministers said that this was the usual practice. Mr. Colvin drew attention to the danger of isolated voters in the back country having their struck off the rolls on account of the infrequen'cj' arid uncertainty of the mail service reaching them. No Real Danger. The Hon. A. L.' HERDMAN said that a good deal of discussion had been carried on under a misapprehension. A clause was inserted in the.Legislature Amendment Bill to provide that any elector who recorded his vote at last election could vote at this election even if he discovered on election day that his name had been erroneously removed from the roll. Persons" iu this position would be required to make a declaration before the returning officer. This provision would remove all possible danger of people being disfranchised. The Eight Hon. W. ¥. MASSEY said he had been informed by the Chief. Electoral Officer that all the main . rolls throughout the Dominion had been issued with the sole exception of that for Wairarapa, and that the Wairarapa roll would probably be issued that night. The rolls generally had been, issued a week earlier tihan in 1911, and now that the main rolls were issued the enrolling of electors not on the main rolls was being energetically carried ~ on. An adequate number of rcen were engaged in the' work, and if t it should prove necessary to employ more to ensure that all electors were enrolled, mor/j men would be'employed at th,e work. - Mr. Atmore ventured a remark about what was being done in Nelson. ' Mr. Wilford (to Mr. Massey): You bavo a Rood field for your labour. i Mr. Massey: And a good harvest in sight. (Laughter.)' Mr. Massey read also two reports from registrars showing, that the new system of compiling the rolls was proving effective in pre- ' renting men from voting in electorates in which they did not reside. Both registrars said that they expected to have clean rolls.on polling day. The Opposition Leader. ( SIR JOSEPH WARD (Awarua) .said ' that prior to last. election he lvis assailed air over New Zealand for his alleged failure as administrator of tho Lands Department. , In this respect he claimed that he had been grievously ; misrepresented, and he wished to state • that in permanent settlement more se- ' lectors had been.put on the land in his '' years of office t)han in the two complet- ' ei years of the Massoy Government's ] Administration. In fact he declared that, the'figures for the Massey Govern- ,| ment were the lowest in all the years ho had mentioned. He claimed' also that more money was expended on roads by his Government in the years preceding the ooming into office of the i Massey Party than in, the years of tho ; present Government's legime. ' - i The Settlement Policy. < The' Right Hon. W. F. MASSEY \ said the speech of the Leader . of the t Opposition showed only that figures j were like soldiers—they could be made ] to face in any direction. Referring to j land settlement did the honourable I gentleman remember that in the first i Lands Report brought down by the pre- t sent. Government there was a state- ( ment by the head of the Department ' that there was only some 100,000 acres i of .first-class Crown lands remaining? Did the honourable gentleman expect settlement to progress as quickly under these oircurastances as when there were ' millions of acres, available? He would ' also remind the honourable , gentleman ] that the figures he had quoted were swelled by the men turned out of the Civil Service whom the honourable gen- ! tloman had induced to go on the land. ' Not many of them were on the land ! r.ow.; .they had Jived' a very miserable existence for three or four years and gave it up. ' '. • Mr. Russell: That's very unfair. Mr. Massey: It is a fact. • Quoting figures, ho showed that the record of j the' Government in land settlement was 'a very pood one. In tho last year of ' the Ward Government's Administration 14,000 .'acres were settled under the ' Land for ■ Settlement Act, and in the • first year of' the Massey Government i 141,000 acres had- been seftled under 1 this Act. And his Government had' ; also introduced now forms of settlement, settlement in small areas, for rural workers' homes. ' Mr; Russell: You strangled the villago settlement esheme. ' Mr. Massey: The village settlement ' scheme was never worth a rap. I ven- ) ture to say that not one settler of j every hundred originally placed in these settlements is in them now. He said that he had been through these settle- j ments, and the people .were not there. The reason was that the settlers wer9 put on small pieces of land, rifl ! which 1 they could not make a living. ' Aleo the' present Government had given ' the settlers the inestimable boon of .the £ freehold. ; They had no dog-in-the- £ manger policy. Tliey were anxious to f help the settlers, and this was the great ! difference between the present Govern- { ment and its predeoessore. The eoheme ; by which settlers paid for their lands assured a constant land settlement ' policy, because the money received from '* the sale of * lands to the settlers was ? to be used for the purchase of other , land. Presently tlie land settlement l polioy. would be possible without going o England to borrow money. Settlers * had also been placed."on. ovor-valued ■' holdings. One settlement, that he" had g seen in Canterbury Must have cost at >- least £10 an .acre more than it was 8 worth. ' ' . * Back-Blocks Roads. . a . In uegard to roads the case for the c present Government was equally good, h Jβ knew of settlers , who had been ten t yeare on their land who had not yet a ) road to their \ land over which they s could take a wheeled vehicle. To im- j, prove the lot'of these settlere he had p got Parliament to agree . to an A.ct a under which special road districts we're set up. This Act was working well,' n and roade were being made under it, a but he realised that, this Act waa not s sufficient, and the Government had pro- r vided for a loan of £1,000,000 for j back-blocks roads.. Unfortunately the c , lean might not bo easily proc«raMe"7n ], the present state of the market, but j the Government had the authority, and when the money 'was available it would ' be borrowed and expended. It was quite true that a good daal of the money tl voted last yenr liad not been spent, but tho fact wa6 that the passing of the Authorisation Bill had been delayed ' becauso by tho wild and wicked and deliberate obstruction of fhe Opposition „ the House, was kept in session until ° the middle 'of December. There was a running fire of hostile interjection, although Sir Joseph Ward had been allowed to make hie speech n without any interruption whatever, and a presently a few Government members.

ventured a "hear, hear" to one of Mr , . Massey's remarks. . . , Sir J. Ward-The silent party has said, "Hear, hear." Let's give them a cheer. Mr. Massey: The honourable gentleman would be very glad to have a party like this to .load. I have 6een an envious look in his eyes when I have seen him in this .House in very strange company. ' - , Air. G. WITTY (Riccartpn) said that tho Load er °f *. ne Opposition ha<l_ a record that he might be proud of, in the number of settlers put on .the land during the last five vears of his office. The Prime' Minister had fairly sta.rved the settlers. The Government's policy, he contended, instead of promoting settlement, had driven it away, and encouraged aggregation. The Minister of Fmancelia-d pledged the gilt-edged securities in London, yet he condemned his predecessor for doing so. Mr. Allen: I haven't pledged them for two years. Mr. Witty: That is not the point; you pledged them. The Tory candidates were new going round the country and saying that Sir Joseph Wn-rd left the finances in an awful mess, and had' actually ■pledged the £800,000 gilt-edged eecunfcios to get. money. • ' . Some Striking Figures. The Hon. W. FRASER (Minister of Public Works) said that~ the Leader o: the Opposition had read out a list o: figures of sums which he said had not been,spent on roads and bridges during the year. He (Mr. Fraser) proposed to do something better, and give a list of sums that had been spent. First of all he was going to take the first two years during which he had been in office, 1912-13 and 1913-14, and he was going to include all classes of roads. With those two years he would compare the figures of the past Administration, from 1906 to 1912. In 1912-13 the amount spent was £468,972, ,and ' in 1913-14 £493,646, not'a email eum for a Minister supposed to have stopped expenditure on all roads and-bridges. That gave a total for the two years of £962,618. For the two previous vears. 1910-11 and 1911-12, ' the total" was £874,399, as against his £962,618. He had spent more, in the first two years he held office than the honourable member had for the two years immediately preceding, and one of those years was election year. Hβ bod not had an election yeap yet ; he would tell them about that next year. Taking the two years 1908 to 1910—and again there was an election year—the sum was £975,394. Sir Joseph Ward: What is the difference between an election year and another year P , Mr. Fraser: "Oh, the honourable gentleman does not require me to tell him that." He admitted tho years 1908-10 showed that the expenditure was a little above his two years, but for the years 1906-8 the sum was only £786,231. "I nearly got over him by £200,000," said Mr. Frasor. Mr. , Wilford: "You are surprising yourself I" . ' ' Mr. Fraser: "Yes; I didn't make these figures out before" Then ho ( proposed to take the figures for what was generally' knofn on the Estimates as roads, back-blocks, 'and goldfields, for his two years and for the six years of the , other Government. For the first two years of the.six the sum tras £674,988, the next two years £834,474, and tho .last two 'years £745,672.' For the two years of his office the sum was £838,587. The average for the six years of the previous Administration was £375,857, and the averago for his two years was £419.293. The figures showed a very different position to what the Leader of the Opposition 'would have the country believe. Thn Huntly Disaster. Mr. P. C: WEBB (Grey), referring to affairs at Huntly, said there had been a suspicious fire that morning in the union .office.. He suggestedihat tho.fire. had occurred because there was in the office certain., correspondence which would show that the .company were wrapped up in tho bogus union, and that the Government were behind the scenes, and part and parcel of the whole thing. Mr. Wobb proceeded to attaok the com, pany in connection with the disaster, but Mr. Speaker drew attention to the fact that the member was dealing >vith ft matter which was set down on the Order Paper to come up. later, and Mr. Webb went oa to deal with , other matters., . ' >v Hon. James Allen In Defence. The Hon. J. ALLEN (Minister of Finance), replying to a statement by the member for Avon, that the expenditure for the first six months, of the financial year had increased disproportionately to the revenue, said that this sort of thing often happened, however, in the first six months of the year, and need not cause alarm.. In point or fact, he considered the increase in revenue, very-' satisfactory, and had hoped that a good result would be shown at the end of the year. It had been said that the Government had cut down advances because of their distaste for the .cheap money schome;, But in :tlie two years before last, election the Ward Government nionoy : had bean.lent cut wholesale until they came to. a .dead stop, no money being left to deal with appucations coming in. About this not a word was said to the electors. Tho cutting down had taken place before the' elections, but the. Government allowed the 'uneuepecting publio to believe 'that money would be lent out as usual. Could the honourable gentleman say who cut down tho advances? That was a direct challenge to the honourable gentleman. . The advances to local authorities and advances to settlers had been out down under the Ward regime, but the honourable gentleman had never mentioned it once to the public. When the present Government camo into office the limit of advances to local authorities wasr cut down to. £5000, and not a halfpenny was , left to meet fresh commitmente. The Government had restored the finances of the Department, and raised the limits to the maximum amounts allowed by the law, at which level they would have remained but for the outbreak of war. The question had been raieed as to how much money had been advanced. In the last seven months, which included three months of war, tho amounts authorised were £711,540. ■ . \. ' Sir Joseph Ward: How much has beon'paid out? : . Mr. Allen: I am glad the honourable gentleman, has asked me that question, because instead of paying out that amount we actually paid out £839,570. Surely this brought all criticism to the ground. It was charged against the . Government that they had reduced the amounts lent to workers. What were the facts? .; The' Minister of Labour could tell tho House that the year had most satisfactory in the history of the workers' dwellings scheme. As to advances to workers, in the last seven months loans of £212,230 had been authorised, and £213,750 had been paid out. Even in tho war months the advances had been continued. In the last.three months the lending Departments had lent to the settlers and local authorities £798,000. He repeated his statement of some days ago that the Customs taxation per head had been reduced since the Massey Gorernmcnt had come into office, and the land taxation had increased. This latter increase was due very largely to the increase in the graduated land tax. He had not time to refer to other, criticisms, because he wanted to get the Bill through, in order to bo able to pay salaries on Mouday. Sir Joseph Ward replied at 11.35 p.m. and sat dowri at 4 minutes before midnight. / Tho Bill passed through all stages at 3 minutes before midnight. MIDDLE OF DECEMBER? The Right Hon. W. F. -MASSEY moved that the Houso at its rising do adiourn,until 11 o'clock on Monday. SIR JOSEPH WARD grouted.

against meeting on Monday morning. He asked: When are we going to finish? Mr. Massey: We are going to finish when the Opposition ceases to waste time. Wo are going to put the programme through if we stay here until tho middle of December. Sir J. Ward: "Then we are going to stay here until the middle of December." He went on to protest against what he called driving the House, and he protested until perilously near to Sunday morning. The House rose at midnight until 11 a.m. to-day.