Pre-Sessional

Feilding Star, Volume XI, Issue 147, 5 June 1890, Page 2

Pre-Sessional

MByMACABTHUR AT FEILDING. . Mr Macarthur, M.H.R., for tliii electoral district addressed the electors in the Assembly ;Rooniß on Tuesday night. There was a lar>e attendance/Mr Fi X Lethbridge, the Mayor, presided and, in introducing Mr Macarthur, said he was glad to see so many present because he thought every elestor should hear what their representative had to say, for themselves which he thought was a much better plan than by depending on the newspaper reports. Mr Macarthur was received with ap--plause,. and he opened bis speech by remarking th athe had not intended to. speak in Feilding so soon, as he had been desirous of addressing the electors in the remoter parts of his electorate during the prevalence of the moonlight nights, but his attention had been attracted by the speech made by the Hdn;;Mr Fergus, at Queenstown, and He considered it advisable to change his programme. The Hon. Mr Fergus had gone too far when he claimed to be the exponent of the future policy of the Ministry and prophet of what was going to. happen in the coming Parliament. He, Mr Macarthur, would deal with this speech under four headings. . ■ CONSOLIDATION OF LOANS TO LOCAL BODIES. Mr Fergus said the local bodies throughont New Zealand had borrowed from Jthe English money lenders, roughly speaking, £5,000,000, and for this they pay from 4 to 7 per cent. The average is £5 9s 6d per cent, of a, total 'payment from the local bodies of Mr Fergus said that > supposing' we' paid 4 per ' cent on ibis £5,000,000 that would effect a saving of £76,450, or at 3f per cent £98,835. Mr Macarthur did not know where Mr Fergus got his figures of the liabilities of local bodies, and as to how the proposed consolidatibn could be carried out Mr Fergus did not seem to be very clear himself, but it was evident. Mr Fergus meant to get the colony to guarantee these loans which, weallkndw, would mean that in the event of any political crisis influences would be get- to. work- to ; force the Government to relieve certain local bodies, of their burdenß and put them on the shoulders of the of the people at large. . There was nothing new in it and the scheme had for some time been talked of in .the lobbies as •" the corning swindle." Mr Fergus said "it was a singular tiling when we look at the Local Government borrowing to, see how the money j was spent, and who the people were who obtained iti" Of thetotaj sum of £4,97.7,000 obtained from Englieli capitalists, municipal and local bodies obtained £2,165,000, and of this the four large cities absorbed £1,693,800. Harbor boards got £2,812,000 of which the large ports got £1,255,000. Mr Macarthur said : that- from this it would, appear that the jijural, local bodies had got their share, but an analysis showed that on 81st March, 1888, the rural local; bodies owed the banks £80,165 in , overdrafts. The loans to local ' bodies were : Harbor boards, £3,000,000 ; Municipal Corporations, £2,---527,000; Christchurch Drainage Board, £200,000 ; Hirer Boards, £48,000 ; Local Bodies in rural districts, £320,000. as the proportion of local bodies loans to ,th« others was aB £1 to £19 any sohemi which threw the interest of harbor board and municipal loans in the general category would be inequitable. The fact was the current indebtedness of the small boroughs with less than 2000 of popula tion was only £43,000 to Government de partment«, plus their bank overdrafts. Mi Macarthur could not pretend to give tn< actual amount of overdraft of these bodiep but one thing was pretty certain thai boroughs of that status had apt. been able to borrow in England. It was all yerj fiae for Mr Fergus: to say the colony would not have to pay the interest, but onlj give a guarantee. ? Experience had showi the fallacy of this, and Mr Macarthui quoted the case of the Kaihu Bailway "and certain rates due under the Districl Bail ways Act, whioh had proved uncolhot able, in support of his. contention. Mi Macarthur did not believe that anj scheme of consolidation could be formu lated wnereby' the burdens of interest or the rural bodies, loans could be made s< light as under thee Government Loans tc Local Bodies Act. The present paymsnl under the Government Loans to. Loca Bodies Act of 5 per cent, practically in eluded |2f per' cent. for. interest and 2\ ■sinking- fund as the principal was nol paid back as in the case of an ordinary lender,^ and they could not get a lowei rate of intsrest. If there were a colonial guarantee solieme adopted local bodiet ■would not easily be restrained from borrowing. Parliament cannot be more moral than the constituencies. The present Parliament had to s|pme 'extent checked the passion for borrowing to make unproductive railways, but perhapi the reaction had gone too far. If we could only pull up for a few ; years and do without borrowing the prosperity* of the colony was assured, and, they would never again witness the objectionable scramble for public expenditure which had obtained •undSr the Public Works policy. ? Mr Fergus had spoken as if he were the chosen mouthpiece to enunciate the policy of the Cabinet., He said "Ths Government thinks •• "The Government will do this" sind bo on. Mr Macarthur said plainly that be did not believe" wjiat Mr Fergus had expressed was the policy of the : Govsrnment, and if Mr Macarthur's supposition was correct, and he had good grounds for believing it was, the conduct of Mr Fergus was most reprehensible. He'had pledgisd his colleagues to a policy never agreed to in thsCabjnet; in fact he (Mr Maoarthur) was c'srtain sonic of the Minisiry 1 would resign rather than suppprt such a poUcy. Mr Macarthur was not a Bup^orter of the Ministry, he having seceded from them when they brought in. their : Proteotiori polidy^ He spqlft from kin impartial and independent standpoint. ..With reference to the default* made by the New Plymouth Harbor Board, and the threatened default of the Gisborne Harbor Board, Mr Fergus had said this might injuriously affect the credit' of ihe colony in England. To show the' absurdity of this idea Mr Macarthur quoted tne case of the Manawatu Boad Board where a Receiver had been in charge, 'and 1 yet nothnig was thought about it. : The English bondholders knew perfectly well the colony was* not bound to com? to the rescue of defaulting local bodies or Harbor Boards; An attempt had been made to shift the responsibility of the New Plymoutk Harbor Board by saying the Legislature had altered the land laws since the Hew Plymouth Har. bor Board loan was raised. The laws had certainly been altered, bat it was absurd? to think that the colony should bind] itself not to change the laws relating 1%0 l|nd for the ' benefit of a small local body. ■' There was the danger of the Premier, yrno has always been an advocate for assisting the New Plymouth Harbor Board, but he (Sir Harry) knows ito time is not opportuns, and no doubt Mx Fergus had heard the matter talked about. Mr Macarthur's second heading was the ACQUISITION OF LAiq)S FOE BKTTLBMBNT. Mr Fergus said " We have reSolyed, or it has been resolved for üb, that we shall but if wewAntto^evgt outei'di speouh*tion in Native M™V how, f ask, the^veri^^P*^ «et '■ ihe money 'to acquire thete lands t Mr Fe^Wswfeontitfn#lfr:MaeMl|nHr,

they would not borrow, they would issue; debentures. MrMMftrttair in faia simplicity' thought these w«ra one «ad the mud* thing. That would mean 5 per cent or perhaps something over. Under the existiug scheme Mr Fergus saj s it is ted to pay £6 9s 6d, yet he proposes to reverse the position and put the Goverutnent in the place of the local bodies. On the point of repaying the proposed debentures out of the land sold, Mr Mac* arthur said that the Land Fund always showed a deficit, owing to the large amount of land disposed of on perpetual - lease. It is true chat the rents front the latter source might go some distance to pay the interest on Mr. Fergus' debentures, but this would still- further *ih-^ crease the deficit in the ordinary landfund, which as already- stated, cannotpay its way now". Although Mr Macarthur was opposed to further- borrowing for unproductive railways, he thought that in the case of a legitimate object . like that of opening land for settlement, a - ■ better and bolder policy would be tofgo . Xi to the English market and borrow to? * make roads to open up the country to thus get settlers on* the land who would help to pay our interest. Mr Macarthur admitted that Mr Fergus' scheme of opening up the country with roads was sound to a certain extent, but Mr Fergusappeared then to get out of his depth. Mr Fergus asked what is the use of put^ ting a man ton or- twenty miles hack in the midst of the primeval . forest if he* cannot get communication with oiviusation? Our first duty should be, if we wish to hare the land settled, to make highways over the land so as to giye aocess to them. Let us make the land open for settlers as available a* it is possible to make them. To do this, however, we also require to spend money, and the question arises how is this to be got? The Government think it. can be got by a : somewhat similar method* to that by which they propose to obtain the finances for the acquisition of the ''Native lands. Suppose we wish to open a block of 20,000 acres in any given district ; if it basbeen open three or six months, and we wish toput a road into, it, with the object of. obtaining funds for that purpose w» create debentures, which we will call road debentures. When the land haw been surveyed the' benefit which the road will give to each individual section will be assessed by a competent officer and the additional value which the road has given to the section will be mode a firet charge on the land when it was sold?' Mr Macarthur said that the first debentures issued for the purchase of the land would be a first charge and, according to Mr Fergus, the second debentures for the cost of road makiag would also be a first charge, a position which would assuredly lead to s> oonfiiotion of interests.. This scheme had not the merit of originality as, with a slight difference, it .had been successfully carried out in the case of the Manchester Block, where the roads were first made and then a portion of their cost added to> the price charged to settlers for the land* . Mr Macarthur gave a rough sketch of what he considered would be a suitable plan for opening up the new country, of which the following is a brief outline:— Firstly, that tths Government should borrow the neeessary ? money at Home on the favorable terms our improved credit at Home has put within our reach. Secondly, that the local bodies thirds should be retained by the Government and capitalised, and that to make up any balance required for roading a special rat* sufficient to pay interest under th» principle of the Government Loans to. Local Bodies Act, should be imposed on the land, and that the blook of land dealt; with having provided the cost of constructing the roads within its boundaries, should be ne;dfft>m the full amount of rate now leviable by the local bodies, and only be liable to, such a fate as would meet th» cost of maintenance, &c. This would relieve $he local bodieß, and meet, b»> believed, the whole difficulty. The scheme shoaldbein force when the lands were* placed in the market and sold, so that everyone would bear an equal burden. This was but a rough sketoh yet many of the older settlers would see there was something practical in the idea. The ,„ . next point of Mr Fergus speech touched upon was the proposal to buy estates which had fallen into the hands of loan companies owing to. failure of mortgagor* to repay the money, they had borrowed, on them. 750,000 acres were thus tied , up. It would seem at the first blush thai it was very desirable this land should be made available for settlement, but the real truth was 4h ere were strong influence* at work to-induce the Government to purchase these lands and thus relieve the loan companies of an unremunsrativ* asset, a thing Parliament was not kkelj do. Mr Macarthur thought it was a dangeroos scheme to be suggested by a Minister of ths Crown, that byheavy taxation on land large estates could be burst up, a* the Indirect loss the colony might sustain by the consequent injury to its credit bylessening the seeusfty of property owners, would be incalculable. Referring next to> THX FINANCIAL BTATK»NT, Mr Macarthur said he had pointed out the fallacy of the statement that there* was a surplus of £27,000 last year, and the same arguments whioh he the&used equally/applied to the so-called surplue of £115,000 this year: There really wa» no surplus, if the ordinary debts of thecountry were paid. Take, first, tb» £115,000 of so-called surplus; they had to deduct from that £27,000, whioh wa» ■aid to be a surplus from last year. Thent there was the primage dully, which was levied for the special purpose of payiagr off the old debts of the -Stoat GoveromertL. This primage duty was a trust fjsauf,' specially set apart for a specific pnrpoee^ and it would not be justifiable for 6o- ' vernment to spend it in anytbjag>elee. That duty had produced £55,000, wfeid& had to come off the surplus. Thea tfcey hid the land fund, which, exclusive of ; last year's deficit of £11,000, showed a ' . deficit of £34,000. These three sums, it would be seen, absorbed the whole of the surplus. OSrtaiinly " the £2tjO« was . » T ailable in a sense, but if the £11,000 deficit on the land fund were wiped bnt» : nearly half of it would be got nd of. It Vwas just as well that this matter should be cleared up, otherwise the people would ' be led away with the idea that there was ' a surplus, and would not probably cxc*-— cisc that stncfc supervision over thtar members which they would in the efent of an unsatisfactory baUnoe-sheet bnng; presented. ' -? ; Mr Macarthnr approved of the sebein* of utilising the primage duty to provide a, school building fund, other than out of loan. A primage duty was not antagonistic to the principles of Freetrade, and" . therefore ha could consistently support it. In country districts it was of great importance to have suitable school bt&duigsl / It was enough for a man to go/mtotifc* " ! '-■■'» wilds without being deprived of the hope> that as his children grew up around hmt: they would have the advantage of edoeation. There could be no- twe epinions: that, as far as the proposals *>f Mr Fergus" go, taking them as a whate, they w*r» reckless and dangerous. He eveir 'sijf^ -- jjoaseed Sir Julius Yogel, "for when tq* latter did propose., any scheme, floweve? wild, there was always- great eonstraotivf ability shown. .; They---for instanse .,*••• Public Works fftnsmn pejmnfl jood as the beginning, but they led to disaster ia

the end. Mir Fergus has been led away by the cry that the country wanted a statesman, L or a party, when the real state of the case is that the only wanto to be let alone, and left free from, the tinkering of /ihallow eiripirioa\ v This scheme would probably be rejected by the representatives *6f the rural districts represented in the House. They had a majority in the present, and would have a larger in the next Parliament. The towns were atixious to shift their loads of taxation on to the country in the shape of a Land tax. He was a supporter of the Property tax, because it spread the incidence of taxation over a larger, surface, and did not make a special tax as would a land tax. In concluding his references to Mr Fergus Mr Macarthur said that gentleman was anxious to make a splash, or to pose as *n apostle of a .new policy, but he did not think the country would sympathise with iim, He then referred to the health ifrsie Premier. v He said although he had ffrfn opposed to Sir H. Atkinson to a cerextent>. he though there was no one friend or foe who did not respect Hum. It was a matter of regret'that Sir Harry's health had failed him so much that it was feared h« would have to retire irom politics for time.. The* names of Sir John Hall and Mr John Bryce had been suggested as possible successors, and as far as he^Mr Macarthur, was concerned he would prefer Mr Bryee, but of course it would "remain with the Government, through the Governor to decide. Mr Macarthur made brief reference to THE RKPEESKKTATION BILL and the stbnewalling of last session. He drew a parallel showing the strength of the towns »8 against the country owing to the •greater powers of organisation and combination in the towns; this was impossible in the country. The town papers had also more influence on great questions than the country papers, because the latter were not known beyond a narrow circle and their voice was therefore not ieard, a fact that was seen last session. The country members, however, represented Smiths of the population of the colony. The reduction, of members waß sow a certainty. He had never approved of this because he thought the increase of the population would always have justified the higher number of representatives. He Relieved a number of the present members -were in f&vor of the latter, but any measure passed by them in that direction would certainly be r-ejected by the Upper JSonse. With reference to the CHARITABLE AID 3HiL an objectionable feature was that these bodies wbto had to make the contributions iiad no control over the expenditure of the money. For instance to apply its effect to this district in which there were .seven or eighflocal bodies representing a yalua- . tion of about JE1,000,000 the control of expenditure would be in the hands of the appointed central body, say Feilding Uorough Council, ■ which represented a very small portion of the total valuation. This provision was most inequitable, and further it was unwise that the various liospital boards, which had gained some experience in this matter, should be swept , away and the authority transferred to a -body Which would have to .begin its apprenticeship'again. Mr Macarthur, in touching on the registration of electors said the fullest information would be made public so that every man would- bis able* to see that bis name was on the electoral ■ aroll before the general election.- He said, that although he had enough matter on liis notes W keep i him speaking for two Jiours more, he would not trespass farther on the patience of his hearer b. Any question pat to him he would be pleased to answer. Mr Gosling asked if it was true the present Government had paid the interest on the New Plymouth harbor works loan. Mr Macarthur answered in the affirmative, and explained that the Government were perfectly safe in so doing; alsp-that ' the money had now been paid back by the land fund. ' ?. .. -.'•;,. Mr Beading asked if Mr Macarthur -would be a candidate at the next general election. Mr Maoarthurr Yes. . : ' . . Mr Pater Thomson asked if Mr Macarthur would support a proposal to put a tax of 2% on th« totalisator. Mr Macarthur : No, h« would not be prepared to vote for that. -; J , Mr Peter Thomson asked if Mr Macarthur would support a Seaman's Representation Bill. Mr Ma-carthor could not say until he «aw the Bill. He had already supported one which had been introduced by Mr Bruce. Mr Gosling proposed, and Mr Saxon seconded, That this meeting pass a vote of thanks and confidence in Mr Macarthur. — Carried unanimously. The usual vote of thanks id tfc# ohairuaa dosed the proceedings.-