TELEGRAPHIC

Inangahua Times, Volume IV, Issue 80, 29 October 1877, Page 2

TELEGRAPHIC

[BY ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH.] [pee press association.] HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. Wellington, October 26. Major Atkinson said, I shall not have to trouble the House at any great length, but shall content myself with submitting two or three reasons which seem to me amply conclusive in the direction in which I wish this House to go. In the firsfc pluce it nppeared to me that though tho

hon. gentleman who occupies the position be is not head of the Government by the vote of a majority of the House. It is perfectly certain and beyond dispute that there were more gentlemen who voted on the late division against the late Government than were the mojority which displaced them, who would not so have voted if they had believed that the hon. gentleman would succeed to power. If this is true or if there is a suspicion that it is I will ask the hon. gentleman whether he deserves to occupy that place in that position when he has been challenged and told that he does not possess the confidence of the House. It is quite evident and indeed it is common talk that the hon. gentleman cannot even command the services of the best men in his own party. I should like to know why, if the hon. gentleman has the real confidence of his party, the hon. member for Akaroa is not now Colonial Treasurer, and I should like also to know why the hon. member for Auckland City East is not Attorney* General. He is a gentleman who as we know is ready at any time either to fall down and worship at the feet of the lion, gentleman or do anything which he is told to do. Why has he been set aside ? They are unable or unwilling to fill the whole of their offices. Then another reason why this Home .should not hare confidence in the hon. gentleman is that he has already departed from some cardinal points of the policy which he laid down to this House as essential. Starting with the assertion that both of these offices are not in proper working order, and that everything from the very root requires revision and exposure. What does the hon. gentleman do with two offices either ot which would tax the strength of any hon. member in this House. He confers them upon a gentleman who is absolutely without political experience, and who had never taken any but a very languid interest in public questions. He undertakes to give us a full exposition of the finances and to carry on the public works with economy and despatch. Sir, can we believe that the hon. gentleman has really apprehended the magnitude of the task he has undertakeD. When we see him take such steps as these to give effect to what he proposes to do, I would say that any hon. member by accepting such duties, shows his absolute unfitness for either office, and makes it doubtful whether the lion, member is really competent to perform them. Among the party of the hon. gentleman at the head of the Government there are I think something like five great financers _there is hon. member for Parnell, there is the hon. member for Auckland City East, there is the hon. member for Akaroa, nnd the hon member at the head of the Government and the most shining ■ light of all, the last, there is tho hon. the Colonial Treasurer. Now with such a galaxy of talent as thiit with gentlemen who toid as that they were in n position and capable of making a Financial Statement without any prepara* tion whatever, was it not reasonable to expect that at this period of the session ten days would have been ample for those honorable gentlemen to work out the scheme they desired to propose, and yet what did the hon gentleman do? He declined altogether to fix a date. Prom time to time he put it off. Then sir, I am told by the followers of the hon gentlemen it has been freely talked about I am told that although this is not much of a government that we have now got, there are great materials in the party, and that if we will only wait a short time, and especially until the end of the session we shall see a government of which New Zealand will be proud. Well, I confess for one I am not prepared to wait for that time, I for one am not prepared to place in the hands of the hon member for the Thames tho power to select colleagues after this House has risen . We aye had one policy already stated by the hon gentlemen at the head of the government and we had another policy in another place stated in another place one what we may term a fairly radical policy the other an absolute assertion that it was the most conservative government that had ever existed in New Zealand, then wo shall necessitate those honorable gentlemen if they have any financial policy to bring it forward, and if they have not then to expose those wonderful shortcomings in |the Treasury in regard to which they have spread insinuations throughout tho country. I challenge them to bring down their financial policy or their exposition of the late government. I ask why are we to delay the business of the country in order to give 'the hon gentlemen an opportunity of giving us a second or a third policy. It would have been a very great advantage for the Opposition to have waited until those hon gentlemen had displayed their hands more fully, but there was absolutely no time, and by the dilatory action of the government we have been compelled to take the course we have done. I do not propose to go into the general policy of the hon gentleman at the head of the government. I might indicate great inconsistencies between his statement the other day, and the statements he has repeatedly made as leader of the Opposition, but I think I have adduced amply sufficient reasons to induce hon members to pass the resolution. I have shown that he does not possess the confidence of tho House, "nor he does not possess the confidence of even a majority of his own party. I have shown

tlial i( tl»e liou rms Mtuvre in the point to his statement, upon wliicli iaid so much stress, namely, that the finances was to be thoroughly sifted and disclosed and that the public works were to be carried out with vigour and economy, be has entirely failod to take any steps in that direction, that his conferring the appointment upon one man ho has made it impossible that the great object of his desire can be given effect to. I trust these reasons will be considered by the House amply sufficient to induce hon members to support tho resolution. Mr Reynolds here moved an amendment—that the government not having yet declared the financial policy, the House declines to ontertain a no confidence motion. Sir George Grey — Sir, I came here expecting to have to answer a speech of a very different character, I felt I was a gentle lamb drinking at a stream of water, and that there wa? a great wolf stirring the stream accusing me of it, and determining to gobble- me up if he could. Hon gentlemen on my side of the House who think with me have been taunted with what are called tlieir conservative principles. Sir, we care nothing for sucb taunts we are determined to establish a policy for the people, a policy for the country at large, we have ros >lved tbnt in New Zealand there shall be a party o! progress, and not a party of conservative notions. Sir, what is conservatism? It is a time honored institution, a difference of rank established by the usage ot centuries. An institution composed ol all those elements which constitute con* servatism in a great monarchial country with them. Sir, conservatism is a conservatism of place and power. A conservatism of privilages which they have usurped to themselves above their fellow subjects. In this country conservatism of acquiring place, land, and public wealth. Let them strive to preserve that. Let them sirive to keep their fellow countrymen out of a due share of the influence and direction of public affairs in this House, and we will try to allow the people to have that fair share of the diroctiou of public affairs. For years they have withheld advantages from their fellowmen and heaped these advantages on their friends. I will strive to do my best to imitate a policy by which equal laws may exist in this country for all ; laws under which every family may hope to obtain its home and its land, and under which the best ot the land of the country shall not be given to the friends of the Government. A new era is dawning. New times are coming and new men will soon be found in this House. New principle will prevail and I believe that in New Zealand will bo established that great principle that all men have equal rights in the property and in tho lands of the Colony. Ido not fear that when we appeal, as I think will be necessary, to the constituencies, but wbat ono triumphant voice will shout to me the reply "If you are told you have not the voice of a majority of the House you shall be e'ected by majority of the people of New Zealand, You shall be supported by their voices and tlieir authority in claiming for them those rights to which they are entitled." The position I hold is not an enviable one. We have been taunted, amongst other things, with not having rapidly developed our financial system, and the lion, gentleman went on to say that we should deserve well of the whole Colony, if wo put tho accounts before the inhabitants of New Zealand in a simpler form. If we had placed the accounts of the Colony before the people in such a form thnt they might be understood by all, and he admitted that he himself had failed in doing. Many of tho accounts are absolutively delusive, absolutely deceptive except to an expert, and even to an expert would be incomprehensible, unless each item is taken and resolved into the separate component parts, which would be an extremely difficult task, can it be maintained that if I was to be relieved from a task of this kind, that to me it would be anything but a great relief ? Can it be maintained that I would willingly jump into a gulf of troubles of this nature. Sir, I nave no wish for office to gratify per« sonal ends. I have been taunted with the political character of the gentlemen who compose the government, sneers hsve been level cd* at them. Sir, I believe the Colonial Treasurer will be found fully adequate to the task he has before him, his knowledge of accounts is great, his integrity is great, his industry is unbounded, and of such men in a short time the greatest and best statesmen have been formed. What did the hon member for Egmont know of accounts a short time ago, be had no education in finance as my hon friend has had. To give the House an idea of the difficulties we have to meet. I have prepared a short statement of the liabilities which must be instantly dealt with, and I shall read this to tha Houie when they will see which isthodifficulty unJer which New Zealand is straggling. _ The large sums must immediately be raised in some way or another. There was according to the statement of the late Colonial Treasurer a necessity for a loan of £2.000,000 for the completion of Public Works, and the redemption of the guaranteed debentures, then for additional provincial liabilities unprovided for at the present time, it is ascertained tliat £200,000 will be required, but that sum mnst be swelled to a still greater amount, there are Treasury Bills outstanding to the amount of £832,000 there is deficiency of revenue as estimated by the late Colonial Treasurer of £167.000 to be met, then it is absolutely necessary to obtain this ses» sion the means of raising a further sum of £1,000,000 to repay loans by the Hank of New Zealand and Bank of New South Wales, it is also necessary to obtain a sum of £100, 000 by the Ist of January next to meet a loan incurred upon the Lyttelton Harbor, there is also £200,000 required to meet further public works in supplementary estimates of the late Go« vernment. and we will have to provide another £200,000 to meet discount on the two million loan if issued at 4£ per cent, assuming tbe bonds bring £90 not which gives us a total of £4.699,000 which has to be raised at once, but in addition there has been borrowed from the Public Works Loan Account £300.000. lam satisfied that that sum will also have to be provided for in some way or other than out of the Consolidated Fund, it is simply a floating debt. The late Government were

aatlnrise.l to horror £300,000 from Public Works Account, and what has been done is suck sum having: been borrowed and mcd last year it vr as paid into the public account ou the 30tb J une , so t h e account was squared, and the amount disappeared, ; but e.i py in July and 4ugust wns re-borrowed, the fact is it was not a payment at all, it was a nomiual payment nothing but that. It vras paid in onrl bor--1 rowed again instantly, then there is. an. , other account whicli must be brought , under the notice of the House, and that ,I s clai . m * 0I w «'cb the House has never been informed, but claims for extra works ■ aui other contracts for railways amounting to £1/6,237. There is also a deat of a most objectionable character it includes «hat I may call a fl.,atin B debt. In that ' } In , clud «^•OW.OyO borrowed from the bank, £832,000 Treasury bills and , £100000 required tor. L I?j£ , £2,00 >,000 Now 1 ask the attention of the House to Ue most important matter, what has oeen done is this, the Govern* ■ ment have gone iuto the opea market [ and in the open market have raised loans , at a comparatively low rate of interest and the Government i aye withheld from 1 the persons from whom thoy borrowed i the fact thai I hey were raising from pri» 1 vate individuals or in what I may oall the " close " market large sums of money at a rate of inteivst, when that tact come* 1 to be known I am afraid our credit must ■ be seriously shaken. The House will see--1 by the statemeut which I have put before ; ii that there a.c urgent pecuniary difficulties which must be met. To ascertain. 1 . the facts which I have put before the • House was no easy matter. It is very ; difficult indeed to ascertain from the ac* ■ counts in the form they are presented. ' We had devised a scheme of finance which ■ I hoped earlj next week we could have presented to the House. The hou gentleman is pleased, and his frieuds are 1 pleased in their avidity for office not to ! wait even for a few days fo see if what we proposed was objectionable, they rush. [ in at ence to stop wuafc is going on. The 1 hon member for Auckland City East was- ■ specially alluded to. I unhesitantmgly accept the challenge the hon gentleman ■ has given me, aud let this House decide as they please I shall feel I have done my 1 duty, October 27, Reynolds followed Atkinson by mov* ing his amendment td give Ministerstime to lay their policy before tho House. Manders declared against the Grey Government. Grey then spoke. Gisborue explaiued why he could nott vote for the present Government. L.isfc session Grey declared for separation, and that now having formed a Separation Ministry he could not trust them. Montgomery said the Atkinson Ministry since 1875 had increased, the public debt by £6,683,000, aud had seriously injured the public credit. It' the present Government were turned out without the opportunity of declaring their policy tuey would not turn the other cheek. Willis, although a separationisb was content to accept the unity of the colony, a common purse, and the land fuud to be colouial revenue. He o - ; jected to the return ot the Lite Minis* ■ try to power, however re-coustructed. De La-tour strongly condemned the couduot of those who a fortnight ago [ assisted to turn Atkinson out, and now wanted to put him back, and crown their infamy by now seeking office under him. The proceedings of the late Ministry required investigation. Shriinski having moved the adjournment of the debate till Monday, the House rose, at 12.15. HoKiTiKi, October 27. Peter Purceil, member of the Grey County Council committed suicide by hanging himself in his store this morning, no cause is known for the rash deed. Ha was universally respected.