SIR JULIUS VOGEL ON THE DISSOLUTION OF PARLIAMENT.

Kumara Times, Issue 2917, 5 March 1886, Page 2

SIR JULIUS VOGEL ON THE DISSOLUTION OF PARLIAMENT.

The Hon. Sir Julias Vogel, Colonial Treasurer, addressed a public meeting of the citizens of Auckland, at the Theatre Royal, on Tuesday, 23rd ult. The: house was packed ftooi floor to c«iliu«, and as the curtain rose and Sir Julius Vogel, preceded by his Worship Ihe Mayor, wheeled himself forward to . the table, he was received with cheers. Sir Julius made a long and exhaustive speech upon the principal political questions of the day—upon the policy "f the present Government, the retrenchment cry and the Civil Service, Customs duties, public works, the East and West Coast Railway, railway construction gene-ally, the North Island Trunk loan, thd dissolution of Parlia ment, local government, the Land question, and upon proposed loans to small ' farmers. Principal among these mny be regarded the Dissolution of Parliament, and the following are Sir Julius's remarks on this question, taken from the Auckland Herald just to hand :

I will mow say a few words on a question which is very much exercising the fe'linns of the colony, and that is the question of whether or not there is likely to be :i dissolution before the House meets uext session. This ques.

tion has not been discussed in full Cabinet, and no advice has yet l>een tendered to his Excellency the Governor, and I am not in a position in any way to tell you whether there will or will not be a dissolution before the session commences; but I think that it is quite right that you and the country should know what are the reasons which may make it expedient tliat there should be a dissolution before next sessiou. It is nol any question which affects the stains or |>ositiou of the Government which, to my mind, has to be taken into consideration. The first point we have to consider is this: that if I am right in saying the country is going to decide a most momentous point—that of whether or not we should resume public works upon a vigorous scale—then, I say, a Parliament which is at its last session is not a Parliament which should he asked to decide such a question. The question should go before the people of the colony as a whole.—[Cheers.] Then I have to say that, if we are to meet Parliament and then to dissolve, it occasions an unnecessary expenditure of .£25,000 for a second session. But even that consideration—and it is a large one—is not so important, in my opinion, as the other arguments which may be used. As I have told you, we are in this position: either when Parliament meets it has to expand the North Island Trunk loan upon other purposes than for which it is intended and I suppose, the Auckland members would never consent to that—or else have a cessation of public works, which would, in my opinion, cause a most serious disaster throughout the colony. When, in 1884, when the House met, when there was a dissolution dfcided upon without delay on the reply to the speech from the Throne, when everything was done as quickly as possible, and the new House was called tegether as quickly as possible, the session did nob end until November, and the authorities for the new loan did not reach England until closo on the end i of December. I say this, if we are going to adopt the same course this year, even supposing we expend the money, which I do not think we ought to do, of the North Island Trunk loan, «?en if we do tlmt, there will he very serious disaster in the colony. I think, apart from the interest which you have in the special purpose for which this loan is intended, you must bear in mind that, at the end of the financial year, there will be something like a million and a quarter of engagements hanging over the colony, upon the public works fund, and nothing to satisfy them but the remainder of the existin« loan and the North Island Trunk loan. If it is not decided that we are to have fresh loans and go in for public works—and there is a largo section of. the people of the country who are of that opinion—l say we should know it at once ; whilst on the other hand, if there is to be a continuation of public works there should be no delay in letting it be known, because on speedy resumption depends, in my opinion, the retaining of a large part of the population in this colony and saving a large amount of misery and distress which would follow the cessation of our public woiks. [Cheers.] You must understand that the question is this : If there is to be a dissolution, should that dissolution take place before Parliament meets, out of time when Parliament is not in session, or should it lie taken out of time when Parliament is in session, when it wi'l occasion such a prolongation of the proceedings and such a deferring of decision on the question as will throw forward any results until nearly the end of the year, if not to the beginning of next year. We also run another risk, and that is this: The longer you postpone the consideration of the question, and the later you give such authorities as may be given for negotiating loans, you lose opportunities of having a favourable market. There are hundreds of you here to-night who know well what I mean—the advantage of being able (o take the benefit of a market at a time when it is disposed to accept colonial loans. As I have said, there is no determination made on the subject, and it may be that some way will tie found out of the difficulty which I do not myself see.