PARLIAMENT.

Manawatu Herald, Volume III, Issue III, 25 June 1891, Page 2

PARLIAMENT.

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,

TUESDAY, JUNE 23.

The Hon the Speaker took the chair at 2.80 p.m.

The New Zealand Bank Bill was read a second time and referred to a Select Committee.

The Minister of Lands said he would make enquiries as to reducing the charges now made for inspection of machinery.

In answer to Mr J. G. Wilson, the Minister of Agriculture said he would consider the advisableness of offering a reward for the discovery of a bed of mineral phosphates.

Some new Bills were read a first time. The Premier moved that Mr Perceval be Chairman of Committees of the House. In doing so, he said Mr Perceval was well known to every member of the House, and well qualified to fill that post. The motion was carried on the voices. The House adjourned at 5.80. (presuming, the House took up THE FINANCIAL STATEMENT. Mr Bryce said that having gone through the statement he was unable to congratulate the Government on any one point. He could, however, congratulate them on having given a catching and taking nature to the Statement. The Government were in the most happy and beautiful condition, they were reaping where they did not sow. The Government had come into the careful gathering of their predecessors. Retrenchment, therefore would always have his sympathy and support. He could not see how the appointment of an ' office with a salary of £500 a year could be a retrenchment. At one time, in his (the speaker's) own district, there were four stock inspectors ; now there was only one, and it was impossible he could do even a section of the work. He asked the reason, and it was said that it was desirable to employ younger men to do the work. One of the men discharged was one of the smartest inspectors they had, and the statemont was heard partly with indignation and partly with laughter. The real reason was^ that the two inspectors had political influence. They refused to canvass on the Government side, and they had to go. Coming to the question of the property tax, it was generally thought by his constituents that it should be abolished. :E|e was primarily against sail taxation, except where it was required for the purposes of the State, but he saw not much to complain of in the principle of that tax. He held that there should be no exemption, because all property required -protection, and all should help to pay for it._ There ought however, in his opinion to be exemptions from the income tax. He admitted that the property tax lent itself to bad valuations, and that was almost the only objection that had been made to it in •his own district. In respect to the income tax, it was easy of collection in England, but in New Zealand it would lead to endless difficulty and false declarations. They had been told some time ago that taxation Bills would be ready shortly, but they had not been produced, and his opinion was that they were being deliberately kept back, and some said it was with the intention of getting them altered, Whether the income tax was swept away or not, the burden of taxation was to fall upon the land, and he believed if that was done they would run a very great danger of financial collapse. He feared the threats of a tax on land now held over the country would resuit in a catastrophe. The bank returns showed that people were withdrawing their capital, particularly from land, and if that was done he should like to know who would be the sufferers. Coming to the land tax he reminded the House that the acquisition of the ownership of land was an instinct, and anything that tended to prevent that would militatq against colonisation. Perpetual leases had been found to be most popular, simply because it was not a perpetual lease at all, but people were fully aware they would in time be able to purchase the land outright. The acquisition of land by the Government was not only ridiculous, but bad policy in a young country of such an extent as New Zealand. He quoted the words of Mr Gladstone to the effect that the nationalisation of the land with compensation was folly, and the State, if it became landlord, would break down under the .strain. In conclusion, he believed the policy of the Government was calculated to stop the flow of capital to the soil. It would prevent the employment of labour, and diminish their ability to pay off their debts. The Minister of Education followed and combatted the statements of the previous Speaker, and asserted that, although he had attacked the Government all along the line he had not shattered their defences in single instance. Mr Macarthur said the statement had imposed upon many people, but it was made with the dexerity of the gentleman who relieved them of their watch in a crowd. After a government of three years the present Government succeeded to a surplus of £148,000, not due to the retrenchments of the present, but the financial policy of the late Government, and they ought to have the credit of it. He considered the postal rates reduction to be a con cession of £40,000 to the commercial classes, whereas any reduction should have, been made in the way of Customs duties. Coming to the : incidence of taxation, he said before the country felt the pressure of that new proposal a long time would elapse. The essence of the proposal was a desire to seem moderate, while in reality preparing the way to still further pressure. At first no doubt the large estates would suffer very heavily, until by degrees it would

come lower, and those who had not felt it previously woulf. be seriously affected. That was the danger he apprehended. It would stop improvement altogether, and he ventured to predict that the proposed graduated tax would press still more heavily than did the property % tax, which, besides, he contended, would, not work at all well, and would result in a great many evading taxation altogether, and yet not a single penny was taken off the artizan classes. A p6h"tician~iriight~be "Istftdt through knowing Jie was on^ne right path, but he was afraid that in this case it was the boldness of ignorance, which " rushes where angels fear to tread." The exodus "had steadily increased since the lasi election* because the spirit of enterprise was quenched, and if the policy of the Government was fully understood that enterprise would be killed outright. There was no real retrenchment, he contended, in the Stock Department, and ht said estimates had been cut down to cause a little temporary popularity, with the intention of spending a large sunlf in unauthorised expenditure. The boasted retrenchment in this department of £3,600 had, he found from the Estimates,' dwindled' down to £85. ■ ■ • ' ;...'..-.•. .v ' The Postmaster General tfepliedi and said as the taxation ; proposals being likely to fall on land,: he. : did not think it could possibly nave, that effect, and the ]bulk of the small farmers would be pacing 'much less than they did under ihe Property : Ms Scobie Mackenzie moved the adjournment of the debate, which was agreed to, ana" the House rose at 1.45.