EXTRACTS FROM 'HANSARD.'

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume IV, Issue 237, 19 September 1873, Page 7

EXTRACTS FROM 'HANSARD.'

Mr. Bunny, speaking on the Government financial proposals, said:.— There will be no limit to the borrowing .. capacity of this country .until we have made country full of roads and' bridges, and with a large population. All that, we have got to do is to take care that the money we borrow is wisely spent; that is the only precaution we require to take; that is all we have got to do. It seems to- me that the Colonial Treasurer in his old age is getting awfully caxitious. I believe he has raised up a machinery that he cannot control—that he is getting flightened, and does not. know how to control it. He started with millions, and I do not believe the Government have got the administrative ability to carry out that policy, or the capacity, to make, the money productive, or to carry out the work the way it ought to be carried out . . . .... The proposal may be described as a species .of thimble-rigging. You fancy you have got the pea—you fancy you can raise the money —but you take up the thimble, and you find there is nothing under it. That is the only way to look at this question- that is the practical way of viewing it—and the only conclusion I can come to is, that the scheme of the Government is an utter failure. It shows, »to my mind, that the Government are not able to grasp the difficulty of their position, and that they cannot rightly understand the present position of the country; that they raised up the power of spending millions, and they are appalled at that which they have raised.up. They have not the capacity to carry out the scheme to a successful issue. . ... . .'■ . I should like to see a property and income tax, which would effectually touch up those who' are Wealthy in this country, and whose wealth is increased through the carrying on of our large public works. If we will put our mode of raising our revenue upon such a basis as that, from year to year, as the country in- "„ creases in wealth, that wealth will be able to bear a fair share of taxation. We should not allow a single person in the Colony to escape from bearing a fair share of the burden of the country. We should not put it in the power of any person to realise thousands of pounds every year from his property in this country, and to say, "I do not live in the Colony, and I can escape from contributing to the revenue." We should touch up those owners of property—those absentees who do nokcontribute to the revenue. If we do not, deffind upon it the country will take up the matter. We will not be able to extract the revenue from the pockets of one particular class much longer; the country will insist upon the revenue being equitably raised, and the burden of taxation fairly distributed. Mr. Yogel, in reply, said: When the honorable member complains, I do not think he shows himself mindful of what has been done. It is not a question of . one Government or another. It is impossible for any Government to hold a seat on these benches, without making a determined stand against the demands of those of whom the honorable member is the mouthpiece. The honorable member asks.us, in fact, to give up that security over the land which the Colony holds against the debts .of the Provinces—that security over their lands which, has been given for railways, the construction of which has been undertaken. He .asks that the whole of the land should be given up to the Provinces, and the whole cost of the railways cast upon the Colony. He asks the Colony, in effect, to act towards the Provinces as King Lear did, and to give up all to its daughters: but if the Colony acted in that way, it might find its daughters very ungrateful, as Lear did. . The Colony has .entered on great tinder takings, which it is bound to see completed, and it can only do ■ so by proceeding cautiously. If it is to use its credit indiscriminately for the purpose of constructing small local works, there is a chance of its being unable to employ it when it requires to do so for the purpose of completing its larger undertakings. What the Government proposes is to take very good ; • security, and very great precaution, that the f Colony shall be able to complete the undertakings in which it is already engaged.. We shall make a most determined stand. But. we recognise the importance of local works, though we do not perhaps think them so urgent as the honorable member contends. If they are urgent, power is given empower- , ing,jihe Provinces to' contract loans on special securities. Without entering on the particulars of the Provincial Councils Borrowing Bill, which it would not be convenient to do - to-night, I may say that it authorises Provincial borrowing in such a manner that, while it will not enable the Provinces to multiply works, and to borrow money indiscriminately for carrying them out, yet I am quite certain that any Province, under the provisions of the Bill, will find itself able to carry out any local v/ork which may be desirable, and in a position to offer ample security—to carry out those works as local Boards would do if appointed to carry out such works, and given power to borrow money upon the security of . the work when completed, besides collateral securities of a very; large nature. . . . . .-■ ... Any. Government that occupies these benches must take some such course as the -present Government proposes. , If the honorable member, and those who are acting,wjth him,, had the same responsibilities as we have, they would take the same course; and there is no doubt in my mind that, however it may be with those who have local interests to look after, there will be a very large majority of the members of this House conser-

[ vative enough to support the Government in | the stand which they make in matters, not ; only of vast interest to the present position' of the country, but also of vital importance to its future. The Hon. Dr. Grace, in seconding the motion of the Hon. Captain Eraser —" That it is expedient to. appoint an Inspector-General for Lunatic Asylums"—was understood to pay — „ That the Council and the country were indebted to the Hon. Captain Eraser for his persistent action in this matter, The present condition of our lunatic asylums in certain cases was sufficient to shock everyone possessed of humane feelings. He could not help feeling that a great economical mistake was being committed, and that they were wasting a vast number of opportunities for doing good. Year after year he was becoming more concerned. A large percentage of lunatics in the. Colony, on their first admission into asylums, were perfectly curable—he might say twenty-five per cent. —but unfortunately they were driven incurably mad by the irritating influences to which they were subjected. It was something'frightful' : to': contemplate, that where a man was merely functionally insane—where his nervous system was exhausted, with excessive use of spirits and tobacco—we, by our economy, want of charity, arid want of knowledge, should drive him into a state of incurable insanity. The result of the present system was, that many,men became not only incurable, but dangerous to themselves and others. He could not help thinking that our cruel neglect of the duties of civilisation called to Heaven for vengeance. We were too anxious, about money, and in the excitement about" such matters neglected and forgot our responsibilities. He was weary of thinking this j matter-over, because he could scarcely exI pect people to sympathise with him to the | full extent of the occasion, or realise the ex- | tent of the injury that was being done. He j thought that even the appointment of an : inspector of lunatic asylums would be a very j great boon to the struggling institutions they j were endeavoring to raise up, and a great ! support to the medical men who were unforI tunate enough to be in charge of wretched ; institutions. Nothing whatever would in- ; duce him to take charge of certain asylums | in the Colony, where he would grow weary J and sick of seeing valuable lives, which by | proper treatment might be saved;, rendered useless to the State and a burden to the unfortunate possessors. A general inspector would at least appreciate the difficulties of the present officers of the a-sylums and support them in. their work. The present deplorable state'of things had been going on for years, though the evil happily is being rapidly extinguished, and both in Dunedin and Christchurch the most praiseworthy and successful efforts were being made; whilst honorable members could satisfy themselves as to the improvement in that direction within this Province, which, until recently, was foremost in the iniqiiitous neglect of the insane. As far as his knowledge and experience went, he did not think there was any new or extraordinary system introduced for the amelioration of lunatics. It was, as far as the Colony was concerned, simply a matter of philanthropy, expense, and. active sympathy with the'requirements of sufferinghumanity. Any ordinary medical practitioner of common sense and humane feelings would be quite competent to act as inspector of lunatic asylums.