MINISTERIAL UTTERANCES

Manawatu Times, Volume III, Issue 84, 18 October 1879, Page 2

MINISTERIAL UTTERANCES

On Tuesday evening the Hon. the Pieiiiier protended to inal?e his Ministerial Statement, and commenced by saying that with regard to the land legislation, they proposed to go on with the Bill proposed by the late Government, with some sligjg; v alteration. He would not .trouble the House with the question of finance, as it was the intention of the Treasurer to make a financial statement m the evening, and the Hon. .Native ■Minister _' would make his statement or Thursday or Friday. He would stale briefly some of the intentions of the Government with regard, to the natives. Tney proposed to introduce a Bill which would' he acceptable to uaiives and whites alike. A very large expenditure was going on conse-' quent on the West (Jjast troubles. They were sobering greatly from this and also from the taking of the settlers fro. a their occupations. They, felt bound to put an end to this state of things. They were aware . that allegations had been made that certain promises had been broken, and tha,t the natives had righ.t on, th,eir. side. The Government proposed to have a Koyal Cotumissiou co inquire into the whole subject. They hoped they would at an early date put an end to the present condition of tilings without any fi^lc to life or limb. They believed the present law with regard to the alienation of land* was unsatisfactory arid cumbersame, Three or four years ago the conduct of the Government had caused dissatisfaction among the. natives that it was determined to put an end to the then existing state of things which the Native Minister had promised should be done, but had he fulfilled that promise. A proposal had been made by which the Government shoqld sell land on behalf of the natives, and the Government looked favorably upon that proposal, but whether they would be able to bring forward and complete such a scheme during the present session was more than he could sayThey proposed with regard to advertising to distribute their advertisements to, all papers that were suitable witli any regard to their politics. (Loud applause.) Whatever Government was m office that must be done. In connection with the Government steamers it was proposed*T6 lay up one of them from time to time. In conclusion, he could assure the House that the Government was now ready to go on with the business of the country. He would a*k leave "to introduce "a Bill to aumnd the law relating to electors qualified to vote at elections of the members of the Houso of Representatives," In the course of his remarks to the House' Mr. Hall said as large a propo-tion of people were on the electoral roll of New Zealand as m any part of the Australian Colonies. At the same time an improvement could be made 1 by giving the people greater facilities m registration and voting than they had at present. Something had been said as to his conduct m regard to this Bill on former occasions. He never shrank from expre^uig an opinion, and had up reason to regret tin- result; and he thought m that connection justice had uoi bcou dputi to him. (Air. jdttU.

ceeded to explain the constitution' of the Bill at some length.) Mr. Macandbew rose, amid applause, aud, moved his no-confidence motion? The Sp&akks did not think 1 it was competent to move such att amendment. Mr. Macandbew then said there, wbuld be nothing left for the Opposition but to object to every measure intror duced by the Government until theyfirst learned whether or no they possessed the confidence of the House. (Hear, hear.) He assured them "that they were anrious to go on with the business of the country. With, the exception, therefore, of No. 12 (the Public Revenues Act) they would oppose every measure on the Order Paper. Mr. Pitt asked if the measures were now rejected they could be introduced again during the present session.. The Speaseb replied m the negative. Mr. Montgomery held that according to " May's Parliamentary' Practice " .a Bill could be, reintroduced, and, read extracts from that work to support his contention. . _. , ; Some discussion ensued on the subject, m whioh the Hon. Mr. Hall; Mr. Pyke, Sir George Grey, &c, took part. The latter was ruled out of . order by the Speaker, uponrwhichhe said he would move -the adjournment of the^JELpuse, but didnot do so. ;;v . v-W ;'s; Mr.SHEEHAN moved that the ; debate be adjourned until half-past seven o'clock, for the purpose of hearing Major Atkinson's BHnanoial Statement, before proceeding any further .with the business of the House. / fi> .... ■":•" The Government agreed tothe proposal for adjournment. ; ; : . >> Mr. De Lautoite held that the first order asked for by the Ministerial party could hot be gone, on^with till another measure on • • the same subject^ also on the paper, had been disposed of .. The Hon. John Hai^ replied, and contended there was nothing- to prevent lion; members from =introducing, - any number of Bills if they desiredtb\do so.

After the -adjournment the Hon. Major Atkinson proceeded to make bis Financial Statement. • Major Atkiiisok asfeed leave to introduce—" TUe Public Revenues Act, 1878, Amendment Bill, 1879." He said that the circumstances were of- 'so, /exceptional a character that he had been ob liged to disregard a rule he thought was right, that the Financial Statement; should be 'brought forward m c^re* fully-prepared way.l It = • wa>[ not his business to . 4»k why. the Colony .was m; such a -financial position^ but that ,-he would at least give a broad outline .'>.oE : how. the Colony stood, so that it mighij ;be dealt with. There had been no Financial Statement for fifteen months,! I and he would therefore take tb.em. Uajek; to the beginning of the 4 na ncjTal.yeac 1878-9. 1 ;Tte: Colonial Treasurer estimated the 1 surplus revenue at £120,000 at that time. He said that! inr makings the statement he would use round numbers, . but .would allow these to b.e corrected m reports subsequently. ■ (Several of the subjoined figures are given, as stated by the £remier^ m round numbers, spnie^rie; given exactly.) : [ : ; Thie assets on which the Colonial Treasurer depended did'notrrealise the aniount^ie expected^ only £116,000 being collected out of the £120,000 anticipa ted. The expenditure proposed bg tb,e late Grovernmens ■' for -the years 1 878-9. Was £4,200,000. It would, be m the recol- • lection of members of the last JParliament that a' table^ showing the 1 pavings to be effected oh varions votes had been prepared and laid on the tablfr. .' These showed that the total: expeviditu.re had been £3,652,000, giving ; an apparent saving of £358,000. Tnis was reducible by £348,219 liabilities, mostly. since, paid, and the alleged saving would be misleading without explanation. There was no saving at all m the ordin.aryy ! sense that year. In the first place, if from the apparent '■"•.■surplus; there was taken tha liabilities since p>id, the balance would be mere- than made ji. p, whilst several amounts vre/e never made up, and the land fund ' was 7 alidrt b,y £68,000 of the amount calculated 0 on being realised by it. The payments for that year.inadein round numbers were £4,000,000, and he would call the attention of the House specially to one or -tw.o items m that expenditure. The revenue for the year was 'calcu.la.tecL at £4,045;0'.)0, but it only amounted to' £3,751,000^ The decrease arose dn the land .revenue aud othor sources, and he showed that at the end of the year there was a deficit of £131,01)0,,:. The present year, 1879-80, was therefoir&hegun-with ibis deficit. The Colony, m f anif, m \he yeaf 1878-79 began with a credit of £116,000, and endt«4 with a debit of £131,821, the receipts not equalling; the .expenditure by that.amo.unt..r He would point out that the deficiency would have been reducible by £50,000 land 4 ax; which was es^mated m last year's revenue, but was not collected." It could not, therefore, he accounted for as revenue for the past year, and must, of course, come into the calculations .for the ypar current^ He would- call the attention o,f tl\c House to the fact that; the Government, so far from show.ing that they exercised: any^ economy m the public service, had done directly the contrary. Governments had been tnr.ne4 aut because they were extravagant, and others had opnie m on the retrenchment policy. It had been shown that the latter had not retrenched m any way, and he pointed outhdw necessary it was .that vigorous steps to place the financial pdsitio.n of the Colony m. the position it should be m, should 1 c taken: Taking nine departments, he found the amount voted for services m 1877-8 was £806,000. An expenditure, •of £10,000 more than was. voted took place, amounting to £876,000." The Estimates passed for the same departments m 187&-9 were at the rate^of £903,000, a gradual increase, notwithstanding the alleged economy. The actual expenditure m the same departments was, as a matter of-fact,.^956,000. So much for economy m branches 6f the public service, where they could and ought to have jjpen effected, These nine departments had risen m annu,ai cost from £-8fi6.000 to £,958,000. Then, with regard to the Native Department. In 1876-7 it had cost £34,124; io. 1877-8, £43,6b0 ; m ÜB7B-9, £58,000. Alt through the- departuicuts the increase had not been gradual, but considerable. - In the Native Department the' increased c.o,st had been set down to native scaoojs, and had the expenV really beeu bestovved '^in this direction, it would have _..-'moß l laudable. 'JCh^e significant fact remjain^ hovreye^

that whilst m 1876^ »he salaries, itc.j m conriPcHon with the Maori sc&ools were -£19,000, and last year on the .contingencies m conhectioyi ';wUV them ha-l risen from Hß4Bi)otQ^ 16,700. It was clear that money had^een^eX". pended.oii '* contihgeneiei/ycuus taking^the votes out of the baflds of the House. A large sum has Pefl^ptfat m feeding the Maoris. AtEopua meeting the cost was £4500; at Waitara j61,000. As he had shown at the close of the .last' financial year: there was an actual deficit of £13l;0i')0, and the lite Government had issued deficenry bills to the extent of £184,000. These, however, had been paid off, and did not effect the general financial position. Ho would come to the past year," m order to compare the estimated revenue and expenditure of the late Government, £140,000 would be conducted for contingent defence-iand £120,527 which!, would haFe to be repaired as subsidies to local bpdies. As far as he could' see there wa,s nothing iv the late Govern, raont's system that could bettered if reductions to a great extent were not made., * The expenditure m interest and siubng fund was £1,300,000 ; £279,257 went m- subsidies, and £63,548 representing 20 per cent, of; the 4and fund. He regretted, m connection with the in'°f stock, tliafc^ane person^ interested m the progress of the' Colony had not been appointed as agent, for hi* heart toi not iv the work, and^the Co, lony had lost thereby. The estimated revenue of the late Government for 78-79 was £3,442,000, made up a8 follows :— Taxation, £ 1,588.000 ; services £1,362000 ; 1and fund expenditure was set down as £3 974 000. and this would if deduced from the^e, venue am ve at a.de^oifc fop. this Tear £532,000. Ifthe^it^vSa^ Ooloi y began the year w*s added to that it would come to ~£663 obo He could stop there, but it was his duty. to. mislead the Honse, or to tell member; thatit was likely the estimated revenue Would be realised. After threaWnth^ experience- of the present Qimncial yearthey were better able to form an 4stimate of the probable income. ' He Sad gone carefully through- all the fier Urea .during the time at^js disposal, and had been able to make a fair estimate, w-hich! he would submit. was not likely to he; exceeded, and on. morp it , was not wisft to calculate. M is estimate, of revenrie was as follows ir-Taxationj £1,512 boo • servi^s, £1,30p,00b i . Mnd, £28Qoob 1: .(redmji ig the.estimate of the late Governmant by £12b,006), making a totaf £3,193,900 ttthe jdi^erence of revehu©: and expenditure werejbalanced/ andi the deficit of £131,000 addedi the deficit ofc this year must be provided for, by reduction m expenditure or by increasinff" taxa^qn to, the extent of £912,006, and ■whereto, large an amount were to b«. made up, must take some time to realise No doubt memb,era of the House would turn their attention to the finances of country. It was not his business then , to make remarks as to how the diflßcuU ties had ariseh.^oirho^ were; to he met, that wo v ujdco,oie or when the un.I fortunate atruggle for supremacy, which they Were. ; no rn engaged, had been concluded, it was he- duty at tha^ ?ta,g^ merely to submit facts. That; brought hiuioirtO;asfcip^th^Houß© to, mss the Bill he km asked leave, to, introduce - through all- its stages thaV night. In support; of this reqneib he. | would tell the House that he .fciund the public account m this^ state. The receipts pf the. quarter, just ended were not; eaual to %c paymentsby more than and to meet this th,e late GoveTument had issued deficiency bills' to the extend ot £400,000, and had used the whole prooeeefs. No provision had been made for paying subsides how due, or meeting ptfier payments -actually necessary to pay^ When he fajiii,d this conditioa o.f aifiiirs. he. was m duty bound to goat?. to: the House, i They proposed to issue £200,000 worth bl deficiency bills .a$ once to enable them to. carry on' pecessary paymentsin October md Nbvem-i ber. -That -was .ajl-^hey. wanted, , forl by that time he hoped the; House liave determined, how 1 " the deficiency was to be dealt with:: !3fhe; measure; proposed was a merely, temporary one to, one to meet temporary difilculty, for! during the two months m question the; riqecinie would - not nieet the expenditure by ; from £150,(100 to £2Ott,bOUi~ With respect to public worlds *hey had" had a short ayd sijtisfactory; statement from the late Minister of Public Works last 7 ;session, .when he reviewed last year. .•; It seemed that at the l 'beginniDg of the;financial yar 1878r9i the public works had a credit of £2,107,412, and attheend of the year it: was reduced to £506,205, £1,6u1,201, having been expended; It was hoped' tl^attliia fund would be argumented by £70,00U frOTa '..the land fund, and £lUO,(J<SO. from the fund, but there was no relief from the land- fund, and the £100,000 was not paid over. The expenditure last "-■quarter- was Already theUate Government had spent 1 \u. this department half a -million out of the five million loan. They had entered inj;o engagements froas which. : there was no escape to. the amount' of and had to" pay by the Ist Deoeinber £733.000. Other^ engagements had beeA entered into to pay by the 30th pf .June, taking into account new works out of the loan, no less, than £2,16) s OOJ was mortgaged. (Mr ' MaL-andrevV-^'^ You-tmake a; uiistak^B."). The hon. memh'er for Port Chalmers said he had made a mistake, but ha had gone carefully through the figures, and he believed theai to .be correct. He was very much startled to " n d the amauntsJ.sot, ia.rge< 4e hkd tried ( tp. rddace them, but hadfound it impossible ' to do so. There was -included m the £2,160,000, £20p,<KK) for the purchase of native land's, of. which had already been spent, and" they . had e-. - gaged b,eE6ret.he" end of the' year to spend £84,0 ip more,, and fn round num-bei-B the puichasea of native lands would amount to a million up to .theend of June, The^re also con tracts on public works to the aiuount of £128,815 more than stated. ]%: would not say ''anything as to the policy in^ purchaß.ihg tlie lands, biit'it waV necessaVy^ for the House to be infowi\e4vthat * miUion more wo.uld be inquired L'fbi the purpose. Kef erring to anticipating the. Ipan, he. thought it moijb inadvisable, to enter, into engagement till they knew whether, they could get money or not, and nothiufj m his opinion justified the spend-, ing before they had it. He wisaed he. could tell a tale of > more cheerful na v 1^e v b^£y^^^:^t^^ .

outlines what the position i was, and' it was indisputably gratvey .Members would have to turn, their attention to the facts he had laid' before iilvem, and it was absplutely nesessary -at the pre lent moment that they; should have a Government hot only>cap^ble,-bufc sumY ciently strong. (Hear, hear, from both sides of the House) -r^o . govern -m the interest of theOplony,- and riot of party. Whether they:;woftldyget<;sui-h. aGovernment hon. jttembiersrwould decide; It was their business to turn their at-- . tention to the difficulties before* them, and dense some scheme-to 'place the finance of the Coloriy'on a sounder and Jbetter basis m future, (pheers.), , ■* Major ATKtNSON' then' moved the ■ÜBpension of the Standing Orders, iji order to allow the Bill jn qiiestion to,be passed through all Its stages that even-. ln S-. .". V. ■.;•..... ••"•..." .:./-..' ■-.- • . Sir Geosge Grey trusted the' House would accede to' the motion. It must have proceeded from the" iate Government, if they .had remained m office. Referring to the that for fifteen months the -House hafl been left 1 m ignorance of the .finaticial position of the colony, he said that during that time the quarterly accounts had been published m a' simpler' form than ever before, 'and any gentleman who had taken the trouble , to add up* the figures could have made a statement, similar to Major .Atkinson's. ,i The reason no. financial statement was; 'because;, the; Governor adopted an extraordinary arid unconstitimon'al; ; bourse after the defeat and before the. dissolution ; viz, that no contested motions should be brought down. The blame of the financial statement not being brought down . before this session rested with the Opposition, If the Government had made a sudden reduction m flie' expenditure "to compensate for the; falling of£ m the land revenue, they would have ruined the couutry . . „' He. believed , the colony, to be' 1 m a thoroughly sbxin^ condition.. The late Government had prepared mea,-, sures which but for the unconstitutional conduct of the Governor would have bp,on m opernHon,' and which would have ' ipaet the (Jeficiency^ Th'e'3' taxation which, they proposed would not have pressed unduly s ' pn : classe-s .unable to pear them." lithe present Government adopted thjßisaine; course of taxation ■ >tliey would receive the support of that side of the House. If a";wise course of leg^lation were adopted he "believed the colony would continue "to" advan.ee with the marve.ll.ouS rapidity ' |t iftad always exhibited. ; - % Mr. Walter Johnston suggested that thp better course would be. to issue Treasury* bills; "as giving the House more control over the expenditure. It 'would 'be far fetter to" issue Treasury bills., . The Hon^r - Major -ATKiNsoij- agreed Vith the horn member uespeet? ing Treasury bills, but this Bill was only intended 1 as ia-temporary measure . to last till tfye end of J;he year. Mr. BaliLanoe criticisedthe-statement of the Treasurer, /and said lie thought the. Government" should make a full statement of affairs, which' was all tlie more desirable,; as t]ie.t§nances of the; .colony had been kept m the dark for f he last fourteen or fifteen months. He, . asked the hon. gentleman if he bad never drawn upon Moan befpreit was raisod ? He (Mr. Balance) said it had been a; ponitnon practice to i anticipate, loans^^ before they: jjjere^ raised. ; Jieferring- to. Treasury bills, he did nptthiiik it wade niueh difference whether they were yaised or noto Thevtime had. come for increasing the power which slum Id exis I tor the extension of Treasury bills. When he left the-:T-reasiiry the'expenses pf that department were less, than when lie took charge, and lie other departments were similarly "situated. He replied jat.gjgeat lengtliitothe. arguments. Referring tqJSative affairs, he said he thought the alliance of Kewi would save expense' in' the Coming to the. West. Coast troubles, he said for years;past, while other.lGbverntnents were iw 'of^ca, Te Whifi was inpreasing m power" to dp mischeif, and ■jihis was a- ciruumstance entirely beyond the control qf the Government. Had it pot been fon this.the anticipations from the land revenue would have been realised, v ..-,' Mr. McLean disputed the anticipation made by the lateTrea,surer, that so ] arge a sum would be raised from th<' laud revenue. Thehon; the late Premier ■ • ! lad told the pc ople on his stumping tour nhattthe pnpyjtitipn/hacl [prevented the " i letUementoi the Waimate Plains, which - "" 1 ie said was inco|irept. ; The late premier ! lad not intended to settle these plains. He referred itq the las£ speaker (My. Ballance) as a man w,ha had sold his master for thirty piee.es of silver^ and weiit pn to spoak of him as a mau who had written, qf -tiir Geoi'ge Grey v as a poward. '/. -:' v ; .':;•".- V/. .;•'. Mr. Ball^ncb rose to order, and stigmatised this remark as a, lie, for he liaci never written aline upon the subject. . '. ', ' ■.'•:;(; /; ■' ■^W-'\' /OV ■:-, .-.; ; The Spea^eq drevf the attention of Mr. Ballanoe to; the; fa.cfc tlr^t fa^laVi guage was unpariiatnentary, • Mr. Ballan^e withdrew 'the express »ion, bu^ said the statement pi "Mr. M' Lean was utterly mitrue. Mr. M'Lb^n withdrew^ what he^had said, but said if Mr. Ballance did not write it, he. had dictated the. afticle, . Mr. Ballanoe again denied this." Mr. It bade a y^oop, criticised the action of tlie present Government, and m a. powerful speech- con temied that the Opposition last session, with th<iir majority pf f o^rteen^ were to. blame not having; compelled a financial statement. A strong Govern ment was . wanted, to carry on the affairs of the country, anct he did: not know,, were were, going to g^fcone^ One had -just been \ put oub by a majority of two, and- the other was"ab.ont to be displaced by a majorily of four. (Ci»ies of J^o, and cheers.) He thought whatever Gjfernineafc -was m power they shquld put the the fiuan^ cial affair a pf the country onn spuud footing. .In re.piy to Mr. M'Lean, concerning the way m which the late. Gowerntnent b,ad appointed people, to the Civil Seryife, he^said Mr. M'Lean was a member pf Sir Julius Vogel's Ministry when people we're ';pla,c«d. Civil Service b\y, shoals. So great had the evil beriome that a: Bill hja.d to to . brought m to prevent memhers being imported into the Civil Service. The late Government ~itr ..-the^ wronw. doing had on.ly followed m- tlie! footsteps of predecessors. Mr. Wakefield!, expressed his surmised tt^e maftue^ w^y.c4 (h^e.

('--Financial statement had been received Mr. Vincent Pyke said it was the Ministry who were obstructing the business of the country by a factious opposition. (Hear,- hear.) He had come down that nignt prepared to hear an exposure of some great public scandals, but he had not done so. He ventured, to say there were not ten members m the House who did not know quite as r much., before Major Atkinsoii commenced •hia. Speech as they did,wheji;hehad finiahod. He challenged the Q-ovei'hment to go, on .-.with the business at once, and not further delay the business of the country. (Laughter.) V v - ,Mr, ; TußN^uii addressed the House on behalf of the Opposition. Speaking of the deficien.ny referred to by the hon.' member « for Egm'onti Mr. Turribull said he attributed this' in a very great measure to the lion, member 'himself. His own opinion wasthiit such reductions might, be made m the Estimates as to bring, the . expenditure of the country within the receipts. He was quite sure, that- Maj^r Atkinson could just as well have shown a surplus of £500,000 a3 he had an apparent deficiency of such a large amount. ; . .■. | Mr. Mongomeey thought that the Hon. •' the. Colonial. Treasurer; had; taken an unnecessarily gloomy view of : things, which would probably do a great deal of harm to , the colony. He characterised the action of the late Opposition as indecent m forcing on a want of confidence moMon before the Colonial Treasurer had had an opportunity ,of making his - fi-ianoial statement. Mr. ; Montgomery- proceeded to criticise at length the statement m question, and admitted that the finances of the country were : m a Tery grave condition, demanding their most serious; consideration. ? The ' House went into committee, and the Bill was passed through --all it stages, and was adopted by.the House without amendment. -.. Some discussion took place on the question of adjournment. •The Spbakbr ruled tlipt no new. business could be taken after half-past 12. ■ Mr, Histpp would ask the G-oyernmerit when they would allow the no-corifidence .motion to be brought on. c The House was addressed by Messrs.' Mncandrew arid AVhitakef/ and adjourned' af 20 minutes^ past 1...:,;? ■ '..:,;?