PARLIAMENTARY.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XV, Issue 156, 1 July 1880, Page 2

PARLIAMENTARY.

Wellington, Wednesday. The House met at 230. Mr Hutchinson gave notice that he would introduce a bill to restrict Chinese immigration. In reply to questions, it was stated that the rent . payable for the Government!, house, Hokitika, £50 psr annum, went to the Treasury, not the County. Further enquiry showed thafc £800 had been paid to plain tiff's solicitor in the Waka Maori case more than ought to have been paid, and on the authority of the late Native Minister, Mr Sheehan. The subject would be remitted for enquiry by the Public Accounts Committee. The answer made to thia question yesterday was in error. — The Government did not see its way to alter the provisions in the Licensing Bill abolishing bottle licenses.— Tho surplus land fund of Otago and Canterbury had been paid over in accordance with the Financial Arrangements Act.— The Middle Island Engineer reported that there was no foundation for the statement made in the report of the Royal Civil Service Commission, " that waggons built by contract in Dunedin were delivered in Christchurch at the end of last year in a state thus described by a witness: — "Some of these were disgraceful ; bad workmanship ; bad timber; the timber was unseasoned ; stringy bark was put in instead of iron bark; the joints were not properly made; some of them had the bottom frames held up only by the nails in the flooring boards ; some of them we have had almost to rebuild within six week." The no-confidence debate was resumed by Mr M'Lean, who spoke in favor of the Government, who were condemned by Mr Seddon in'opposition to tbe financial policy. Thursday. Mr Seddon spoke for four hours and a quarter. He advocated a license fee of £40 to lawyers and doctors. . Major Atkinson said the main error of the public works policy waa its not having abolished the provinces when it was initiated. He defended himself from the charge of basing all his finance on Treasury Bills. During the whole of his former term of office the Treasury Bills afloat had been increasnd by £300,000. When he left office and Sir G. Grey's Government got in, there was £919.000 in the Treasury, or fully £100,000 over the sum sufficient to provide for all liabilities. The Grey Government had also had a loan of two and a half millions to spend, and they were responsible for the present state of affairs; Mr Ballance for having persuaded the people that they had means which they had not; Mr Macandrew for having manufactured a paper land fund and proceeded to spend it; and Sir George Grey, more than all, because as Premier he could bave stopped ali that with a word. During their term of office they had spent £11,243,000, andleft liabititiesof £1,500,000. The people of the the colony had not been to blame, because as soon a. tbey could make their voices heard they hurled those gentlemen from office. It waß they who bad caused the necessity for increased taxation, and before they left office they had Bills prepared to impose an income tax, and to raise the land tax to twopence per acre, far more crushing taxation than tbat now proposed Tbe Government would not ask the House to interfere about Ministers salaries. They would simply cease to draw their full amounts. If they had not done more in the way of retrenchment it was because tbe last session ended at Christmas, and the House, met again in May, and consequently the time was very short, and Royal Commissions had been appointed to assist in collecting information. He would not discuss the local finance proposals till the Bill containing them was before the House. As to local subsidies, tbere were only tbree courses open— to abolish them ; to pay them out of loan ; or to raise the amount by increased taxation, and they had chosen the former. The Government were in earnest about retrenchment. They could effect this by dismissal., which, however, would not have any immediate effect in saving, as compensation must be paid ; by reducing the salaries all round, and by diminishing the conveniences offered to the public. Tbey would act immediately in the two latter directions. Already their departmental estimates were £105,000 below those of 1878-79 in the ten prinoipal classes, and as Ministers now found that the House was really in earnest, each Minister would, when his departmental estimates were in Committee, endeavor to lead the House to whatever further reductions were possible. The amount of extra taxation proposed was only £246,000 over that proposed in 1878-79. He defended the property tax at length, aud said that, so far from driving capital away, the monetary institutions did not object to it, and he knew tbat large amounts of foreign capital were flowing in for investment. He hoped the property tax valuations would be generally accepted by the local bodies. He condemned the land tax, especially as being the means of bursting up large estates, but the Government felt so strongly the evil of large family estates that next year they proposed to introduce a Bill to prohibit entail and to regulate the bequeathal of land. He had been unwillingly forced to the beer tax. The estimate of its yield was based on the previous short experience of it, but instead of yielding more revenue than estimated, the returns so far indicated that it would yield £40,000 a year less. Regarding public works they could not stop altogether; they must complete the works which would bring in a return, or render other works more profitable, but they must strictly confine themselves to necessary and reproductive works, and spend on these very gradually, so as to extend the expenditure over the next two years. He advised the House after settling the' question before it to goon with the estimates, refuse to pass more than the very few necessary Bills, and leave Ministers with a long recess to devote themselves to the real work of reform. There was no need of a panic, as, with thrift and providence, the colony could easily meet its difficulties, but the people must exercise selfdenial and abandon luxuries. Mr Delatour moved the adjournment of the debate, and tbe House rose at midnight.