PARLIAMENT.

Oamaru Mail, Volume IV, Issue 1319, 2 July 1880, Page 2

PARLIAMENT.

Wellington, July 1. In the Legislative Council, to-day, An Imprest Supply Bill was passed through all its stages. . Tlie Bank of New Zealand Act Amend-ment-Bill was read a first time. - The whole afternoon was spent in Committee on the Native Band Court Bill. By 16 to 13 votes the time in which application for re-hearing of xauses - could be moved was extended from three months to six. t t ■ 'At 5- o'clock,- clause 63 having;.been reached, the Council adjourned. In the' House 'of day, . ( r j "< 'i 'j The JBank of New. Zealand,. Act 1861 Amendment Bill was read a third time and passed. Sir George Grey presented a petition from Auckland praying that the proposal in the Licensing Bill re clubs be reconsidered ; as also the aribitrary powers proposed to be vested in Licensing Com4 missioners. Replying to Mr. Murray, Major Atkinson said no more transactions.relating to the >LSjOOO,OOQ. loan are-pending.,under the* Consolidation of Stock Act,"or will be i entered into without this House having i an opportunity of reconsidering the j matter. ... Replying to Mr. Andrews,-Mr. Hall said the Government .would allow the -House to reduce the various items on ,class.,l — Legislative —on the Estimates,, and would not look upon such reduction as a'vote of want of confidence. „ i

Replying to Mr. Jones, Mr. Hall ; said j 49,000j0C0 telegraph forma,, had r been imf ported into" the uniform rate of 2s per thousand. The lowest tender in the Colony was 5s 6d. Replying to .Mri Wrighfc,Mr\ -Oliver said that instructions had been issued to •the Public Works Department to use no more foreign timber for sleepers.. . , . An Imprest Supply Bill to" the extent of L300;000 was introduced by message from the Governor, and passed through all its stages. x The nb-confklense debate- waspresumed -Mi', de Lavitour. Despite what had been said to the contrary, he failed to see that the Opposition could have traversed the proposals without adopting the course taken. He did not desire to see the Government ousted. - Looking back they found, that in 1870 .the deficiency "was half a million, and now in 1880, with a population nearly doubled, the daficiency was a million. They had entered upon a course of extravagance,. and. he was only too much afraid it would. still ,go on. . A trifling retrenchment i might be made, but he was afraid it would only be |

a temporary expedient: In the height of existing emergencies it was not : the people that was demoralised. It was the system, and it was. that system which was the cause of " the existing difficulties. When Mr. Yogel made his proposals in 1870 he Tjas particularly anxious that, the, ; burdens should-not fall on the landed property, and that it had all along been the policy, of . the party with whonr he .was associated. The Treasurer, he contended, had attempted an impossibility in finance. In'his endeavor to wake the local'bodies independent of general finance,: more power to give' localities a right' to impose a double rate would not effect that object. The only way to clo it properly was to restore the functions .the House had usurped. What should be done was to ascertain what functions they' should retain,. and then divest themselves of the remainder of their own free will. Everything .had tobe done through a'paid whicliwas one of the crying.-evils. of the system as a whole. There were for instance municipalities that would' never have sprung into existence but for endowments and sub,-, siciies. Could-they not place their cities ; on a sure footing, and enable, their counties to unite by that means ? They would, create "a spirit of self-dependence and destroy the system of party government that had sprung up in conjunction with

the central legislature., ,He would retain foV the central power legislative functions, the control of/railways, ordinary surveys, the registration of lands, the telegraph and post offices, and questions of defence. He knaw of no more. Why could they not say to the districts, " You can have post and telegraph offices provided, if you find a building." The same might ba done with the lower courts.. Why not put responsibility on localities making demands for" local requirements. The problem was, no doubt, surrounded by many difficulties, but they were not insurmountable. He felt convinced that no permanent retrenchment would be effected until the responsibility of administration was, as much as.possible, thrown on local shoulders. What the Opposition said was that the Government proposals are not acceptable.-The majority of the House had said 50,., consequently the Government must feel that it represented the

minority. Wliy 3 then, did they not throw themselves oil the guidance of the House and make.all the amendments proposed. The Opposition had shown that they desired nothing for themselves. All that they desired was-to: forward;:the, best interests of the country.. Mr. Tole criticised the proposals. Alluding to local finance, he said it was arranged so as- to. force? the Counties Act on the districts, whether they wanted it or not. Then they were to be taxed again to pay native rates. He • objected ,: to the proposed Board of Local-W orks,'-and he had no confidence in the. Minister * of Public Works,,owing to his conduct while in Auckland." The Board would commence with a sum of L 150,000, extracted from the Consolidated Fund,.and- its disbursement would have the - tendency, so long complained of, that the rich" districts would carry off the lion's share of -;the money. Imposition of the income : tax and the duty on -wool would meet their requirements much more effectually.than the scheme proposed. i Mr. Tamoana said that he rwoulcr "vote against the Government, as he was [opposed to their Native Lands Bills. Mr. Loudon announced thatMie-would vote with the Opposition. <■ l Mr. Shrimski asserted) as the result- of | six years' experience, that no member of I the Opposition could get justice-done to | his district. This, he nad no -doubt, would continue to be , policy ,of s the •proposed..Looal.:W<>rks:-Bioap4w He hoped i the report of the Civil Service Commissioners' would be treated with- greater respect by the Government than they shad shown to ' the - report' of the Chief Engineer on the Timaru Breakwater. ; He; strongly condemned the property, tax, ; and: advocated an export duty on wool. ; Major Harris said- they wer.e- anx.ious that this matter , should come to a-.vote at onc.e, and he hoped Government wouldthrow no further obstacle in the way of getting it decided, Mr. Hamlin said he had intended to have; addressed the House; affording certain choice bits vof ..'information',, he i had picked up during his journey to the West Coast. Another, opportunity, fox doing that would occur, and in consequence he would waive,his right to: spoak at present. On a division being taken, Sir George Grey's 'amendment was negatived by 45 to 30.

The House then went into Committee on the Estimates. "(jlass 5, Postmaster-General and Commissioner of Telegraphs, i - Mr. Hall explained that the business of ; the ; Postal Department had very considerably increased. He gave a comparative statornent of the two mail services—that by San Francisco and that by Suez—showing that the advantages were slightly in favor of the former. There were little or no proposals for increase in this department. In the Civil Service Commission's report, was made to

amalgamate telegraph and post offices. In only seventeen cases had this amalgamation not taken place. Thoy had during this year made a saving of L 719 by amal- ' gamations effected, and they had other amalgamations in contemplation that would effect another LIOOO. Government also j proposed to amalgamate the administration t of the two departments, so as to secure more uniformity of the system. Little saving could be effected in the mail con- | tracts this year, as . they ran to the end of I the present year, when these contracts were i terminated. He hoped members would i aid "them in considerably reducing the •number and' cost •of these services. The Stella would perform the round of the Middle Island service quarterly when she lighthouses: .; The"TaurangaOpotiki, service . would also, be abolished. He had effected a saving by stopping a Special train , run from the Bluff on the i arrival of the Suez mail. A sum of L 13,000, j not only credited, but actually paid over to the railways for the conveyance of would be struck out. Iri all they had been, able to effect a saving of L 14,000. < The salaries of those departments were not by any, means large, and they, did the'work efficiently. He moved the Vote General Post Office, L4OOO. " - * ' ' o -: tJVlr."ReaderJWood ; contended that it was necessary they should, at. the; outset,, lay down the punciple of reduction, which sjiould be applicable "to the whole of the estimates. - Were^that-not!-dorie,~ he believed that no saving-would' be made, at all. What he would propose was a reduction r of 20,-per cent.: on alKsalaries of LjSOO.a year and-, up wards..,,..The..General Post Office Secretary's salary was L6OO. It'was a considerable salary, -punctually paid'j to one who had no risk -The; reduction should be :>2or percent, .on salaries of L6OO and upwards,, between L3OO and L6OO 15 per cent., and between LIBO and L3OO 10 "per cent.\ Looking at the number of. persons employed in this department,' he had no hesitation J.n saying there were too many, and that.it would be found that .there were-some of these persons who were" mainly engaged waiting on the others? He would there-* fore pro Dose tliat the vote be reduced to L 3500. '

JUUUUU. / V Mr., Andrews opposed-this proposal of •Mr. Wood. He would suggest 10 per 'cent, reduction all round. Mr. Hall thought the of rej ducing each vote' would - prove incofif venient. It would be .better to vote the amounts set down and then take a vote in the House as to the total reduction to be made in the estimate as a-whole. ■ • Mr. Macandrew thought retrenchment., should be in reduction of officers rather than of salaries. Mr. George supporfced Mr.i Wood's proposal. _ i J Major Atkinson said the Committee was | quite incompetent to make reductions in ] items. The total • amount- of reduction | being fixed, it should be left i vernment to, adjust, the ..reductions among the items after fair consideration. 1 Mr. Wood said his proposal would go "beyond 7 the"per centage reductions he had suggested. ~ He would preface these;s»ggestions by a resolution—That in the-posi-tion of the Colony "the estimates as a whole should be largely reduced. He would also suggest the abolition of-the office of Agent-General; that the honorarium of members of that-House should be re-

duced -25 per cent. ; and of the. Legislative: Councillors 50, pep cent. ;• that. Hansard should be abolished that the number of District • Court Judges and the 'Resident Magistrates be reduced ; that the ..salaries, of Chairmen of Select Committees' be and no additions-toperman'ent [ amounts- of- salaries be voted ; that a large reduction should be.-made "in- the num-; ber of officers in"the Civil Service, by amalgamation - and reorganisation; that, all Telegraph " and Post' " Offices not paying expenses be closed ; and that the Defence and Volunteer vote, be reduced by L 50.000. t . Mr. ,7. B. fisher spoke in favor of reduction, and that they::-should;'.set.: : o,ut ■ from the first with reduction." There were :ver-y few men in the House in receipt of incomes equal to that paid to the Civil Servants.

Mr. Bowen also spoke of the importance I of .-deciding on a uniform reduction at the i outset. Unless that was done no saving would be effected. Sir George Grey agreed that the principle of the proposal ' suggested by Mr. Reader Wood was the-, best, and he would support it. , - Mr. Swanson said Civil: Servants were ruling the country ; ! they might be- civil servants, but they were roost .uncivil • masters. ■ Mr.' Montgomery was- m favor of the. proposal made by Mr: Wood. Giv.il servants were paid far too much", and out of all proportion to the incomes of those who had to bear the burden of their; .salaries. The discussion was interrupted :by • 12.30, when the House rose.