TARANAKI THE HAPPY.

South Canterbury Times, Issue 2370, 21 October 1880, Page 2

TARANAKI THE HAPPY.

The following extract is from a speech of Mr J, W. Thomson, M.H.R, for the Clutha :

There is a place in this Colony called Taranaki. We hare heard a great deal about Taranaki, and I will tell the House something more about it- We f>ut a very large sum upon the estimates ast year for railways, roads, and other public works—£l,ll7,ooo. It is evident that the Government could not spend that amount of money in the year. Now, I think it very wrong indeed to put down on the Estimates large sums of money which there is no reasonable probability of being able to spend. What is the result ? That the Government can do as they please. If a member is pressing on them, or if a member is supporting them, they can spend the money in his district, and they can take shelter in the fact that the money is voted ; and, in regard to another sum of money that is also on the Estimates, they do not spend that at all, and of course they have some excuse to give why they did not spend it. I think we should be very particular indeed in regard to the moneys put upon the Estimates, and not put down more than there is a probability of being spent. There was voted last year for the railwaj r between Foxton and Taranaki the sum of £233,000. Now, what do members think was spent on this line of railway ? Up to 31st July there was expended £2615,000 or £33,000 more than the vote. Sir, we have heard a great deal in this House about jobs —• about the Tapanui job and other jobs—but is not this a job ? Why if the late Government had done this—if they had spent more money than was appropriated—they would never have heard the last of it, and yet the present Government spend £33,000 more than was voted, and there is not a single word about it in the House. And then, what has been expended on roads, not in the district between Foxton and New Plymouth, but in Taranaki proper, in Patea, and other places ? What does this House think has been spent on roads in that district within the last 12 months P No less a sum than £31,000. There is a great deal of other money being spent in this place called Taranaki. They are constructing a harbor there, and that of course, swallows up a great deal of money. There is not a paper on the table of this House, so far as I have seen, showing how much money has been spent on this harbor. I have looked over all my papers to see if ther e was such a document, and I have even turned up the Act bearing on the subject, and there does not seem to be any clause in it providing that the House should be kept informed as to the amount of money which is spent on this harbor at Taranaki. But there is money spent there, or, rather, being thrown into the sea, for that is just what it comes to. However, it is all money spent in the place, and of course goes to keep up that wonderful place called Taranaki. And all this is an addition to the moneys being spent in connection with the armed Constabulary. There are at this moment about a thousand young men on that coast receiving pay from the State. Now, when we consider all these things, and when we consider especially that alarge portion of the money that goes to pay the armed Constabulary comes out of the Consolidated Fund, and therefore directly out of the pockets of the tax-payers, how can we expect to be prosperous ? New Zealand cannot be prosperous with such a drain upon its resources. These thousand young men are costing the country something like £SOO a day, I believe, and how can such a drain go on without crippling the resources of the Colony P And now I will just direct the attention of the House to the proposals of the Government with respect to this locality during the current year. There is a vote on the Estimates for £199,000. Why should it not be £200,000 p I think they must have made it 199,000 just for very shame, and that it might not be said that there was a vote on the Estimates for railways in tnat district of £200,000. However, of this amount of money £153,000 has already been expended, leaving £15,000 to be spent during the current year. But in addition it is proposed, according to the Estimates, to expend on roads in the Province of Taranaki during the current 12 months the sum of £26,830.