The Customs Duties Bill. (BY TELEGRAPH—PARLIAMENTARY REPORTER.) Wellington,June 14.

Te Aroha News, Volume VI, Issue 273, 16 June 1888, Page 5

The Customs Duties Bill. (BY TELEGRAPH — PARLIAMENTARY REPORTER.) Wellington, June 14 .

The debate on the motion thai/ the Speaker should leave tho chair in oider that the Hou.se might go into committee on the Customs. Dutieb Bill, was rosumed by INIr Rhodes., -who said his reason for opposing tho second reading of the Kill was that heh c had pledged himself to oppo.se hirlher t;t\ation, as he belies ed that it would yet be posI .sihlc to etlcct hu ther letienehmcnt.. With I most of thelinanci dpioposil.sol the Oovornment he (mite agreed —notably the abolition ot tho 2s Tati\i» and L'ublic Woiks l>ep;utiueuts.. fie intended to support Mr lieethamV amendment, because ho bolie\od that until the Public Works Statement came down it would be impossible to decide what economies could boeßeetod. Mrlilaive&aidthat being neithorlreo tiadoi nor a protectionist, ho was at an especial advantage in spiaking on tho linanoial question. Looking 1 at the experience ot the majority of countties who had adopted free trade, he thought the docttinc had seen its days, so that" wo musi simph legislate to meet- the necessities of tin colony, regardless ot either tl.eoiy. He .sail no hotter method than that proposed l>\ the tloxoimuuit, whose policy he thoimht met with iho appnnal ot most thinking men, and ho must theutuic Mip poi t it. Mr I/aid -aid that all tho Wellington mi mber-, ineludin<_> the Minister tin lOducation, had been letuined to support a policy of hee tiade ; but Ministers, ter -ome reason into which itwa.s not necessary to inonhe, weic now found deserting their [ jMineiples. Though the I'iemiei had! CiUiied out' letloncliment to an txhnt which was eieditable to him-eh and hispait\, he took lea\o to doubt whether it could not have been earned to ,-ueh an e\- j tent a> to ha\c a\oided the burdensome tariil uhici) it v.as now pto- ; po-ed to place upon the shouldera j of the people. Not a year ago he had \otcd against raising the sr-hool age. But; he had some kmsou to doubt whether his i judgment at tli.it time was collect, and though he could not now .say definitely what his action would be, it would be possible that if the question weie again raised lie would be found \oting in the opposite diieetion. School tees, -.ay to the extent of a shilling ,i week, might well bechaiged lor education be) owl the Fourth Standard, and would iniliot \eiy little buiden upon the pooiei classes. Economies could be ellected by abolishing subsidies to ihe San Fiancisco mail service, and those payable to local j bodies. The free tiadeis being in the j minority, it was almost beating the air to combine in opposition to the taiitl, so that he legrctted that Mi Beetham had moved his amendment, which he would ne\oitheles^support, though he feaied it »\ould be meiely waste of time. The (!o\ eminent part) would be mainly composed of free tradei.s, but the latter had been doscitcd by Minister, who had placed them-che.^ at the mercy of their opponent)-. The piotectionists would deny to the tJovernment .my ciectittoi the policy wliicii the> had biouglit in, and he \cry much doubted whetbei the> would siippoit the Minihtiy when once the taiifl became an accomplished fact. Ho could not help thinking that the (lovemment would rue the da\ when they adopted such a policy, and would ho thiow n back on their own resources. (A\oiec: " Nevah '" — cheer-, and countei cheeib.) Tho constituents ought eeitainh, to ha\e been heaid befoic-*uch an altei.xtion \\a- made in the (i-cal })ohc\ ot the eountiy. l'ticcs had ,dread) been laired on account ol duties, and ho was -ati-tied tint tho wo king cl.is-es would yet bewail the day that .saw protection adopted. All the advantage would accrue to the manufactmei, who would deihe his additional piolits j fiomtho pockette of the pooicr consumer. ' The tax upon salt was one which would In specially h.uassmg to all kinds o} colonial industries, ami wa? unreasonably heavy One of his constituents- who made whips had pointed out to him thatthe taiill would ha\e the eilect of letaidnig tliat part of oui industiies\ Mr Anderson uiged that the co.stol electing new school building.- should be thiown on local bodies, ile was in t.i\ouv of uiisintr tho .school age, ot doing away with one ot tho mail .sen ices, and of reducing the propcity tax exemption to U 250. Local bodies should bo educated up to lelying on thcil own resoinees, but thobiib.sidic.s ought; not to be suddenly withdiawn. lie j)ie feried a continuance of the propelty tax to the impohition of a loud anil income tax. Tie disappio\ed of tho hca\y taxation sought to be imposed. Discussing the taiiff from the free tiadc standpoint, ho said that he hoped that their day had not come. Mr Loughrey agreed ivith the taiiil'asa whole, although he disapplo^ed of some ol the items. Mr R. Thompson thought the ictrenchmont policy would have to be carried J further. He did not appro\c oi the propo.sed abolition of the San Francisco mail service, or of subsidies to local bodies. Jf Mr Keotham had proposed 1o l educe tho Estimates by a lump bum he would have supported the amendment, but under the circumstances he could nob do so. Sir Monk advocated the taxation ot absentees, and spoke in disapproval of the property tax" as being inequitable in its operation, and he commented particularly upon the administration of the system by Commissioner Sperrey, whose supervision of the valuations he strongly condemned. On resuming at 7.30 p.m., Air Monk continued his address, and argued vigorously in tavour of the theory of. piotection, and passing on to other points he urged a reduction of the defence and survey expenditure. If railways were placed under a local Board their management would be immensely improved, and no man who had already made a reputation could be expected to take charge of them. A sum of £40,000 could, he bcliovcd, be saved upon education, without closing 1 even the smallest country school. Retrenchment should be begun in Parliament, where there was wasteful expenditure upon the printing of papers. If tho Government were turned out of oflice on account of their policy of protection, ho was convinced that they would come back with alarger majority and greater kudos than ever. Mr Hobbs twitted Ministers with their silence in the faco of what was tantamount to a motion of no-confidence, but proceeding to speak, as he said, on behalf of the Government, he argued that Mr Beetham ought, instead of putting mere generalities into his amendment, to have propo&ed a reduction of the Estimates by a lump sum. Mr Beetham had not pointed out a single item that could be reduced excepting the San Francisco service, and it would ibe inexpedient to do that, seeing | that the United States were proposing to remove their wool duty, which would eauso an immense trade between this colony and America. Besides, without that sorvico what should we do in tho event of war ? Encouragement of local industries should be the watchword of the colony. In con-

elusion ho urged tho llouso not to waste timo, but to got on with tho busiuo&s of tho eoiintry. Mr O'Connor, aftor reviewing tho financial proposals, said ho was quite pro} >arcd to support tho Covernmout till ho found gontio men who were moro caj)ablo ot administering tho a Hairs of tho country, and lie was .satisfied that Mr licetham and other nicmborb of the froo trade party could not do &o. I Col. liYndor was prepared bo givo tho Uo~ veinmonl a liberal biipport on their tariiF pioposals. Air Moss was sure we ought to be thankful thai our credit had tulloii, because it would now make tho colony really Lice its position at last There wcio only two points in the Statement to which he had gra\o objection — one was tho absoiption of the Land Transfer Asbiuaneo Fund, and the. other was. the tea duty, agaiiibfc both ot winch he stiongly protested. It wab \\ntan 1 to east upon protectionists the lesponsibilit\ of the extra taxation piopo.sed by tho (iovornnicnt. 11 they had had the framing of tho tarid they could ha\e avoided two-thinks ot tho dutiob piopo^cd, beeaiibo the imports they dooirod would be ol a defeiibivo ehai actor, instead ol levenuo-raising. lie protested against (.he wa\ in which iuembeis ueie pi evented from taking a colonial view ol the tea duty question, because they had to considei it in the same position with their potty iocal .subsidiu- ; thus it was impossible for them to can independent vote on the .subject. Oth ei countries had sunk into depression as bad asoiu-, but had loeoveied hoin it, and he was -.atisliod that we also would. 11 the policy ot piotoofcion weie persc\cied in, we should mkhi o\eicome the diilicjulties into which we had been luought by leckies- 1 oxpendituie. The New Zealand tiade would -oon icsume its natuud elasticity, and its people become as hopeful as they h.id hiihcilo been despondent, it wa.s with thib object , that he would buppoit the tantl piopos.ils, though ho did not altogether agiee with them, and hoped that some of them would be coiibideiably amended. Mi .1 Mclvcn/ie wouhl support the (!o\eminent m ini[ osing the neecsbaiy ta\a- i Lion when he was satisfied that all thenecessaiy letienehinent. had been etleeted. The Minister tor Education defended . himself fiom the ehaige of inconsistency , whieli had been In ought against him, and j said that a.s a mattci of tact lie had not vaned one jot upon the subject ol aid to local industiies. Dr. llodgkinson would biippoit Mrileetiiam's amendment by way ol a protest against the taxation ot the country beyond the necessaiy device. Mi Ta) ioi opposed the amendment. Mr Oimond \entuied to think that the j issue of thi& debate would show that the ! I louse and the (Jovei nment would June to come to a wise decision if they had detei mined whether ceitain seiwces could bvi loduccd betoie the second leading ot tho Bill was proceeded with. He was opposed to (.hotJovornment \eiy materially on their tai ill. but, unlike other lion, membcis, he hoped to continue to ghc them buppoit aftei thin question was disposed of. 1 n the i ecent elections tho ( ! o\ ci nment and tlieii Mippoiteis were lctumtd on the understanding that there would be a icduction ol tliccxpcudituie, and no incte.ise of taxation so long as it could be asoided. fie did no! lea\ c the (Jos eminent on any question ot protection or Itee trade, but because of their imposition of ta\c-> which lie belie\edto be unnecessary until se\er«d coj-bly sei vices had been dispensed with. The taxation \\liich, uniortunatcly, ho belicxed would be imposed by the votes ot a large majority of the House was unfair and unjust in its application, and would be more largely Jolt b\ the indu&tiial classes in the country. Tin- taxation, he wished it to be undei stood, was not being ' In ought about by hon. membcis pledged to j no furl hoi taxation till all possible leticnch | ment had been cllected. The cilecis ot the ! pioposed taxation would be to place from 10 to 15 pei cent, on the commodities used by the induct! ial classes. Had the pto- ; perty tax exemption been leduced to ClOO, I and all unnecc-sary ser\ ices lo[>pL(l oil, no C\tia taxation would have been requited ' ile firmly belie\ed that the House would J now agicc to laising the school age to ->i\, I but complained that the annual education j H'poit was misleading, and e\idently in- i tended to thiow discicdit on the Education j lioaids. By abolishing subsidies, much ! ot the extravagance of local bodies would he done away with, and he was still comineod that his piopo.sal foi the funding ot the deficit was a sound one Ho would have to oppose the (!o\ eminent policy at e\ci\ cost, though in this case the cost would bo onl\ an unfoi bunately noccssjuy se\crauce tiom the Miiusteual naii^. Much better results could be expected tiom the land pohe> intioduced last jcar than from any system of piotcctive duties, yet the colony had not had time to fully lecovci fiom the maladminittiation of tho last liovernment. 51c did not altogether a))jnove ol the nathe land policy, but c\cn it was an improvement upon that of the Stout- Vogcl Ministry, it was to be regietted that the Government had not made such pioposals withicgaid to taxa tion a.s would have kept their paity together. There were, however, other matter to be considered than those of taxation, and be would bear these in mint! in shapirg his future course ot action. Mi I lux ton s-poko appiovingly ot thetariiV proposals. \ Mr Meutcath said he understood the Minister for Education would claim that he had all along been a consistent protectionist. He would, therefore, like to know how the Premier made out that his Cabinet was a tice trade one. It. was now proposed to impose upon the people, through the Customs, the identical charges which wore objected to at the general election. He, for one, could not sec the consistency of doing this. U the (Jovernment proposed to cease bori owing, they would bo justified in charging school buildings to revenue, but it was most inoppoitune to do so at a time when a new loan was boing raised, to bo devoted broadcast to public -works. If tho country was especially emphatic on one point during the election, it was that lailways should pay for themselves. Yet Customs taxation was now proposed in order to make up a falling off in railway revenue. On the explanation of the Minister of Education he must conclude that tho Ministry was a protectionist one, and not one of froo trade as claimed by the Premior. This being &o, his election pledges left him no alternative but to oppose them. On the motion of Mr O'Callaghan tho debate wa.s adjourned till this afternoon. Tho House rose at 12.15 a.m.

An inteiosting collection of chairs was sold in London the other day. Among those Shaksporo's chair was bought by Mr E. Ledger, proprietor of Iho " Era," for 120 guineas ; John May's chair fetched thirty guineas ; Anne Boloyn's £11 6s ; Theodore Ifook's nineteen guineas ; and Lord Lytton's thirteen guineas. An Englishman has discovered the ancient porphyry quarries, where tho Romans obtained the stones used in their famous buildings. The quarries aro ninety six milos> from the Nile, and 3,650 feot above tho level of tho soa. iayj^-j