PARLIAMENT.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume L, Issue 60, 25 July 1907, Page 2

PARLIAMENT.

WEDNESDAY, JULY 24. I By Telegraph—Pev Tress Association. HOUSE OP RE^RSENTATIVES. Tin- House met at 2.30. Mr \V. FKASUR resumed tiie debate on ! tlie Financial Statement. He acknowledged the improvement that had taken place in late years in the maimer in which the accounts were presented. lie was, however, surprised at the statement that the transfer or C 750,000 to the Public Works I'und had ejected a savin;; in interest of £27.(100. It surely imi.-il have been meant for a joke. There was no saving at all. The' £2,13:2,000 paid

n interest and sinking fund was not the vliole amount the colony paid. There vere amounts, including (he Land for Settlement loans. The people should enow exactly what the indebtedness was ivery year, and no doubt if it was all iet out, it would be several hundreds of housands pounds in excess of the •.mount stated. As to (lie public debt if the colony, certain items were propcry deducted from the gross amount, but re urged that the Government had no 'ight to deduct .1:500,000 Bank of New iea'lnml [(reference shares held by the government. He maintained, therefore, that the net debt was improperly stated ny that amount. He criticised the Sinkng Fund, stating that the money to be et apart was derived from borrowed noney. He had no faith in setting aside i sinking fund whilst everlastingly bor•owing. It was a pity so little attention vas taken by the public generally in the [uestion of finance. This apathy arose Tom the facT that the people looked to Parliament to see that things were kept •ight. He would like to see a Public Accounts Committee, which should have j lower to enquire into every branch of j he public accounts on its own initiative.

Nothing ought to lie concealed from a member.' What did the Public Accounts Committee enquire into? Absolutely nothing. It only enquired into matters referred to it by the House. It should

mve power to bring officers before it, Mid examine them. He contended it ihoiild lie furnished with all information, whereas the fact was the information ivas withheld from the committee. Turn-

ing to land matters, be said the Minister for Lands had last night stated that nembers opposing the land proposals were .the friends of the big man, and the enemies of the small man, but that itatcment did not trouble him, and he iras sure would not trouble those who tent him to represent them. He maintained that to give a man the freehold iras to encourage him, and a freeholder

would do more with his land than under any other tenure. This year's Land Bill ivas not better than last year's. In its evident desire to do away with the freehold, the same principle underlay it, that the State should not dispose of a single acre except on leasehold tenure, with revaluation. Mr FfSHEU complained of the involved state of the Financial Statement, and compared it with that of Mr. Balance in 1891. He said that since 1801 not a single Financial Statement issued which was so lucid and easily explained. He stated that since 1902, permanent appropriations had increased from £2,434,450 to £3,079,079. When the late Premier came into office the indebtedness of the colony was £37,000,000; it had now increased by £22,328,000. The indebtedness per head had increased from £OO 5s 8d to £O7 2s lid.

He compared the present, state of affairs in the colony with the finances of Victoria, which, since the drought, had reduced its debt by over a million. He contended that the Government made concessions where they should not have been given. Rebates had been given to farmers which should not; £21,000 was given last year on postal concessions, and £17,000 in telegraph concessions, and now it was proposed to give £20,000 in further postal concessions which had never been asked for. Then the sheep tax was to be remitted, which was never asked for. A Member: The Farmers' Union asked for it.

Mr FISHER: Yes, and they asked for the freehold, and got it, or are going to get it. Referring to the Midland railway line, he said he could take, any five members of the House over that line, and they would agiX'e Hint tbn expemctitunr on the line was a most criminal waste of public money. Some of the land through which the line passed would not carry a sheep to 040 square miles. Referring to the finances and public accounts, he said It was not possible for ,any member of the House to obtain information of the public accounts of the colony except by means of a Royal Commission. He added that the only means a member had of getting access to a particular document was by making a specific charge against a public official. Mi BUDDO thought it better, before a settler was allowed to go on the land at all, that the roads should be made. Referring lo native lands, he said settlement on the same was going on at too small a rate, owing in a great ineasur;' that many natives themselves were averse to parting with their lands. He realised that the Commission was doing excellent work, but he was sure that there were large areas of native land

which would, be difficult to deal with,

In Hokianga, he had found a large area of 500,000 acres in one block, and suggested Ibis valuable land be divided in alternate blocks, which would give the advantage of closer settlement, and at the same time allow of natives paying rates and taxes. Touching on the tariff matters, he urged that lighter slippers and shoes should be allowed to come into the colony free, especially as they could not, be profitably made'in tlic colony. Turning lo the Hour duty, lie said that it was not possible to'grow wheat profitably at less than 3s a bushel. He advocated granting protection up to •Is a bushel, but contended that a prohibitive duty should be placed on foreign Hour. b

Mr Barber considered the Government should set an example in the erection of public buildings. He differed from Mr Fisher in that he considered the Midland railway was one of the most important lines in the colony, and the mineral country through which it passed was alone sufficient to'warrant the Government pushing on with the line. The House resumed at 7.30.

Mr BARBER, resuming, urged that an ad valorem anil w.-ight duty should be" I placed on shoddy, which wo 'uld have the effect of reducing the quantity of shoddy- entering th,., colony, and would assist in the development of the colours woollen industry. |-|„ contended that placing a duty r„ ,-aw cot ton supplvprcvent colonial manufacturers suppling a good cheap material composed of new wool mixed with a little cotton, winch was a good article and 'competed Willi shoddy. The latter contained no new woo), but „„i y „,,; ,„„, a a„itoi it t-d material, lie urg.,,l tn ., t Ulllegs tmj industry received a little protection the worker m the colony would be brought to the same level as the sweated worker of the Old Country Mr THOMSON criticised the bookkeeping system of ( ]„. colony, ilm , „,, ~ tl..*! should be r-formed. He advocated better payment of teachers and placing the Teachers Superannuation I'imd on a. more sound basis. He characterised the Budget as a business one commended the Postmaster-Oeneral for concessions granted. He advocated the State lending working miners money in the same manner as money was lent to settlers under the Advances to Settlers Act. Such a- concession would result m the ilovclopment of mineral wealth. Referring to the Naval subsidy, ] e thought we should increase the subsidy £OO,OOO per annum. Turning, to the Endowments, he urged that the Government should have utilised settlement lands for the purpose. As it was, und»r the proposal put forward it would take years before any revenue would be available.

i Mr MeLACHLAN considered tae Leader of the Opposition's criticism of the Budget was a hit washy, whilst the member for Bruce, in criticising the railways revenue, snowed that he was not up-to-date. He did not agree with the Government in all the remissions of taxation proposals.aml was particularly opposed to the remission of the Meen t:i,x. '

Mr IZAKO suggested that the Minister for Customs should bring down legislation to enable him. in case of necessity, to take tile duty off tho necessaries of life.

Referring to the proposed postal concessions, he did not think the nminritv of people were going to gain anything. Bnfcrring to the mail service via Su-z. he urged that negotiations should be entered into with the Union Company i to delay the steamer leaving Sydney onj 'fiftto'SftX until Moiid.aft and. 6ms * «n..

able the English mail to be delivered in| ■ Wellington on Thursday night or Fri-I i day morning, representing <u gain of five (days. He agreed with the proposals set forth for dealing with the restriction of Chinese entering the colony. Kef erring to the Lund Hill, he dhThot believe! in the Crown parting with lands. He advocated the leasehold system with 33 ,vq:u'»' lease, which was a sufficiently long base, and should contain a provision for the perpetual right of renewal.

Mr HANAN congratulated the Premier on bringing down a policy for the improvement of the people of the colony He advocated the .adoption- of a protective tariff for the purpose of benefitting colonial industries. <Ho was strongly opposed to allowing motor ears to enter duty free, and particularly in regard to the bodies of turn, which could be made here and give employment to numbers of workmen. Referring to the land policy of the Government, he was satisfied with them, but would like to see the graduated land tax commence fit £20,000 instead of 040,000. He contended Hie landless people of the colony ivere not receiving the attention they deserved. The tendency on the part of many members of the House was to legislate, for the men already in possession of land.

The PREMIER rose to, reply at 11.15. IIV said the criticism so far as it had pone had not disclosed any weakness in the Financial Statement. The Government had never experienced any difficulty in meeting lonns as they jbecamc due, and never would. The proposal to borrow a million loan was to be borrowed, not in England, but in New Zealand. Time and again money had been offered in Australia at a good premium, and there was no need to go to England for a loan, and there was no weakness in the proposals put forth. The same people who complained of borrowing money were always endeavoring to pjocure votes for the erection of large public buildings in their own constituencies. In Auckland he had experienced these demands, and the member for Wellington Central had that day adv> catcfl expenditure of money on the post office in Wellington. What, he asked, is the use of any one dealing in colossal hypocrisy, in urging the Government to cease borrowing, when every day there were questions on the order paper asking for grants for cities and constituencies in the way of public buildings and railway facilities, and for increases to the wages of public servants. Yet members who were asking these grants for their own constituencies were talking to their constituents and deprecating borrowing money. The Premier quoted, figures Bhowing the various amounts expended on public works in various portions of the colony. He suggested that members should' render assistance by ceasing to ask for grants for their own constituencies if they desired to ceaso borrowing. Dealing with the reductions of the Customs tariff, he said everyone of the industries had the opportunity of placing their views before the Minister. He contended that never was tiere 1 a Customs tariff which hud given such general satisfaction as the proposals ■ net forth by the Government. The whole matter of customs had been gone into | with a view to assisting industries, com- ! patiblc with a reducing of duties on the " necessaries of life. The Government was prepared to listen to suggestions from the floor of the House with a view to J amending the tariff further if it coald '_ be shown that industries were being in- . ferfercd with. There appeared to have , been an idea that the reduction on motor > cars was intended to benefit rich people. , It was put before the Government that i a number of business men who were de- ) sirous of obtaining motor cars for '.he , purposes of their business were unable , to do so owing to the duty on them. ) There were 3000 motor cars in the coll ony, and there should be. many more, » and he asserted that if we had a proper r share of thes? ears wo would employ a number of workmen in the way of r»P'liring and attending them equal to two-third* of the railway servants, and as motor cars increased would eveiitur ally employ as many.