THE LEGISLATURE.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1655, 3 November 1887, Page 2

THE LEGISLATURE.

We shall invite the Legislative to express by resolution its opinion thatW the honorarium paid to its members shall not exceed £IOO, and we shall House to reduce the honorarium paid to its own members to £IOO with an allow* anco of £SO in consideration of the additional expenses necessarily incurred by them. We think that no payment should be made to the Chairman of Select Committees of either Heuse ; that all officers of Parliament whose salaries are provided by Act should not receive more than the statutory pay at present provided, all extra amounts annually voted being struck off, and the salaries of the other officers ef the House being reasonably reduced. The Government intend this session to introduce a Hill to reduce the number of members of the House of Representatives to 70, inclusive of the Maori representatives, though this change cannot take effeet till (ho end of the present Parliament. Next session they will submit a Bill to the House altering the mode of election with other necessary rrforma of the electoral laws. They will also, during the present session, invite the Legislative Council to devise a plan by which their numbers may be reduced to 35, one half of the number of this House, and thereafter be limited to that number. THE CIVIL SERVICE. The total number of persons in the pay of the colony, including the Governor, Ministers, Judges, and others, but exclusive of police, military forces, and country postmasters, is 7163, and the amount they rectivo in salaries, pay, and wages is £1,094,273. Of these 6862 are _ receiving weekly wages or pay of salaries f not exceeding £l5O a year, the total amount paid to this class being £638,519. The Government do not propose to make any substantial alterations in the payments made to to these persons. It is probable, however, that their numbers may be reduced, but at present there has been no time te go into this question. It follows, therefore, that the amount, £365,754, paid to parsons in receipt of salaries over £l5O a year is the principal amount upon which it is possible to make reductions at present. EDUCATION. Our principal proposal will be to the capitation grant to the statutory amount of £3 15s a bead, which, we think, under the circumstances of the colony, is ample for necessary purposes, and not to pay capitation upon any child under six years old. But we shall make provision that no ceuatry school shall be closed in consequence of this change. The saving in the Education Vote we estimate at about £60,000 per annum. THE CROWN AND NATIVE LANDSRtTINO ACT, 1882. It is with much regret that the Government propose that this Act should be repealed from March next. By the repeal, 1 however, a very large question is opened , up—the question of the Maoris paying! rates upon their If nds in settled districts! as their fellow settlers of the European! 1 race are doing ; and it seams to the Go ! vernment that the time has arrived when! the Maoris should be placed on an equal! 1 footing in this and other respects with! i their European fellow subjects in those I ■ districts which may be properly called I i settled districts, If the Act is repealed 1 ■ there will bo a saving to the Consoll- * : dated Revenue, through the Land Fund, of £34,000 per annum, aud a • further saving of the expenditure of the money now borrowed to pay the i Native Bates of £IO,OOO per annum, SUMMARY OF REBUCTIONS. Adding together the whole of our pro--1 posed reductions wo find that when complete effect is given to them, the expenditure chargeable for a ’ year upon the revenue of the colony will be reduced by £300,000. 1 shall for the convenience of members briefly recapitulate the leading items of which this large sum is compoosd I Salaries of Minister*, £3450. Allowances to members of the General 1 Assembly, £IO,OOO. Departmental appropriation*, £252,520 1 (including reductions in reap ct of Ministers' residences, travelling .-.How mces, &c,). Rates on Crown lands, £34,000. V Making a total of £300,000 for a fuT/ financial year. THE CURRENT TEAR. Only £71,000 can be saved during the present year. The expenditure of the Consolidated Fund during the year ending Slst March, 1888,will exceed the revenue by £389,305. This sum will, however, be lessened by the savings estimated «t £71,000 ; and we propose to still further reduce it by increasing the Property Tax from 13-16ths of a penny, to Id. These reductions will leave a sum of about £254,000 expended in excess of revenue to the 31st March next, to be provided for. This, together witn the deficit of Inst year amounting to £92,293 on the Ordinary Revenue account at 31at March, 1887, and of £54,623 on the Lind Fund account makes a total of about £399,600 for which provision has to be made. ’ PUBLIC WORKJ, There are throe courses open to P- r lament (I) We may stop,those works for which funds are exhausted j (2) wa may use some of the qash to the credit of tho Unexhausted items erher in No. 2 op No. 3 accounts to continue the work of tho exhausted items ; (S) wo may determine to raise another Joan. The choice thus forced upon us ia not a pleasant one, a-'d yet it must ba made, Wiih .rrgard to the first course the Government is of opinion that all works, the stopping of which will not materially,retard the progress i f the country, should be stopped. M-re present inconvenience must not bo conti iered, but to go further than this wnt'd, they think, be a very unwise aud short-sighted policy. The Government dannot, therefore, recntTini"nd the adoption of the first courie. Shall we use the money al-ocated to one work upon another wo'k f If the . House should .so determine it will be possible wi'h the money at out disposal to. find the funds to cany on necessary to a moderate extent by borrowing from one account in aid of the fund* exhnu*ted in miothe', and by doing this and lunui''g opr public works expenditure to an svrr ge of £70,000 a month for the next 14 , mouths, wt.p;h I m informed it 0 n be'sA-.. grades ly wo<kpd down 10, »r with uq average of £97,000 a month, which it has been during iho last twelve months, namely from the end of September 1886, to the end of September 18R7, it will he possible to find the means of

c f y : - g on our public works until the js d «t I§BB. This in our opinion is m fc: the most prud* nt couise, aud the Govoruu-Wt, therefore, though with great roiueUuce,

recommend that authority should be granted for a loan during the present cession of £1,000,000, to bo raised a* euch time as nnder all the circum <, t , tncea the Government may deem moat favomb'e. If Parliament agrees to this, we shall ask that the purposes of this loan shill be distinctly defined, that no new undei taking shall be put in hand, and further that we shall give a distinct pledge that no more borrowing will take place for three years from March, 1837. The expenditure on ppblic works would be reduced by 50 p*r cent. THE MIDLAND RAILWAY. With regard to this, I hope to bring the negotiations to a successful issue. CONCLUSION. He concluded by stating that he had laid before the colony a clear idea of its position.