GENERAL ASSEMBLY.

Temuka Leader, Issue 2392, 6 August 1892, Page 4

GENERAL ASSEMBLY.

LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL. The Council meet at 2.30 p.m. on Wednesday. The Friendly Societies Amendment Bill and the Bible Reading in Schools Bill were read a first time. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. The House met at 2.30 p m. on Wednesday. NEW KILLS. Srveral Bills were introduced, among the number being the Divorce Extension and Amendment Bill. SELECT COMMITTEES. Select Committees were set up to enquire into and report on the claims of old soldiers and volunteers, and to consider all matters pertaining to the agricultural and pastoral industries. THE FINANCIAL DEBATE.

Mr McGuire resumed the debate on the Finadcial Statement. He advised the Minister of Lands not to make any changes in the land mvra or to oppress the small settlers. He would have liked to have, seen some reduction in taxation on the necessaries of life, and he also thought that it would be wise for the Government to appoint gentlemen to the Upper House who had served several years in the Lower House or who had rendered some special services to the country, instead of appointing those who had no claim whatever to a -aa/lt in that chamber. Mr Wilson spoke in opposition to, a«4 Mr Thompsonjin support of, tho Government policy. The House adjourned - at 5.30 p.m. and resumed at 7.30. Mr Taylor spoke strongly in favor of the Statement. Mr Carncross, after defending the proposals of the Government, moved as an amendment to go into Committee of Supply—" That instructions should ba given to the Hansard reporters not to report any member after he had spoken sixty minutes, except in the case of a Minister introducing a Bill, ov the leader of the Opposition replying to #uch Minister, in which event no time limit •should be observed." Several members having spoken against the amendment, Mr Seobie Mackenzie contended that the amendment was out of order.

The Speaker ruled in support of Mr Mackenzie's contention, holding that the Standing Orders p' evented such an amendment being received. Mr Buchanan, referring to the question of the withdrawal of capital from the colony, said that when recently in London, he had come in c n'a;t with several financial companies, and he had heard the Bame story all round, namely, that if the Land and Income Tax was put in force in New Zealand these companies would l)e compelled to withdraw all the capital they could possibly take from the colony. Mr Shera expressed himself in favor of the exemption of all improvements under the Land and Income Tax Act. Mr Cadman said that he had not sat in the House for many years, but he had never listened to euch milk and water arguments as had been raised by the Opposition in this debate. They had never really put the knife into the B£atement at all, and the only real criticism of it was made by Mr Richardson ? As to the revision of the tariff, he asked if the people whom the Government represented, namely the industrial classes, were willing to allow the revision of the tariff to stand over till next year, why should the Opposition, who were supposed to be Freetraders, object to the tariff being allowed to remain unaltered. He referred in detail to the working of the Native Department, and said that he had made a saving-in this year's esti-jm&tes of £3315 over last year. He combatied .several of the statements made by Mr Mitehelson, and said that the manner in which h« > had proposed to appropriate the £200,000 j available for public works was rather extraordinary. He thought that the co-operative system should be given a fair trial, and he felt sure they would be convinced. He detailed at considerable length the negotiations that have taken place between Tawhaio and successive ' Native Ministers, all of which had been ' rejected, but he had got rid of Tawhaio I by offering him a pension of £225 a year, A« to native land settlement, he pointed out that where the Sato Government purchased only 73,000 acres &i native land 183,000 acres had been puaefaas.ed by the present Government in eighteen and signatures obtained for 34,000 ac*es aaore in the uncompleted block. He thought that not a bad record. Mr Joyce congratulated the Premier on the Statement, and said that before the subsidies from the local bodies were withdrawn mme scheme should be devised for providing for the charitable aid of the colony without patting it on the local bodies. Mr Hall-Jonea moved th© adjournment of the debate. The motion was agreed id,- slid the' JSouse rose at i2.'o'o, J

The House met at 2.30 p.m. on Thursday. REALIES TO QUESTIONS. Replying to Mr Rolleston the Premier said that he was not prepared to advise the Governor to allow copies of any memoranda which had passed between himself and Ministers on the subject of the proposed appointments to the Legislative Council to be laid on the table. Replying to Mr E. M. Smith the Premier said that the Government had given the question of granting a pension or gratuity to the late Sir H. Atkinson's widow and family careful consideration, and they had decided to place a sum on the Estimates to meet the case. The amount had not yet been decided on, but he hoped that it would be such as would meet with the approval of the House. DILL PASSED. The Napier Harbor Board Loan Bill was read a third time and passed. The House adjourned at 5.30 p.m. and resumed at 7.30. THE FINANCIAL DEBATE. Mr Hall-Jones resumed the debate on the Financial Statement. He said that there was a growing feeling in the country that too much time was occupied in debating questions of this kind, and that the more important work was carried through in the last days of a ,dying session. The result of the debate would, he thought, be gratifying to the Premier.

Mr Taipua objected to the Native land legislation of the Government, and said that the Natives should not be called on to pay rates till they were placed on the same footing as Europeans. Sir John Hall regretted to hear from from the Government that insurance moneys were to be lent to farmers—in other words that they were going to squeeze out all the moneys they could obtain merely to purchase the votes of the small farmers. Coming to the Financial Statement he thought that some credit was due to Mr Ballance for his budget. It was an appeal, however, to an uneducated audience, but fot a clear comprehensive statement of the financial position of the colony it was a failure. Instead of a saving there was an apparent over-expenditure of £BOOO. As to the surplus claimed by the Treasurer, half of it was due to his predecessor and ths other half to the postponement of interest on debentures. The bona fide surplus was, therefore, only £BO,OOO. He did not regard the Labor Bureau in a hostile manner, but he regarded it with some anxiety, and thought that the House was entitled to more explanation on it. Respecting the land question, he was not so anxious as some of his friends on the Opposition side of the House to have the freehold tenure inserted in the present Bill, and he hoped the Council would not insist on it either. As to the self-reliant policy of the Government he should be delighted if they could carry out the policy of self-reliance, but could it be a practical policy for the colony ? There might be some small sums of money which could be borrowed in the colony, but the Treasurer would not get sufficient in that way to prosecute public works. Mr Saunders referred to Sir J. Hall's assertion that the Financial Statement was prepared for ignorant and uneducated people, but he (Mr Saunders), although he could understand plain figures, could not understand the figures he had heard from the Opposition for the last three years. Sir J. Hall had stated that the gonntry had never been in a worse position than when he took office in 1879, but he pointed out that the public debt had increased from 1881 to 1891 by £10,173,000. Was that a prosperous state of affairs 'I He had not been able to Approve of the Financial Statements for the last twenty-three years, but he was pleased with flie present budget, as it did not propose to go pn increasing our debt. He defended Mr Balhince from the charge of being an enemy to the farmer, which was frequently made against him, and quoted from Hansard to prove that the whole aim of the HalHtolleston party had been to insist on the taxation of improvements and to prevent a pure Land Tax. being imposed. He for one would never vote a penny for any loan in any direction, and lie w&s, sure that if Mr Ballance pursued a policy of that kind he would find sufficient men in the Honsa to support him in carrying it out. The Gos'&rnment when compared with the Opposition were economy itself. He was strongly opposed jto land nationalisation and believed that the people would never give up the freehold tenure. Mr Jackson Palmer moved the adjournment .of the debate, and the House rose at 1240 a,n*,