GENERAL ASSEMBLY.

Temuka Leader, Issue 2713, 18 September 1894, Page 4

GENERAL ASSEMBLY.

LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL. The Council met at 2.30 p.m. on Friday. BEFLY TO A QUESTION. Sir Patrick Buckley, in auswer to Mr Bowen, stated that on the termination of the present contract for advertising, on the backs of telegraph forma it would not be renewed. THE BANK AMALGAMATION. The agreement for the proposed amalgamation of the Colonial Bank and the Bank of New Zealand was laid on the table. HABBOBS BILL. The Harbors Act Amendment Bill, passed through Committee. SECOND BEADING. The Ngare Blocks Native Adjustment Bill was read a second time. The Council adjourned till Tuesday.

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. The House met at 2.30 p.m. on Friday. BEFLIES TO QUESTIONS. Replying to questions it was stated that the provisions made in the Railways Bill for the. preservation to the Commissioners of all their rights and privileges as Civil! Servants, originally in the Civil Service, extended to all subordinate railway officers; that the free passes already granted /to railway servants when on holidays' would be continued, but not when their leave was extended. BANK AMALGAMATION.

Mr Ward said that he had on a recent occasion informed the House that he. would lay the agreement between the Bank of. New Zealand and the Colonial Bank. upon the table on Tuesday next. Since then, however, he had found that information calculated seriously to mislead had been wired and published in different parts of the colony. It, was not reliable information. Such being the case, although the Government had not yet considered the proposals and would not arrive at a decision upon them for a few days, it was desirable that the whole of the-proposals should be laid upon the table. LAND DRAINAGE BILL. On the motion of the Hon. Mr McKenzie, the Land Drainage Act Amendment Bill was read a second time proforma by 33 to 19, and referred to the Agricultural Committee. I VALIDATION BILL. The Hastings Borough Loan Validation Bill was put through its filial stages. INSPECTION OP MACHINERY BILL. The Premier moved the second reading of the Inspection of Machinery Act Amendment Bill, to remedy certain defects in the present law as respects inspection of .machinery. The motion was agreed to on the voices. The House rose at ?-30 p.m. and resumed at 7-30.

SECOND READING. Mr John McKenzie moved the seed! 1 ” reading of .the Mining Districts Land Occupation Bill to provide for the issue of occupation leases within mining districts. After considerable debate the second reading was agreed to on the voices and the Bill referred to the Waste Lands Committee. ADVANCES TO SETTLERS BILL. Mr Ward moved the second reading of the Government Advances to Settlers Bill. He said that the principle of the Bill was first established in 1770 in Germany, and had been carried out in other places since then with great success. The object of the Bill was to allow the people of the, colony to get money at lower rates of interest than at present prevailed, and the necessity for such a Bill was admitted by all. His opinion was that the true solution of the question'of the settlement of the people on the land was a Bill .of this kind. The amount of private mortgages in this colony was £29,606,579, and the Government were aware of many cases in which good security was offered for a renewal of mortgages, but they were refused unless mUch higher rates of interest were paid. 'The Bill provided that an office should be established for the administration of the Bill. The Government did not intend to create another independent dapartment. The services of one of the existing offices with its staff would be utilised for the purpose and by the use of existing machinery no additional expense would be incurred under this head. Of £453,475 loaned on mortgage by the Public Trust Office only £I9OO had been lost, while the Government Insurance Department under the new board had lent £618,000 and lost only £IOOO. The Government recognised that the strictest, economy would have to be exercised in administering this department, not more than ten valuers at £6OO a year and ten solicitors at from £4OO to £IOOO a year would be required, and this ho thought was not excessive expenditure for a department of this kind. The House would see that two systems were proposed for raising money, namely, obtaining loans by debentures up to £1,503,000 and by land bonds, both systems in the aggregate not to exceed £1,500,000. He believed it would be better to adopt land bonds. These bonds could be advanced against special mortgages, and then transmitted to England, The security weald be excellent, and this system would be preferable in many ways. The lowest sum to be advanced under the Bill would be £SO, and the highest £SOO. He explained that whilst the lending board would bo in a position to lend up to two thirds of the value of the security offered, it would not be compulsory on them to do so. The Bill provided that in cases of lending money to settlers the ordinary conditions of leasehold must be complied with. The limit for which money was to b© borrowed was 36$ years. That was a necessity, but if in 15 years a man were in a position to .release his mortgage he could do so. He nfstrsd at some length to the proposals inspecting the assurance fund, and said that the element of safety wm more provided against in this BUI than uudor any leading institution in the colony, including the Public Trust Office and Government Life Insurance Department. It was not intended to interfere with private interests, but the Government were determined that the high fees i hitherto paid in connection with jjjor.t-; gages should be reduced by the Bill, Everything done under the Bill and the whole work of the department would be under the supervision of the Comptroller and Auditor-General. This was an important matter, and iu this respect every safeguard had been taken. Ho said UlSt a great many settlers had requested the ; Governmentto wpvein thedirectiou of advancing money as proposed in the Bil l. The fact of the Government lowering the rate of interest would also compel ©vary other lending institution to do the same, H« reminded the House that every civilised country in the world was moving in the direction that this Bill indicated, which was a proof of the soundness of the proposal. Since the proposals had been murta £140,003 had Um offered to be cent to the colony at 5 a«4 t? per cant. The BUI, he believed, was to

add to the wealth, prosperity, and happr ness of the people of the colony. Mr George Hutchison said that cheap money meant prosperity to every industry and every , walk in life, and if it were obtained by this Bill then welcome to the project. He felt sure that Mr Ward would be assisted by the House in making the Bill as workable as possible. Mr Ward had made a most important admission in saying that iuterest'was high and capital reluctant, and that was the reason of the necessity for the Bill. Referring to the Bill he characterised the system of land, bonds as crude and incomplete, and he asked the Treasurer whether he was sure that he could get 3} per cent on land bonds quitted in London at par. Mr Ward : Yes. Mr Hutchison held that the Government could easily have got funds from other State , departments instead of injuring the credit of the colony in the commercial world by borrowing £1,500,000 a year for an unknown term of years. Dr Newman predicted that the Treasurer would not be able to float 3| per cent, debentures. The Treasurer proposed to borrow £1,500,000 every year and'the result would be that in six years the debt of the colony would be increased to £69,000,000, which would effectually prevent the colony from borrowing in the future for legitimate purposes. The Bill was not intended to lend money to farmers, but to the people living in towns, and he thought it should be called** a Bill to smash the lawyers of the colony and to make bankers.” He held that very explicit instructions should be given to valuers in order to provide against bad securities.

Captain Bussell said that there was a curious contradiction in some of the paragraphs in the Financial Statement and the speech just delivered by the Treasurer. In the Statement he told them that capital was being hoarded up in the colony. Captain Bussell held that if that there were so capitalists must have been so shaken in confidence by the administration of the Government for the last three years that money was hoarded up without remuneration rather than invested in good honest mortgages. It was very difficult to argue against such a scheme as this. They were all naturally anxious to get cheap money if ,ihey possibly could, and he sincerely sympathised with the proposal to give cheap money to farmers. In 1877 he had advocated a similar scheme, but the rate of interest was then 8 to 10 per cent, whereas now it was much lower. Another important difference was that capital was then not taxed as at the present day. He feared that farmers would not benefit by the scheme proposed in this Bill to anything like the extent claimed by the Treasurer, who had told them that values had reached bedrock. He could not agree with that, as one of their staple products, frozen meat, was still declining, and they were not going to lend money from bedrock prices, even though they had reached these values. He feared that there was not sufficient margin between the price which money was proposed to be borrowed lent. He reminded the House that oapft-«l'was" easily frightened, and large institutions would always be able to hold their own. The proper way of helping farmers was not to pledge them to the English money-lenders, but to lend money from tue Public Trust Office and other State Departments at the lowest possible rate of interest. Mr Mills strongly supported the Bill, and held that it was urgently required in the interests of the colony. It would do far more to encourage settlement and provide work for the, unemployed than any other measure introduced for years pait. Sir Bobert Stout said it was surprising that in the most novel and important Bill brought down by the Government so little interest should be taken. The Bill had entirely departed from the Budget in several respects, particularly in the rate of interest and in raising money at Home. Mr Ward iu his speech had allowed nothing for the expense of raising the loan. They were no was a colony entering on a money-lending business, and there should be no sentiment in .-the’’matter. He estimated that the total loss per year for getting cheap money would amount to over £32,000. He did not think, looking at the matter from a monetary point of view, that borrowing money at 6J percent for 36$ years was a good transaction for the borrower. Many of those who borrowed money under this scheme would go down to their graves mortgaged men. The Bill was in reality a huge borrowing scheme of an endless character, which he was convinced would tend to ruin the country, Mr E. Smith strongly supported the BUI.

Mr Miliar was not prepared to support the Bill as it stood. He was returned to oppose a borrowing policy and he should do so. He objected to. the colony being placed under the heel of foreign moneylender*.

Messrs Stevens, Boddo, McGowan and Macintosh spoke strongly iu support of the Bill.

On the motion of Mr O’Began the debate was adjourned till Monday night. The House rose at 1 a.m.