House of Representatives.

Thames Guardian and Mining Record, Volume I, Issue 2, 9 October 1871, Page 3

House of Representatives.

Friday, 22nd September, 1871 DEBATE ON THE ESTIMATES. -FROM HANSARD.

[Continued.'] The Telegrahp comparing the proposed expenditure with Department shows a saving of £2,922, that of last year. But here again I find the saving effected in the same manner, namely, by deducting temporary expenditure. The savings are thus effected : Travelling expenses, inspectors, and linesmen, £750; extra labour and mater'a’s for repairs, £2,000; general contingencies, including new offices, £2,500 ; total 1 £4,750. Thus, with a much larger telegraphic system for the year than beforo there is to be less appropriated for repairs and travelling expenses; but the House will |see that there is no saving in the permanent annual expenditure of the department, but rather an increese, unavoidable perhaps owing to the number of new offices. It is in that direction I would suggest retrenchment. Class V., Customs, shows a total saving on the year of £8,480 17s Gd. The total vote is £48,13G 7s 6d. If honorable members look at the estimates in detail they will perceive bow this result is arrived at. There is a saving in the Customs Department proper, of £1,735 18s Gd. This is made up almost by two items which appear on last year’? estimates; new Custom House at the Thames, £1,000: contingencies, £275. Really, therefore,

there is no departmental saving in the customs. There is an increase of £6O under the head of Distilleries. The Marine Department shows a saving of £5,775. Sir, I shall not at this time allude specially to the details of the proposed expenditure of the Marine Department: when th* vote is taken in Committee, I shall endeavour to point out where I think considerable saving might be effected; but I propose to show how the apparent reduction on the estimates of this year is made up. I will read the items : Completion of Campbell Point Lighthouse, £100; ditto, Nugget Point Lighthouse, £l5O ; erection and maintenance of small light at Manukau Heads, £I,OOO ; new lighthouses, Tory Channel and Portland Island, £6,000 ; new dwelling for keepers at Pencarrow, £800; marine surveys, £I,OOO ; expenses under “ Inquiry into Wrecks, Act, 1869,” £SO ; total, £9,100. So that there is no actual saving in the departmental expenditure, the saving being on special votes which do not need repetition yearly. In Class VI, Native Department, the vote on the estimates is £24,233 ss, but that does not nearly represent the total expenditure for native purposes." There is a further sum of £7,000 on the civil list, and £4OOO on the permanent charges under the Native Schools Act. In point of fact, the specific appropriations for the year for the Native Department amount to £35,233 ss, plus expenditure on roads and works in Native districts. I consider that this amount is excessive, and much more than the country", under present circumstances, can continue to bear. There is a return in the Appendix to the Journals of the House for 1870-71, moved for by the honorable member for Mount Ida (Mr Mervyn), which discloses some curious facts with regard to the Native expenditure under the annual appropriations of the House, to which I invite the attention of honorable members. According to that return, from 30th June, 1867, to 31st May, 1870, the sum of £74,450 6s 9d was expended, under appropriations by this House, for the service of the Native Department. This large sum was applied as follows \ — £1,029, medical comforts ; £1,383, buildings, £4,223, travelling expenses; £3,340, bonuses and gifts; £4,727, food ; £1,665, in clothing; and £53,030 in salaries. Now, I do not think this House can continue such an expenditure on Native affairs, and this is the department to which I more particularly allude when I suggest that the estimates might be recast with a view to saving at least £50,000. In committee I will move that the vote bo reduced by £14,000. I should state that there is a reduction on the Native vote of £719, as contrasted with the vote of last year. Two Items, amounting to £1,250, have been transferred to the Native reserves account; £I,OOO has been saved on the vote in aid of surrendered rebels; and an item, £3OO, on last year’s estimates, expenses attending sitting of Native Lands Court, Chatham Islands, does not appear this year. On the other hand, £l,lOO has been transferred from the Native Lands Court vote to the Native Department, and £SOO appears as a vote under the Native Lands Frauds Prevention Act, 1870. In Class VII, Miscellaneous, there is no actual saving, although there is an apparent saving of £20,919 16s 4d. The reduction is accounted for in this way. The special appropriations for the year 18/0-71 are simply deducted, and credit is taken on the estimates for the saving. Amongst these are the following items, which honorable members must be aware cannot be accepted as savings on the ordinary expenditure of the year Furniture for GovemmentHouse, £7OO ; Printing,£7oo: cost of census returns, £7,000 ; depot, at Auckland Islands, £2OO ; balance of expenditure of late Medical Board, £67 18s ; expenses of schooner 1 Daphne,’ in search of shipwrecked persons at Auckland Islands, £2OO ; grant to County of Wetland, £3,000 ; expenses in connection with Flax Commission, £500; transit instrument for Observatory, £3OO ; type and materials for Printing Office, £200; compensation to Messrs Runciman and Finnimore, £441 11s ; repairs to Government buildings and erection of new offices, £6,000 ; compensation to J. W. Whitty, £lls ; codification of the statutes, £I,OOO. This exceptional expenditure last year amounted to £20,124 9s, or as nearly as possible to the whole saving on Class VII, for which the Colonial Treasurer takes credit. Of course these special votes do not appear on the estimates, but the House will be called upon to vote supplemental estimates, and although there is an apparent saving of over £20,000, I question if any saving will in reality be effected in the miscellaneous votes before the end of the session. I now come to Class VIII ; under the head of Militia and Volunteers, there is a saving of £44 11s 6d on a vote of £28,392 19s Gd. I am not aware how this small saving is effected, but, considering that the capitation grant is only £14,779 10s, I apprehend that at least £5,000 could be saved in that department, and the efficiency of the force be very much improved. I have no means of comparing whether the vote for £14,575 on account of goldfields management, chargeable to the land fund of the Provinces, is in excess of the appropriation for the same services by the Provincial Councils, but I apprehend there is some slight excess. In the Lands Department there is an increase of £IOO, and the saving in the Native Lands Court is only apparent, inasmuch as the salai'ies of the Chief Judge and Chief Clerk are charged to the Native vote. Considerable reduction might be made in this department. _ The truth is, there are more cats than mice to catch, and the business could be conducted quite as well with fewer judges and clerks. There is no increase in the Inspector of Survey’s Department, although I consider a reduction might be made with advantage. There is an increase of £3O on the estimates for Native reserves. That department could be slightly reduced with advantage to the country as well as to tlm Natives. I now come to the defence loan. There is a departmental saving, comparing the estimates of this year with those of last year, of £9O ; also a saving in the Armed Constabulary, £6,984 10s; and on contingent expenditure, of £823 ; making a total of £7,903 10s. There is, also, on the vote for Contingent Defence, a saving of £17,005. Sir, I consider this department might be reduced very materially, and that with advantage to the country, more especially as we arc told, and must believe, that we are entering upon an era of peace and prosperity unparallcd in the history of this Colony. The House has been told that the country has enjoyed undisturbed peace for the last twelve months. 1 apprehend, therefore, that it is an expensive luxury for a poor country to pay so much for an ornamental standing army, especially as there is no work for it to do, and it is not intended to employ it, owing to tho quiescent state of the Natives. Such is the improved stato of the country, brought about by the exertions of my honorable friend the Defence Minister, that I consider the House would be justified in reducing this

vote when in Committee by £25,000 — that is, £IO,OOO on Armed Constabulary and £15,000 on Contingent Defencer — There is an increase in the Confiscated Land Department of £2,870 on a vote of £6,870 11s ; but this increase, in a great measure, is accounted for by special votes. I do not think the departmental expenditure has been increased. We then come to tho Immigration and Public Works Loan, and deducting the interest and sinking fund, amounting to £45,000, which I think, as a matter of account, ought not to appear as a charge against the loan, the departmental expenditure is £14,217 14s. This is entirely a new matter. It has never before appeared on the estimates, although the expenditure has been going on for some time. There is a return lying on the table, made on the motion of the honorable member for Timaru (Mr Stafford), showing the names and salaries of all persons not of the Native race who are now or who have been, during the last financial year, in the employment of the Government, but whose salaries were not submitted on the annual estimates. This return shows that, under the Immigration and Public Works Acts, there were twelve officers so appointed, consisting of engineers and clerks, whose salaries, plus travelling expenses, chargeable to loan for last year amounted to £5,305. In the Land Transfer Department there were twenty-eight new officers, at a salary of £7,675 ; Native Department, five officers, £205 salary; Defence, one officer, £4OO ; Treasury, two officers, £l5O ; Marine Department, two officers, £SOO ; and Government Annuities,five officers, at £750 salary. This last item does not include the traveling expenses of tho Sub-Commissioner and Travelling Agent in Otago, fixed at £1 a-day, which might be fairly taken at £3OO a year additional; nor does it include anything for the Sub-Commissioner and Travelling Agent in Auckland under the Annuities Act. There is a similar return showing the number of Maoris employed by the Government last financial year. There were five officers, at salaries amounting to about £9OO. One of these, the chief Paul, of Orakei, now in Wellington, -whose acquaintance I have the pleasure to possess, is paid £1 a day as Native “ Adviser to the Native Office,” when on duty, which is eveiy da}". Another, Topia Turoa, is Agent for Native Affairs at Wanganui, at £2OO a year. Most of these new offices have been created by the legislation of last session, and the Government were entitled to make the appointments; but what I complain of is, that the Government fixed the salaries on so high a scale, for it might appear ungracious, if not a breach of faith, if the House were now to reduce them. Sir, I have gone through the estimates of expenditure, and I think I have stated enough to prove that at all events this is not a retrenchment budget, and that the savings are not departmental savings, but savings on special and exceptional votes, which could not be required for tho services of this year. The House should consider the financial condition of tho country. Wo are beginning with an actual deficit of £136,000, and an increase on permanent charges over last year of £85,834, including interest and sinking fund on public works loan. The estimate of revenue I believe to be excessive. Now, Sir, I think under the circumstances, that it is the duty of this House to consider the estimates as a*whole, with a view to large reduction. The question is a most important one, and I have to apologise for my imperfect way of dealing with it. If the House goes into Committee of Supply on these estimates, without taking time for consideration, and in the belief that they are not susceptible of large reductions, I think they will not be doing their duty to the country. Honorable members from my part of the Colony have been pledged to their constituents to effect a reduction in the expenditure, and I expect those honorable members will vote with me on this question. Honorable members from the Middle Island are always exclaming against the excessive expenditure to which the Middle Island is subjected by the politics of the North Island. A Northern member now invites them to assist in reducing the excessive war and Native expenditure in the North. We conceive that it is unnecessary, to a very considerable extent,; and I hope, for the sake of their constituencies, that hono rable members from the South will assist mo to induce the Government to reduce the estimates, and bring them within reasonable limits. .1 shall not further occupy the attention of the House. I may say that I do not bring this motion forward with any hostile feeling towards the Government. I conceive that the Colonial Treasurer invited the House to deal with this matter somewhat in the form in which I have brought it forward. The honorable gentleman sot the example of economy by attacking the revenue of the Provinces and reducing their expenditure, and his conduct and language were evidently intended as an invitation to the House to assist in carrying out the wishes of the Government, and make this a real retrenchment budget. I know it is a most ungracious task for Ministers to reduce their departments, but no such feeling of delicacy could, or in fact did, influence them in their action towards the Provinces. It is for the House, therefore, to step in and relieve the Government from this unpleasant task, and thereby carry out their intention, namely, very largely to reduce the civil service of the country, and bring the departmental expenses within our meaus.

(2b he continued in our next.)

Clothing for the Million, at Wannoll’s Cash Palaces. Just received per ‘ Countess of Kintore,’ £5,000 worth of clothing, boots, shoes, &c., comprising the best aud cheapest assortment of goods yet imported into the Auckland Province. In order to make room for further shipments, the Goods will be offered at such prices that cannot fail to effect a speedy clearance. Warmoll’s Cash Palaces Graliamstown Thames. —Advt. Not to be Repeated.—The inconsistencies in the financial policy of the Chancellor of the Exchequer need excite no surprise. After his Australian experiences, we expect to find in the hon. member a little in-kanga-rooity.—Fun. Disobedient. —A man requested his wife in a ballreom to hold the baby of another man’s wife while he danced with the baby’s mother —but she didn’t hold it. Some wives are too disobedient to put up with. Benefit or Experience.—Josh Billings says, “ Most people decline to learn only by their own experience ; and I guess they arc more than half right; for I don't s’pose a man could get a correct idea of molasses candy merely by letting another feller taste it for him.” Cause and Effect.—A family have repeatedly found their milk-can empty in the morning. The other night they put a few drops of croton oil in it before putting it out to be filled. Next morning the Jwo policeman on that beat were dreadfully sick, and have been transferred to another station.