HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.

Thames Star, Volume XVII, Issue 5171, 13 August 1885, Page 2

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.

..Wellington,-Yesterday.: Mr Richardson moved that the roads which were gazetted as main roads on the 26th and 31st of March, 1885, be declared to be main roads in terms of section 7 bf the Roads and Bridges Construction Act, 1872.—Agreed to. ; - - „.■ The House went into Committee to consider the appropriation clanse of the Hospital and Charitable Aid Institutions Bill. A lengthy discussion ensued on the motion for the alteration to the schedules necessitated by the previous night's discussion.. The: motion was finally carried by 53 to 17. ' Several other new clause were added to the Bill with some slight amendments, and considerable debate resulted from clause 32, providing for annual subsidies. —Mr White moved to strike out five years as the time for which subsidies shall be payable.—Amendment negatived on. the voices.—Mr White then moved that the Chairman do leave the chair.—Amend; j lost on the voices. On the third reading being put, Mr White called for a division, ; which resulted as follows:—Ayes, 55 ; v noes, 21.—The third reading was carried, I and the Bill passed.

The House went into Committee of Supply, and Sir J. Vogel delivered the Supplementary Financial Statement, at the conclusion of which he asked the Com* mittee to proceed with the estimates.—Mr Hurst reviewed the statement, and moved that progress be reported, stating he did so as the recognised leader of the Opposition was absent.—Mr Richardson opposed the i amendment, and said there would be ample time to discuss the statement—Mr Bryce supported the postponement, as the statement was of great importance, and the House required time to consider the pro posals. He would not, however, object to proceeding with the estimates.—Mr Moss spoke in a similar strain.—Mr Mont* gomery thought the House should insist on fuller information re Customs and railway revenue before proceeding with the discussion of the statement. The Committee, he argued, could,not make any reductions in departmental expenses,• but ttie Ministers should be sufficiently, firm to make reductions where m cessary, without respect of persons. He would like to have the assurance that the revenue would keep as anticipated by the Colonial Treasurer. —Mr ' Eolleston considered that before proceeding with" the consideration of the post and telegraph departmental estimates, the Colonial Treasurer should give the House some idea of the revenue and expenditure of those departments, as~ the annual departmental report was not yet laid on the table. —Mr Sutter thought it* would have been better, instead of moving to report progress, to move that Government take ,back the estimates, with j instructions' to v reduce; the ml by £100,000. When the Property Tax B|ilLwas be» . fore the HoVse, he intended that the ex emption be reduced to £200.—Mr Newman condemned the wasteful expenditure, required for; '. the maintenance o'£ thei Hinemoa; also the large expenditure in connection wjth the Native Department.— Sir Julius Vbgel considered there was no greater proof of the sound position of the colony than the successful manner in which it had survived the attacks made 'against it by public men, and he deemed that it was not in such a depressed condi* tion as was represented. A temporary depression bad no doubt arisen owing to the fall in wool and grain. When he prepared bis former estimates wheat .was rising, and had it continued to do so his estimates- would hare been found pretty near the mark/ He contended that there would be a surplus at the end of the year. He mentioned-that thei: annuallreppirtj of the Postal*Depkrtmeht had "been delayed through' press of work. He considered it necessary to proceed with the departmental estimates.r-After -further discussion the motion to report progress was lost; and the Committee considered the estimates.-—The, first item, general post-, office £773'4v was carried. Chief offices* and sub-offices, £118,992: Carried. Maintenance,, repairs, and miscellaneous, £39,792: Carried. Telegraph/and 'cable subsidies, £5350: Conveyance of, mails by sea, £78,890: Carded," Conveyance of inland mails, £27,760: Carried. Carriage^ mails by railway, £1000: Carried. 'Thewhole class pussjed aa printed., , > 7a?- 3 lu'Co'mmittee of Supply' the Colonial Treasurer made the following statement: —'The proposals of the Budget resulted in an anticipated surplus of £32,158. This; was arrived at after provision was macjejor paying off £5,000 of the.deficit of 1883 84, £6;500 on account of the ■■ first year's classification of the Civil Ser~ vice, and £75,000 for subsidies to local bodies. The House declined to make the change .in,^thef tariff which we \reepny mended; which would have left «« an addition Jo-the, Customs revenue of about/ £70,000. Certain alterations which were 'made in the bill providing for an amendment of the succession duties involve a reduction of stamp revenue of about £30,000. Ido not feel it safe.to rely on ■omqch revenue from railways as anticipated ; they will realise more if the price of grain rises. The loss from this source I set down at £47,000, which means less receipts to the extent of £66,000, and less expenditure to the sum of £19,000. We have therefore the Budget di«tu,rbed to the extent of—Customs revenue, £70,000; stamps, £30,000; railways. £47,000 j to'al t

£L 47,010 The supplementary estimate* will not, I anticipate, exceed £12000, no that I shall hare to provide in all £109,000 to make up the amount. The surplus to which I have previously referred, provides £32,000, and Government will not provide for the defioit of 1883 84 this year. I shall ask that the deficiency bills authorised for this deficit be extended until the 30th Jane 1887. We purpose to charge to the Public Works Fund £25,000 6n account of external defence. The statements as to the falling off revenue are grossly inaccurate. I have seen it stated for the three.items of' Customs, railways, and stamps, that the revenue collected for th* 1 four months, ending July is lees by £70.000 than^ the "estimated revenue. The' Tact' ia^th'aT on these items the losa in. the estimated amount forlhe four months isonly £21,000; some part of the receipts include Customs revenue paid in anticipation of increased duties. I a nounce that the Government do not feel themselves justified in proseeding with the classification of the Civil Service this year, they do not think it would be acceptable to the House *>r the country that they should Undertake for the next few years the liability to additional expenditure which classification would entail. The House must, however; remember that a certain amount, of jn> crease on present salaries is demanded in justice to many ill paid officers; Instead of the £6500 increase they proposed to ask, they will ask' for £2500. One thousand pounds of the amount shall be allocated to the post office, and the balance to other departments, but in no ease to officers whose salaries exceed £250 a year. Government feel strongly the desirability i of retrerchingthe expenditure to the smallI est extent possible consistent with efficiency. i Of course the rights of officers already in the service cannot be interfered with, but we shall bring in a bill providing for different terms of engagement for officers taken on the service after the passage thereof. The amalgamation of large, departments will be another source of economy. Another plan we have in view which shall conduce' to both economy and efficiency, is to train up cadets into an acquaintance with the duties' of several departments, with a view of amalgamating the duties of officers in different parts of the country, and lessening their number. We have searched the Estimates over, with the object of finding out items, for swing expenditure, but we are not able to do much. We are willing to consent to the reduction of the vote for the A.C.and defence by £10,090, and I think we 'mar , save some thousands in the expenditure of other departments without, however, taking less votes than those set down; It will be necessary, instead of miking the property tax three farthings, to add an eighth, and so make it seven* eighths of a penny. I may observe also that under the new -Property Assessment Bill it is expected that £10,000 will be added to the amount of the property tax as estimated in the Financial Statement. I have already shown that we require to make up £159,000 for diminished revenue and for supplementary estimates. The various items in aid of this, to which I have separately referred, may now be summarised as follows:—Surplus shown by Financial Statement, £32,000; part of deficit 1883-84 postponed, £50.000; external defence charged to Public Works Account, £25,000; savings in A.C. and defence, £10,000; reduction in the vote for Civil Service classification, £4000; Property Tax underestimated £10,000; property tax additional one»eighth of a penny, £47,000; total, £178,000. This will leave a surplus of £19,000, after providing for the supplementary estimates . to the extent of £12,000, and I hope they ' will not exceed that amount I shoald have preferred adhering to the arrange* inepts proposed in the Budget,. And I . believe,that bad we done so ft would hartf% been more to the interest' of the colony.' The substition, however, of an additional T" eighth of a penny to the property tax it ~ not very serious, and with its aid'we have the right to expect a small surplus at the end of the year. - ' ' Tbis.day. „ [ Class 7:". Stamp . Department, '.-£7291 \l land and deed registry, -£18,63o; miscellaneous services, £525. Class 6: Customs offices and services,'£43,64l; marine and harbor, £34,933; and miscellaneous services, £8000. The above classes were' passed without alteration, and Mr Stout moved to report progress, which was agreed to, and the House rose at 12 45 a.m. \, . ......