PARLIAMENT.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXI, Issue 3004, 29 September 1908, Page 5

PARLIAMENT.

LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL. By Telegraph—Abridged from Press Association Report. WELLINGTON, September 28. The Council met at 2.80 o'clock.! Replying to the Hon. W. 0. F. CarncroFS, the Attorney-General stated that it was not intended to it> troduce legislation this session offering facilities to local bodies to borrow money for the purpose of erect ing gasworks. The Police Offences Amendment Bill was read a third time and passed. The Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Act Amendment Bill was received Irom the House and read a first time. The second reading was set down for to-morrow. The Attorney-General, in moving the second reading of the Heavy TrafPc Bill, said that it was introduced in response to applications from local bodies and petitions of drivers oi vehicles. Provision was made to protect local bodies' roads from damage by vehicles. On the other hand, complaint was made by the drivers of vehicles that thoy were taxed <by .every local body over whose roads they travelled, and this was a heavy tax, driving many men out of business. The Bill provided that a Magistrate shall apportion among the various local authorities concerned the amount of license fee for a vehicle in sucn portions as he thinks just; his decision to be final and conclusive. The Hon. J. E. Jenkinson expressed surprise at the introduction of such an important measure so late in the session. The Hon. J. Anstey thought the measure would be very harßh. The Hon. T. Kelly said that not a single local body in Taranaki would adopt provisions of the Bill. The second reading was agreed to and the Bill was referred to the Agricultural Stock Committee. The Council adjourned at 5 o'clock. The Council resumed at 8 o'clock. The Hamilton Domain Bill and Counties Amendment Bill wore passed. The Council roas afc 9.30 o'clock.

HOUSE OF REPUESENTATIVES

The House met at 2.30 o'clock. On the motion to go into Committee of Supply on the Public Works Estimates Mr W. F. Massey said that the most important feature of the Public Works Statement was unquestionably the announcement of the early completion of the North Trunk railway. Taking ordinary roads, tourist roads and goldfields roads, the total vote had been underspent by £193,331. What, he asked, was the good of voting large sums if there was no intention of spending them. It only meant disappointment to setllers, who were entitled to better treatment. Moreover it detracted a great deal from the value of the proposal to spend £250,000 on backblocks roads. The Government's behaviour in regard to thesa savoured of thimble rigging, and he

felt littlefaith was to be attached to these elections which cropped up with clockwork regularity every three years. The fact was Parliament had no real knowledge what was done with the money voted] Since the House had given control of the purse to Ministers it had ceased to be a dignified Legislative Assembly, and had, become nothing more than a great unweildy road board. Mr A. W. Rutherford said that he failed to see what Mr Massey had to complain of. An analysis of the roads votes showed that of the total vote of £600,000 Auckland had secured no less than £23,000, while the North Island had secured a large bulk of the total appropriations. The Hon. G. Fowlds said that when members referred to the >ums voted for the Auckland Province they oueht to bear in mino that they were dealing with a province comprising a quarter of the area and a quarter of the population of New Zealand. Mr Massey's contention that Parliament had lost control of the purse -was hardly borne out by the keen criticism of the Estimates heard every year in the House. Mr W. Herries said that if, as the Minister declared, Auckland was a quarter of the whole Dominion it ought to get a quarter of tiie total vote, but nothing like that sum was appropriated for Auckland. With regard to the extra vote of £250,000 for backblocks roads it was to be observed that the votes for other roads had been curtailed by something like £175,000. so that the real extent of the vote for roads this year was only £75,000. On the H'>u3e resuming at 7.30 o'clock Mr Allen continued the debate. He said that there was only one of two possible explanations for the non-expenditure of votes, either Parliament wtre asked to vote too much or the administration of the Department was bad. Referring to the expenditure he said it had increased by over two millions annually since 1891. The Premier twitted Mr Allen with anomalies in his speech. He had complained of undue expenditure, and yet from the first page of the financial Statement he would find,the Government's average annual expenditure was £255,000 per year more t!ian tne average expenditure of the Seddon Government. 1 Then Mr Allen complained of expenditure going up by leaps and bounds, but overlooked the increase of revenue. Referring to the Opposition criticism of extravagant expenditure on public buildings he said members usually did so except'so far as their own districts were concerned, but with-respect to, the latter they were ever knocking at the treasury door. Continuing, Sir Joseph Ward said J that the Opposition criticism on the ! expenditure on the backnlocks roads was unfair and misleading. The fact was the Government had clearly earmarked a quarter of a million .an-, nually for baokhlocks settlers, and when it was stated that with the amount on the supplementary estimates £725,090' was proposed to be expended on roads and bridges, ne asked what more was expected of the : Government? Referring to the tourist roads he said that they were always built with full regard to the requirements of settlers. As regards the Otago Central Railway £1,279,506 had already beei: spent on that work. As to the borrowing policy of the Government he refused to tell the House how the Government was raising money. It would b<* wrung to do so, but everything in connection with the loan operations were most satisfactory. Concluding, j he said the public work policy was progressive, and was developing the country in the best interests of all concerned. Mr W. Fraserjurged that public works should be carried out with more outside capital. We were relying too much on our on capital said Mr Fraser. Dr Chappie pid that he thought the sturdy old pioneers of the South had the prior claim to public money over the new-comers of the North. The Hon. C. H. Mills, speaking in all probability for the last time in the House, urged the completion of the Main Trunk lines as a statesmanlike policy. Mr J. A. Hatian said that he looked upon the whole debate as a demand for increased borrowing, and wondered where it was going to land us. Mr T. K. Sidey advocated irrigation in Ocago and the prosecution of the Otago Central Railway. The Hon. W. Hall-Jones said that the Government had adopted a prudent policy. It had' started no new railways in this Statement, but was vigorously driving to a completion the railways in hand. Next year only ten items would remain on the list, and then the Government could consider what lines to prosecute—whether,, the Otago Central line or the Auckland-East Coast line. He justified the Government's railway construction policy, and said that in , a few years the reproductive powers of the raiwlays would be enormous. Mr Hall-Jones said that excepting the Main Trunk line, more mileage had been opened by him on the Otago Central than on any other line. Mr F. R. Flatman said that ths paying point on the Otago Central was always ahead of the line, and always would be. f