The Wairarapa Daily. FRIDAY, OCTOBER 30, 1885. AN UNCONSTITUTIONAL PROCEEDING.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume VII, Issue 2133, 30 October 1885, Page 2

The Wairarapa Daily. FRIDAY, OCTOBER 30, 1885. AN UNCONSTITUTIONAL PROCEEDING.

The Chairman of the Chamber of Commerce at Auckland hovinginquired whether it was the intention of the Government to raise the million of money intended for the North island trunk railway for general purposes, Sir Julius Vogel has replied in a manner that is startlingly plain. He Bays;—" The case is this, For several yearo past there has been no attempt made to earmark the sums raised. The purpose of each loan authorised has been included in the fourth schedule of the Immigration and Public Works Appropriation Act, When the North Island Trunk Railway Loau became negociable it was added to the schedule, and whenever it is negotiated, like other Public Works loans, it will be available for Public Works votes, It was intended to have kept it unnegotiated, and'to have spent money on account of the railway from other loans until there was a considerable amount to be recouped from it for past expenditure, That was the only possible plan of earmarking it, At the end of March ftext there will probably be nearly half a million left of other loans. Expenditure, according to law, will proceed, and it will not be long belore the Trunk Line Loan will come into use. Members who voted for Captain Russell's motion were determined not to sanction a new loan, and they must have had intelligence to know that as there was 110 provision for defence aud other purposes, or other loans, they would come out of the only unexpended loon until further provision was made, Major Atkinson was, I know, aware of it, and every member who was not must have refused to consider the subject intelligently., Wewisjsedto push on the North Island Trunk Railway as much as possible. What object could members have had in stoppingifc and re-

fusingotherloans,excepttoiisetheTrunk Loan for defence and other purposes ? A great many of the North Inland members wished to stop tho railway because of obtaining Native lands, and possibly some wished to re-open the question of the Stratford route." A more unconstitutional proposal bas never been made in the colony. Captain Russell's motion was brought down for the purpose of limiting expenditure for tho year, and to prevent borrowing. When it was carried, the Government preferred to remain iu office, and thereby professed to accept tho directions given by the House. Now that Parliament is out of session it is deliberately proposed to raise a loan authorized for a special purpose, to divert the money, and use -it for miscellaneous works, on the plea that in the past no attempt has been made to ear-mark the sums raised, Is the Treasurer of opinion that the public is so ignorant as not to know that, although money raised for a specific purpose is often used to relieve temporary pressure in another direction, a strict account is, nevertheless, kept, and that the amount so borrowed is always refunded? The only object aimed at by the Government is to over-ride Captain Russell's resolution, and to expend as much money in public works as was originally proposed. This, we assert, is a most unconstitutional proceeding. Sir Julius "Vogel, no doubt, feels satisfied that he is playing a trick on the Opposition which they never thought of, and as the Opposition has a certain amount of respect for constitutional practices, he is probably right, We doubt, however, whether the course proposed will prove a very smooth one. If the office of Controller and Auditor-General is of any use at all it should prove a matter of some difficulty to get behind it, nor are we by any means sure that the Governor will not have a say in it. In any case, Parliament, at its next meeting, would be sure to resent the insult, and the Opposition, which, during the two sessions of the present Parliament, consisted of several sections, between which there was no adhesiveness, jpy be found welded together and capable of asserting its power.