EVENING SITTING.

Waikato Times, Volume XXIII, Issue 1892, 21 August 1884, Page 2

EVENING SITTING.

The House resumed at 7.30 p.m. ADDHESS-IN-UEPI/r. Mr J. P. McKenzie moved the Address-in-Reply. He first alluded to the statement in the Speech that no abstiact questions would be dealt with. The present time of depression was not a time for such questions to be diacuvsed. They did not belong in any way to the present time 1 -, He took such questions to mean the nationalisation of the land, federation, &c. As regal ds nationalisation, he hoped such questions would remain abstract to the end of time as regards this colony. As respecting federation, he admitted its importance, but felt the present was not the time for its discussion. He hailed with satisfaction the reference to increased interest in the mining industry. It was worthy of consideration whether or not the first step in that direction would not be the abolition of the goldfields duty. It might also be assisted by means of grants-in-aid for developing new fields. It would also be well to provide a Minister who would devote the whole of his energies to the furtherance of the interests. Promoting of settlement was the next referred to. In connection with this question, he admitted that much had been done by the late Government in that direction, and he was pleased to note that the present Government was not going to allow these efforts to be relaxed. He was in favour of a proposal for the State leasing land. When wanted these leases should be granted. That he took to be the beginning and end of such a system. He always believed in alterations of this kind originating with the mass of the people and then finding its way up te the authorities. Believing in that theory, he maintained that they should provide sufficient leasing country to meet the demands of the people, and, as it increased, to increase the leasing area. The allusion in the Speech to railway works being completed he hailed with great satisfaction. The Otago Central line was a line he was personally acquainted with ; it would traverse hundreds of thousands of acres of land that would be put to much larger uses than they were at the present. Moreover, much of that land was originally purchased in the district on the understanding that they would be placed within reach of railway communication within a reasonable time. For want of an assurance of t"his kind the district was languishing, and he had no doubt that this assurance would stimulate their endeavours in the direction of much needed progress, As regards the North Island lines, Tie felt a similar satisfaction on learning that works were to be attendedto. Hefeltthat the Northern trunk line ought to be one of the first enterprises the Government should take in hand. The fact that some of the branches in the Noith only .paid a few shillings on cost of the construction proveu that main line communication was needed to make it a financial success. If the work wafc done he had no doubt that such a state of things as regards the North Islands lines would be a thing of the past. The feeling of the North against the South was one\yhich be in common with many others wholly repudiated. It was one im; worthy^of the race fa \yh_jch they belonged, or the agg at wljieh, they had arrived, "f" f He looked forward to the time when all imaginary^ difficulty on the lines of demarcation as between North and South would disappearand the "personnel " of the Government /wouTdi : notsrejjo /. oonsidereepj in :' relation) to the /localities itp r which -its membe.r'B, belonged. >? Iio^al; J self -government '' w"a| .next referfea^tol^/Any .reform in- thaf

through the county councils. He deprecated any return to - provineiali&m. A step in that direction would be a retrograde step. Counties were quite able to take new burdens, provided they, were not heaped up too fast. He saw no reason why they should not administer the education system, and gave Rome valuable advice regarding the settlement of laud. If councillors were a little nioio removed from local influences, he saw no reason why they should not administer the waste lands of the counties. He noticed that a land tax was proposed as a substitute for the property tax. He did not know to what extent he was bound by the policy .sketched out in the Address. Hitherto he had considered that as land was not the only souice of wealth, it should not be made to bear the whole burden of taxation. That was his opinion. But before saying more he would prefer to see what the financial proposals of the Government really were. He would then be able to form an opinion as to what support or otherwise should be given. Unless they were prepared to make concessions of this kind, party government would simply degenerate into factions, and it was for that reason he received his judgment on the point. The subject of boi rowing must crop up in their minds. He knew many regarded such a pioposal with apprehension. So far as it meant carrying out the public works system with judgment he was not afraid of borrowing. Any attempt to add to the debt of the colony should be clone with due caution ; still they should not shrink lrom it altogether. Iv England its enormous debt was the result of war, and such-like purposes, whereas in this colony the debt had been largely, at all events, expended in reproductive works. That view of the subject did not to his mind suggest alarm as it did in the minds of m my. Moreover, here they had a large territory in the shape of Crown lands. ; in England they had nothing of the kind. The wealth of England lay in ik> coal mines and suoh-like resomces, and they had indications that similar resources, existed latent in the colony. So long as they spent the money on reproductive woiks he saw no great danger in increasing the dibt of the colony. He spoke principally of works already b^gun. He saw !>o wi«dom in keeping these woiks unpiodnetive with poihaps a whole million of money locked up in its incomplete condition. He passed over the native land question in silence, as he was wholly ignorant of its e\tont and effect. He concluded by moving the Addre&s-in-Reply. Mr W. C. Walker seconded the motion. In suppoiting the new Go\ eminent, he took occasion to criticise the late Parliament. It was defective in the respect that it had no cohesion. He ventured to say that the verdict of the countiy as lecorded in the late elections was that the paity fragments shoul 1 be gathered up and reformed within the province of party lines. The effect of coalition in Great Biitain had been to lower politics, but in the other colonies it had had a very different effect. It was on that account he argued the best results from the coalition lately an hod at by the Government of this colony. Referimg to the Governor's Speech, he first alluded to the importance of the increased development and extension of the mining interest. He deprecated experimental politics in a country like this, but expiessed his approbation of any step calculated to develope its resources and extend its commeice. It was a matter in which the heads of families and others were deeply interested. Education was next referred to. The common cry against higher education arose from a mistaken \ie\v of the subject. Scotland and Germany were referred to as countries where higher education has been taken up with energy, and the first-named place was mentioned as one whose sons were able to take a forward place in any part of the woild. He denounced the system of commencing railway and other woiks and then allowing them to remain incomplete and unproductive. That w.is the giosseit waste of public money, and it would be actual economy to borrow money and get ■Mich works completed with the least possible delay. The East and West Coast railway was especially nientioued as a work which should not be neglected. The West Coast was a distnet which had only been soivvtclied on the siuface, and with proper facilities its development would be gieat and i.ipid. For tlie^e and other lCfiMins ho aigued that it was of gieat impoitance that the woik should be gone on with as fa^t as possible. Ho reprobated the Noith and South Island difference'!, and for that reason he contended that the lines of the Noifch were equally deserving of the inm.ediate attention of the Go veinmen t. He could have defied to have seen more pointed reference being made to the question of local government, and could have wished to have seen the matter of hospitals and charitable aid mentioned in connection with them. The State Hospitals and Charitable Aid was the reversp of satisfactory. He did not see the justice of the Land Tax by itself, and believed the Property Tax was the fairest of all taxes, but would not on this point withdraw his support from the Government. He hoped very large powers would bd given to the railway boards. He urged the House to give the Ministiy a fair trial, and an opportunity to biing down their policy.

NO-CONFIDENCE. Mr J. W. Thomson said the Ministry was not well assoited. It was a case of extremes meeting. The Piemier and the Treasmer were the two chief men, and looking back at their speeches it was evident t!.ey differed fioin each other like light from darkness. One was an old Tory <md the other a Radical of Radicals. He conld not see how they could agree on a land policy to promote settlement. They also differed on the question of taxation. He contended that the Speech from the begining to the end made piomises to every class in .New Zealand, and he hoped their desire would be fulfilled. He was certain that the Speech was one which would not m^et with acceptance by the House or the colony, and he looked on it as an insult to the intelligence of the House and the people. He mo\ed, "That the Government as constituted does not possess the confidence of the House." Mr Hatch seconded, and followed in a similer strain to the last speaker. He eulogised Mr Bryce's. native policy as the most successful New Zealand ever had. He complained that the Speech was defective in many points of public importance. The licensing laws and the immoral practices of consultations were specially mentioned as omissions. The House then adjourned for half-an-hour.

The Premier Replies. On resuming, after the supper adjournment, Mr Stout expres&ed deep regret that the exigencies of Parliamentary warfare should put forward two men such as Messrs Thomson and Hatch to lead in this adverse proposition. There was no foundation in the statement made by the latter that they intended to interfere with the Education Act; they were simply put forward as convenient tools, aud the real leader was Major Atkinson who was a pronounced denommationali&t. That was all the allusion he would make to Mr Hatch. With Mr Thomson he had, both in the Provincial Council and in the Assembly fought hand in hand, and he believed that he was acting conscientiously in this matter.' Still he blamed him for having attacked them as persons antagonistic to each other. The real fact was that he (Mr Thomson) was now acting with the very men who had been opposed to him when Mr Thomson was a member of the Go veinmen?. They had had to dotond him against the attacks of men with whom he has now leagued with and who held him up as the most useless member of their Government. He defended his connection with Vogel. The late Government was in many respects antagonistic to each other. If the principle was laid down that they could not coalesce unless they were agreed on every question then party Government was at an end, and the sooner they appealed again to the country the -better. They had been taunted that they had no policy ; if that was the case, then this was not a struggle for policy, but simply a struggle for place. That was all that it amounted to if there was no policy ; this was simply a personal struggle, and the Speech was simply a mass of promises, they were told. What else could it be ; they had to have time to develops their policy. This was simply a repetition of what happened in 1877, when the then Government was defeated by the combination of two parties. , One was ousted, and one of the parties' being dissatisfied with the constitution of the new' Government, denied Government *n Opportunity ' for disolosing their policy, u How was it that they were afraid to let the conducfc.of the late continuous Governnaen,t be injjo? *He had justJe^arnecUh/a^ one jinportarit depart|jient"bf ithe (xqyero* =ufent ha^ibeeiiconaucted with\nan^afscial' '^raespbnclenceT^Tnis* wur in iconn,§sifcipß'

A :■ t xi „ < ' f i l> i I jj! > ..ff I Finance was in an, equally critical stite, And no provision existed for the liabilities on education, the, harbour board fund was exhausted, and not' a benny was left for roads. If he had a day or two to look into accounts, he would surprised the countoy with the disclosures lie would make. 'That 'was the reason they were not to be allowed to remain on these benches. The continuous Ministry was to go in, and the real state of matters was to be kept carefully concealed. That was the reason of all this hot haste to get them off these benches. Other financial irregularities were referred to. He hoped Major Atkinson would remember be was not now on the Government benches, and that he would not, as he was doing, interrupt them. They had failed in everything they did. The management of native affairs nad been a complete failure, and the natives from ono end of the island to the other .were in a state of discontent, and were only kept down by fear and force. The financial proposals had broken down ; they had spent instead of a million, a million and a-half per annum, and that was a breach of th"6 understanding with the English creditors. If, in the face of these facts, the House decreed they were not to enquire into these facts, then the responsibility would be theirs, not that of the Government. Although in a bad state of health, the Treasurer was willing to give hi 3 undoubted abilities to unravelling these complications. The more he (Mr Stout) came into contact with Sir J, Vogel the more he felt he was the only man who could bring to light the real state of matters. The position they intended to take up was this : They had been denied the right of developing a policy and of examining the position of affairs. If they weie put out he would not follow the course pursued in 1877, and he would challenge them to take a division at once. He would not ask for a lobby intrigue. There was no policy to discuss, and if a majority thought they were not able to submit a policy, he asked them to vote at once against them, and let the Governor call to his conncil men who would have their confidence. Looking at the state of the Treasury it was necessary to have a Government formed at once. They had three parties. They had the Grey party, the Atkinson party, and that undefined. party who shifted from here to therp» That was the real state of affairs, and it \\ ould be for them to know and understand the fact. He had no ambition for office, and he again challenged them to take a division at once and let the business be gone on with (Cheers and cries of " divide "). Mr Gngg and Mr Gillies spoke against the Government, and Mr J. C Buckland, Wi Pere, and Mr Samuel claimed that the Ministry should have a chance.