HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.

Waikato Times, Volume XXV, Issue 2056, 10 September 1885, Page 2

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.

WKDXESDAY. Thk House met .it 2 30 p.m. Mi Hamliu, Chin man of Committees took the cii.nr m the absence of the Speakei. Replying to questions, it was stated tint tint stops would l)« t.ikun dunns? tha iocpss to asoeitun whether Sir Joseph Hookei would publish a secmid edition of New Ze.il.uid Flora. Mr Stout intiodiiccd a bill to amend the Mtinieip.il Coipor.itions Act. Mr Tole introduced the Supremo Coint Reporting Hill. Mi Stout ino\ed " That this House will to-uioiiow iesohe itsolf into a committee of tin* whole House to consulei the gi.mting of ,i subsidy to the Ansti.vli.m cable." Mr l'uch.uian lesumed the debate on C.ipt. Riisscir-. amendment foi going into Committee of Supply, th.it tin 1 Public Works Estimate's should be reduced by I'IOO.OOO, and Mr Mo-,*' anu'iubnent that it is not .ids is »ble to suddenly stop public woiks aheady mpi ogress He pointed out the cutical condition of the colony, and n,nd the Troasunn- had failed to impime tho condition of the countiy. He sup ported the amendment of the member foi Hawke's IJay. Mr Dai ga villa feared the member for Hawke's Bay had allowed himself to be led into a false position by tho motion ho had biou^ht fotwaid. He said if the motion weie c.ivied, which ho hoped it would not be, it would lead to the stoppage of most impoitant public woiks, and the tiiiowing of a l.nge number of people out of employment. 0«>l, Tiimble considered Air Daigaville's sp.'edi the most looalised, in tho nanowest s-iisooftlie woid, he had e\ei heaid delivered in tho House. He altogether diffeied from the statement that if the amendment were c.ivied it would result in the throwing of many nun out of employment. He thouglit theie vveio many items in the estimates th it might well be utruck out, such, tin instance, as the \ote of HIO.OOO for Highland ciofters, i! 3000 for a school at Wangarei, and many otheis-. Mr Lanco denied that the Canttrbury members had gone into Opposition. What had happened Wiis that tlioy weie suddenly subject to a fit of economy, and they folt

they were tieated with but scint c >vi te-y by the House over the Eist and Wot Coast railway. They weie alw.u - boing told tint the colony c mid nitattmd s.ich woiks as these, but " hope di'fcurd mikcth the heait sick," :md th" C inteibiiiy m 3111bers were now \ery sick indeed. They were deteiinui"d that as justice had been de ned them they would do their utin >st to picicnt any public expenditure 111 other di-tiiet^. Mr Montgomery said the remarks of the 1 i-t sp" »kti , is to the intention of CanterImiy in*, inlieis w is not very ci editable. He pointed out tint when the NOIUI Island Tuink Rulwiywas under discussion, th.! Xoith Is] md ineinbiiN had cheerfully submitted to t!ie delay th it w.\s asked for in in ler to .i^eit.iin whether the construction of th it. line weie feasible or not. At the Mine time, he was prepared to aigue that Oanteibniy was entitled to her lailwiy, and he thought he would do this better by pointing out the right of that district to hi\c the lailway constructed than by tilling the. House they mint constiuct it. He would not, however, be a party to stopping the piogiess of works in other distncts merely b-cm^e Gintjrhuy lul ii'it received justice in this matter of her railway. Mr Cowan supported tho motion of tho mcmbei for Haw kc s 1} iv. H" th m^lit the time was inopp 11 tune foi the (Joveininent to undertake any ncv woik> which could be p )ssibly p>stp>'iod. He wou'd suppoit tha (loveriim "lit if this weie 111 ide a hostile motion, I), it h• sh >uld be b'tter plensad if they accepted it in .1 friendly spillt. Mr Hohbs rofu-od to beliero tint th" House would sanctum Sl 't" - xn <*ct of 111 tunidation as that votes foi other districts would be out if the present motion weie earned. He heaitdy suppoited the motion of the member foi H.nvke's Hay. Mr W. ¥. Bnckland thought the reason of the caucus, to which reference was so fie(]iiently in ide, was that about eight or ten members in the House weie always wavering from side to side. He contended that notwithstanding whit hid been sud to the contrary, there had been ,1 good de.d of intngue over the East and Wu>t Coast Railway. The debate was interrupted by the r > 30 adjournment. The House resumed at 7.30 p.m. Mr Backl.uid continued hi« lumarks at some length. He lefened to the vanoiis speeches th it had been in. ide on the amend incut. Speaking of Mr Montgomery's .speech lie could not help thinking that the lion, gentiein in had spoken on both side-, and voted in the middle. He intended voting for the amendment. Mi I>vestam refeued at sonic length to the whole position of the Eist and Wist Coast Railway, and the cl unis which Nelson possessed to form a part of the scheme. He quoted from repot ts to show that the railway could bu in ide payihlo both as reg nds land, lninei ils and piobible popu lation. Mr Dodson admitted th it Nels.<n had the best claim of any distnct in the colony for railw.ijs and p ibhc woik-, but he con tended th.it Nelson had not bee'i .1 micc-i in a colonising sense. The Nelson district also ti wted Maillviroucrh in a most unfair manner when the districts weie more liitnn itely connected than at present. Th" E ist and West Coast 1 ail way if continued would enormously benefit Marlb irough, but he was not in fax 0111 of its cnnstiuefcion at the piesent tune. It was not theiefoie fnun a local point of view th.it he opposed the line. On the contiaiy, he thought it would be of immense advantage to his own distuct. In voting for the reduction of th* Estimates he s ud he was onl\ following the line he had always advocate 1. He liad pei feet faith 111 the futuie of the colony, notwithstanding the amount of bad government they h id to c intend w ith. Mr Fergus thought they wtio ])l,iced at tne presmt tune 111 .1 most unf.nouta.hlu pisition, owin^ to the natuie of the .imcnd nvnt bi ought down by the meioboi for H,iwk''s Bty. He hid c >nsnlei ible doubt in his mind .is to how he s!i<mld \ote on the queitioii. H 1 should ciitaiuly have hk H d t.) vot'j fm tie icduction of cxpeuditin 1 , but he sh mid not like to record any vote which w mid tend to strengthen those gjntlem'ii who had been dragging the colony at then chiiiiot whirls. Ho con tended th it th" Minister for Public Woiks wis now adopting the same vicious 111 inciple tint he advocated when li ' was pie\i>u»ly in ptwe, of h ilding votes before the eyes of nuinbeis toseetne suppoit. Ho held tl at tho tune would c nne when they must recognise the E ist .111 J West Coa«t Railway as a great colonial w oik, but lie thought the present attempt th it was bein^ made to construct this ml way, was even more iniquitous than the celebiated Meigg-. s-chem\ He t-jioke at coiisideiabli length, and said lie .should like to have vi ted for the amendment, but as lie recognised fiat it would be pi ij ing into the hinds of tho Canteibniy m- <übjis he would not iecn*d his vote with the nv*mb3r for Hawkes Biy. He would in c msequence of tins w ilk out of tie House on tho di\ i-ion. l)i Newman thought the member for Hawke, Biy had undo a in *t tke in the action he had t.ike.i. He thought the House wi uld do well to go tlunu,'h the estimates and leducj them propoition itely all lounl. If th" motion were curied it would mean the stoppage of some of the best paying linrs in the colony, such as the Napier to P.ilmei-st in line, which was u uioubtedly one of the most remunei.ative of all the constructed line-!. Mr Reese leuiarked that the Canterbury 11. embers had seen f.t to desert the Government on this question He intended to siippoit them ngiiust the motion proposed by the meinb >r for Hiwke's 13 ty. He thought the vote of £1,800,000 (sic) for th" Eist and West Coast Rul'\av wis only a fair amount f( r the present joar Capt. Russell's motion was thci put and cv n-'d on the voices. Mi O'Callaghan moved in addition to the motion, " ptuvidud that siuh leliictioii shall not affect any public w.uks in the n.atuie of mads and budges." H« v justified the Cinteibmj incmbei.s 111 the action they had tikjn against the (io\ eminent, and said they could not have tiken aij other coni-e. -Vs for hin solf he had gieat faith in the (iin eminent, and he was far from going into Opposition. Mr HlllH 111 sthouse defended the construction of the Eist and West Coast railway, and coinpired it to the Otago Central line. He referred at some length to the speeches made by Messi-, l<Yi<rus and Montgomeiy. Mr (iaiuck aid the pioviso moved by the me'iib°r for Lincoln was worthy of consideration. He said the Cinteibniv. section of tho House undoubtedly felt that then claims had not recehed generous tieatment at the hands of the House. He thought a most unfair attempt had been made by both sides of the House to attach \i Jonah-like chaiacter to the Coloni ll Tieasuier. It was nho nnfau to blame that hon. gentleman for the depression au piesent existing. It was nngeneious to forget w hat the colony owed to the Tieisiner for the initiation of the Public Woiks policy of 1870, which it was impossible to deny had enormously benefited the country. ' He felt that the distiict he lepiesentod had some claim to the East and West C >ast lailway, and he thought there >vould be no successful (Jov eminent in this colony till that railway was constiucted. As foi hiu'ticlf and the contingent ho acted with, they weie detei mined to use all the forms of tho House to asMst them to obtain the justice they weie entitled to. Sn J. Vo/el Abked vvhethei tho lion, nicniloi foi Hawke's Bay ])iopo&ed to accei>t the addition of the member foi Lincoln. Captain Russell leplied that he could not accept the piowso. Sir J. Vogel *aid the position, then, was 11101 c difficult than it appealed to be, as they had to deal with two questions mstoid of one. He said the Government weie asked not to discuss this question as ;v pjity one, and tin > would agree to that piopos.il, He contended that if tho te-olution was cauied it would nitl.ct a Luge amount of miseiy ii|jon jieisons who v\eio emplo>ed on the public works of the colony The meaning of knocking oft fiOO.OOO fiom the l.ulwav estimates would be that laige votes would have to be stiuckout of eveiy distuct. It would mean knocking off i'loOO fio n the Huntly bridge and line, t'20,000 fiom the Heleiissille line, t'l'iO.OOO ('') fioni the Hainilton-(4uhanistown line, 4J(i"),000 fiom tho Main Tiunk Lino, £'14!),00O fiom tho East and West Coast Railway, t'75,000 fiMiu the Napiei-Woodv die line, i'SOOO fiom the Picton southwaids line, £70,000 fiom the Otago Cential, and £10,000 from tho Wannea-Swit/ers line. The two questions befoie the House were tlie expediting of the constmction of the East andWestCo.ist Railw.ij or the expediency of the constitution of the railway. Since the speech ho had debveied at Ashburton, ho had expressed his opinion that tho l'a«t and Went Coast him should be constructed, and the Ooveinnient had last ycai introduced a bill with that object m v lew. He then detailed tho progress of the scheme proposed for that railway. (L.oft sitting.)