HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.

Inangahua Times, Volume IX, Issue 1410, 30 June 1884, Page 2

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.

The House re-assembled at 2.30 p.m. The House went into Committee of Supply, on the motion that Supplies be granted for the period ending 31st of August. Mr Montgomery said that they had now before them a definite statement of the state of the Colony to the end of last financed year. They began the year with a blance of £35.000, and their expenditure had exceeded the income by £187,000. That was a moss unsatisfaetroy state of matters, tlvmore so that it did not disclose the full measure of their deficit. Since Slsfc

of March last the deficiency had been on the increase, so that they were not in a position to grapple with the , difficulty. The estimated revenue for the past year had been over-stated. In passing the Estimates, the Colonial Treasurer had been warned that such would be the ease, but he derided the opinion. The low price of wool and also of grain was attributed as tue reason for this failure in th<> revenue, but at the time the tsdmate was made the price of both these commodities was low. Sucb being the easo, he could not claim that as a reason, but it showed they should not trust implicitly to the Treasurer, bnt exercise their own discrimination. Had the motion of Mr Swan sou la^ty.-!ar been carried, ibr the reduction «>f Jte departmental estimates by £50,000, they would have been that co the good. The Government, however, opposed that motion, and it was lort. The public works expenditure wa j io excess of the vote to a vei-y consiuV--able sum. This excels had arisen, in direct contravention of the law. The only explanation made on this account was that he felt it to be his duty to call the attention of Parliament io it. This was a uovel explanation. Souie years ago, when M> Macandrew wa« in office, he took advantage o£ the low state of the market to puf'luise a quantity of rail wy stock >in ?xef^s oj' authority, and Pftfliaiiieni. reseit?<l ihe iif^iisaction. althopg'i tlie irovi could afterwards have been sol \ \u j England at a profit of 15 jier ?.em-, out ; still tne Parliament; neio ibar. wis no justification. He oontßudeoi chat ihe uukiug of the PostOfti..'e Truvi. Funds was antagonistic to t'.ie Aci thereon. He was told that on ohe. 81 si March last they had £393.000 ai deficiency bills ov.Lsfcaudinjv, and those wave no.; redeemed. With these Jjr was übo-it. to ask would it not rnakp nog > oq i,hd 80th of September a iota I of 2:598,000 of deficiency bills, whii-h, toireshe 1 - wit i another debt proposed to be eonm-actei'i for public works would laakeßiotal of i-798,000. Judgkr,- c'ro.n the present appearance, whoever was re^urucd to those Benches after the elation would have a difficult task before tuem, a task far more difficult than the Government ihat took office in 1879 had, The only remedy proposed by the Tr^- a *'i!*e.v was to live withiu their means. He asked if the Treasurer had lived wiih.n iv.3 ' means. P'ive years ago, when tAt Go- J vernrnent took office, they were pledged to economy, and this was tlu« outcome of it. When they asked the Treasurer to make reductions laso yt-ar, n^ absolutely refused to make tiiem. Tin's was the outcome, a deficit of ,£152,000. He should say that the Treasurer -nus<". now feel ihat his day Tor rloiri;; good had passed. Afoev bein£ 5 yeArs in office, pledged to economy, lit had clone absolutely nothing. A more humiliating position could hardy be concei ved. Their bounded duty w«is to^^t their finances i?ut into a proper state, and nou follow any sanguine Tteabiueninto such a mess. Mr Holmes described the Statement as a financial Chinese puzzle. The total indebtedness of the Colony, to be paid out of Consolidated revenue, was £606,000, and it would have to be made good by an increase of Cue Property Tax, Customs' Duties, etc. In the year 1881-82, the Government met the House with a surplus. Tii.it was due so the economical administration of M- 1 Hall. The next yea** chey showed a deficit, of £168,000. In 1883-84, the present year, the deficit wa<» as ctated above. A great proportion of this was due to the falling off in Customs revenue. That was true, buc he blamed the Treasurer for having vna,de an over-estimate. Last, year they were told the Colony was. overstocked, and ho ought to have known that fact would have stopped to a great exteut fresh importations. Aquarterofa million of inscribed stock had been illegally raised, and the Government- had usurped the functions of the House in dealing with public money. He disssented altogether from Atkinson's view as to the cause of the preset) t dullness. It was not due to the low price of produce but to the absurdly high pi-ice the deferred payment selectors aaiy beeo led to give for their land. He advocated the Government borrowing money at 4 per ceut and lending it to bona fide settlers for improvement at 5 per ceut. Mr Montgomery asked au assnrance from Major Atkinson that no political appointments to the Legislative Council would be made during the recess. Major Atkinson replying to the speeches denied the contention made by Mr Holmes that excess of inipori.s over exports was a bad thing for tb-: Colony, it was quite the other way. He wished the excess was greater. The true amount of deficiency hilhoni. was only £345,000, or deducting th? treasury bills for the deacit only £245,000. They had out of chis pai3 the liabilities of last year, amounting to £176,000. He could easily have so arranged the accounts as to make the figures look mu^h less, but he desired them to show the plain truth. It was also overlooked that £250,000 had been paid into the sinking fund. They hud also spent a considerable sum in rolling stock for future use, and by pushing on public works, which avoided causing much distress. He quoted figures to show that the departmental expenditure had been steadily reduced during the past few years. He had done all he could to reduce it, but what was required was reorganisation. He had taken this in hand, and had he been allowed would have made proposals which would have brought the expenditure of the year withiu the revenue. Every step taken by the Government in dealing with the public funds was done with the advice of law officers He denied that the successor would meet with any difficulties either in tho

Treasury or in regard to public works.