NO-CONFIDENCE MOTION.

Inangahua Times, Volume XI, Issue 1714, 7 June 1886, Page 2

NO-CONFIDENCE MOTION.

* At the evening sitting Mr P.Auckland continued the debate on the Financial Statement. He read a mock Financial Statement, which set forth inter alia that " loans are to be out off ;" that "if the Exhibition had nruer heen given at all it would have been more profitable ; " " that £80, 000 more was to he expended this year than last year, and that ha had re- ! dweed ilia liabilities by a judicious system of transfer called 'Confusion worse confounded,' of which he (the Colonial Treasurer, Sir J. Yogel) was the author. The fiiiain'es of the colony ' were in h bad si-att*. It was nothing ' l»ut borrow, borrow. The Colonial } Treasurer ww most extravagant, and ' it. was time there was a change. Moved as an amendment on the motion I to no into Supply that to enable us to 1 deal effectively with the matter of < retrenchment, Mr Speaker do not 1 leave the chair for the purpose of 1 granting supplies to Her Majesty nnti I such time ai the. public works esti 1

mates ami supplementary estimates sliall have been sent down to this House. The amendment was not seconded. Mr Montgomery said the Financial Statement was misleading. Ministers wove in a fog during the recess, iind from the Statement they were now in total darkness. At Napier the Premier tried to prove there was a surplus. That surplus the hon. member for Egmont had shown did not exist. Those who paid attention to the finances of the country knew that thore waa no surplus, for they had watched tho revenue as it came in. The surplus was made l.y taking accrued payments to the Sinking Fund, and the subsidies allowed to stand over. He argued that they were £ 3G,000 to the bad." If the Premier hid stated the reason why lie claimed this surplus the country would have no cause to congratulate itself In our Land Fund wo were i' 52,000 to the l>ad in a year, and now we were to draw a loin to assist the Fund- The real liabilities were 5, 87,000, and that amount was to he provided for this year, and half the subsidies to local hodies. If we paid the liabilities, which were a charge upon the £800,000 claimed hy the Treasurer as available, there would he none of it left. It was not in existence. Next he would r* fer to a speech deli vpred by the Treasurer at Auckland. T'iflt spepch was received with alarm for it was looked on as an exposition of a most dangerous policy. The Treasurer asked whether the poopte were going to give the colony " another chance" by borrowing largely and spending rapidly. The taxes were to be increased, and the Treasurer fold the people of Auckland that their trunk line was in danger if they did not accept his policy. That was an appeal to the worst passions of the people. The Treasurer did not wish to put hi« views before the House. He wanted to go direct to the country on a policy of borrowing largely and spending rapidly. The speeches of the Premiet throughout the country, however, hnd moderated the, Treasurer's policy. Il was not that the Treasurer had, of his Own wish, moderated the expenditure He would move as an amendment thai the Government reduce the expenditure for the current year by severity-fiv< thousand pounds. [Opposition cheers.' The Premier had stated the exwndi ture could be reduced l>y £30,000 r,i £40,000, therefore it whs surely no much of a hardship to accept tin amendment aud take off another £40 000. Ml* Barron seconded the amend ment. . The Premier said the, ban. meml>e no doubt understood the nature of till motion lie had made. He (the Tie mier) declined to interpret it in am other way than that of a motion to in tercept supplies. (Cheer*). It was » very different thing from the mluctiot j last year. Then the amendment wai carried as an instruction to the House in Committee. He was not surprises at the hon. member moving thi< amendment, for the lion, member wo: always of opinion that some fir.jhtfu calamity was hanging over the colony The hon. gentleman predicted lis year a deficiency of £200,000, anr now he was disappointed because thor< was a surplus. As to the surplus th< Premier contended that .£23,000 fron: the. Sinking Fund had boeu paid a< thfc law said it should l»e paid. As to subsidies kept back, the consolidated j fund was charged with £17000 more I than that in previous years. Tht ! position taken up was that the Go ! vernment had no money, that the {£800,000 was gone, and the million and half loan would not cover th* works proposed ; yet the loan was objected to. Coming to the stnto i ment of liabilities, he could not ! assume that the hon. members did not know the tables were correct Tlw hocus pocus attempted hy Mr Olivei in 1879 was not going to be done again. Practically there was only £36,000 unpaid liabilities against Native lands, and £389 against railways, which would have to come out of loan. (Mr Mont* gomery : I said so.) He would object to this motion which was the equivalent of a No Confidence motion. The Government were confident that hy the Civil Service. Bill alone they could save £80,000 or £40,000. The policy of the Government was not one of indiscriminated borrowing. He had declared himself at the first against large borrowing and he still adhered to it. If the Colony, was to go ahead it all they needed vi;>or and hope in the administration. We had a right to get people to look hopefully at their position, and he considered very great harm was done by those gentlemen who went through the country pu-tur-iiigthe dark side, of things and making them a great deal worse. (Chews). Mr Menteath took exception to the way the amendment was brought for* ward, as it placed those who wanted retrenchment in a dilemma. The present was the very worst time for effecting a reduction in the departmental expenditure. He wanted to know if they turned the Government out, who was going to replace them. It was true that he had one differed from the Premier, but the hitter had since come round to his views, and consequently had his support. June 3. The House divided on the question II that the words proposed to lie unitted stand part of the question," Ayes 44, Noes 28 The amendment tvas lost. The following is the division ist :— Ayes— Allwright, Barron, Bevan, Bradswav, Brown, Cadinau, Cowan, Dargaville, Duncan, Frazer, Gore, 3race, Guinness, Haknene, Hatch, Elolmes, Hursthoiise, Ivrsß, Lance, [jarnach, Le vest am, J McKenzie, McVlillan, Menteath, Moat, O'Callaghan, ?cre, Pratt, Reeie, Reid, E. Richard-

son Ross,. Sunn*'!, S-'ddon. S'eward, Stewart, S'out, T.iyio:', T-Ao, T. Thompson, Tole, Turnhull, Vo^el and ' W.ilk.-r. \oe-; — Atkinson, Hi-rnn. B'Otlnm, R.-nco. Hn.-han™, B.kU uvl. J, and W. F. I»in-!v!;tii(l; Oonnllv, I) >dson, Fergus, I Fulton, Hurst, Hi-dop, HobU, L»ke, Lo.-ke, Mn-ar-lmr, M. J. S. Mac Kenzie, Mitchelsen, Montgomery. Moss, Drummon-I, G. Hii-hardsou, Rolleston, Russell, J. W. Thomson, J. Tfiniiile. Wilson. Pairs: — For: Oosfrpr, Joyop, Fitzhprl»»'i't, Khjt, G:iri-jck, Mncandrew, Pearson, Harppr. Smif h, OConor. Ai^iiinst, : Hui-st, Peacock, Johnston, Fshpi', WftkefieM, Grey, Slitter, Bryc* 1 , Wiiyte, Newman. June 4. Thf ITonso mft at 2 30 p ir.. Roplyin.s; to questions it was stated that, plans for the M.mawatn Gorge : line would be realty m a week or two ! when ttM.rlers w.nKl l>e ««alle<| ; that thp question of the amendment of the I Bankruptcy Act dmiucr this session was now tinder consideration. On the motion for going into Comi niitt^e of Supply. i Major Atkinson said that after thp ■ vote taken yesterday, the Opposition ; would not offer any factions opposition but they would throw the responsibility of making reductions on the Government. The lions* 3 then went^ into Com mitteo of S'ipply for consideration of the Estimates. Vote. £7710, General ' ost Office. Carritd. Mr Hatch Bii^pstfd that the c'assi* ficrttion system should be adopted in this departnipnt. Sir Ju'mis Vo2f.il said he proposed to «o into the i:lr»ssificati»"»n question during the recess to see if il could be adopted with advantage. He was fjivoura'tle to the system. Mr Dnd.-an moved that the vote be rod need hy €1.100. ] A long discussion ensued. \ The amendiDPiit was lost, and the votp was passed as printed. Mainfainance. repairs, itc, £40,2-16. Canied. Telegraph Cable subsidies, £350. Carried. ; Conveyance of mails Vy sea £72, SGS. Sir Julius Voqe! stftt.ail that the total sum paid for the direct service last year was £20.000, the honuse3 b^in^ , £7.000 or £ 8,000. Ca-ried Conveyance of inland mails, £2B,lßo. I Carried. I Carriage of mails by railway, jSIOOO. j Carried. Progress was then repoited. Tlie House went into Committep on the Native Equitable Bill, which passed ; wtih verbal umejldfftftht?. ! The Mnnibiptl Corporations Bi'J was further considered in Committee. i The House rose at 5.30 p.m.