Sir JOHN FORREST.-No one objects to the honorable member joining the Labour Party, if he wishes to do so.

Sir WILLIAM LYNE.-The right honorable member knows I have not done that. I wish, in this connexion, to read a word or two from a lecture delivered in Sydney the other day by the Anglican Bishop of Hobart, who, referring to the socialistic movement which is now taking place all over the world, said

He wanted to warn the Anglican Church in Australia as to what . . . might happen in the future if they gave another instance of absolute indifference to a huge social movement, and not merely in difference, but positively putting their weight wholly on the other scale. There was something ful scrutiny, and their most Christ-like sympathy. He did not dispute that there was much in the movement that was exaggerated and wild, and that many of its proposals were dreadful, but, nevertheless, the movement was in evidence in every civilized nation of the world, which surely should convince them that there were forces deep down in it, that it was not superficial, or a mere stir on the surface of the water, but that there was a great mass of sentiment and hopefulness behind

here before them which demanded their most care

the movement.

He went on to say that the subject had so far entered the hearts of a large number of people, that in an English town the Socialistic Party had founded what they called Labour churches, as a substitute for the

Church of Jesus Christ, because they thought the latter had no place for them; and gave them the cold shoulder. He continued

All who bore the name of Christian should study social problems sympathetically in the light and in the spirit of the incarnation, and help to realize the ideal city in the world, as it was.

Then he added that-

He had had eight years' experience in the slums of London, and if any man realized the enormous amount of suffering and degradation there was among members of the human race at the present time, if he had any sympathy at all with the Saviour of mankind when he looked on the multitude in the wilderness, he must have compassion on them; and he believed that there was at the heart of the socialistic movement of the present day genuine compassion for the multitude, and a determination to raise the standard of life for the submerged mass of the race.

I wish to emphasize, before passing away from the subject, the statement that where monopolies are injurious to the public, and State interference would do great good, I shall be on the side of humanity.

Mr. WILSON. Why does not the honorable member sign the platform of the Labour Party?

Sir WILLIAM LYNE.—The honorable member should sign something which will give him a little common-sense.

Mr. CONROY.-No doubt he is waiting for the honorable member for Hume to draw it up.

Sir WILLIAM LYNE.-I hope that we shall not hear too much about the socialistic principles of the Labour Party, because honorable members opposite are trying to gull the public by clouding the real issue which, as it is put in one of the three manifestoes published by the Prime Minister, is an attack on labour. Now that honorable members opposite find that that cry is not very popular, they are trying to represent it as an attack upon Socialism; but any one who reads between the lines of the right honorable gentleman's manifestoes, will see that it is an attack upon labour that is intended.

Mr. KELLY.-What are the exact words to which the honorable member refers?

Sir WILLIAM LYNE.-The manifesto is rather long, and I have not marked the exact passage which I have in my mind; but the honorable member can read it for himself.

The present fight is one between conservatism and liberalism, and I think that the alliance between the Liberal Protectionists and the Labour Party, on the been published, which do not embrace any honest and straight forward lines which have objectionable form of Socialism, will be a great step in the direction of liberalism. I venture to say that the alliance will form the nucleus of a Liberal Party, which will oppose the conservative element I see on my left supporting the Government.

Mr. WILSON.-What about the exemptions under a and b?

Sir WILLIAM LYNE.-At any rate, we have no conservative A's and B's. The Prime Minister said in one of his manifestoes

We thoroughly believe in progress, a fearless forward policy; but not on roads leading to Socialism and insane extremes.

Mr. JOSEPH COOK.-That is exactly what the honorable member says his views are.

Sir WILLIAM LYNE.-Yes; but I should like to know what item of progressive legislation the right honorable gentleman has placed on the statute-book. If he goes back through his history he will not be able to point to one. Although for five years he promised the people of New South Wales liberal legislation, all he did of importance was to impose a land tax and to take off Customs duties.

Sir JOHN FORREST.-He also passed an Alien Immigration Restriction Act.

Sir WILLIAM LYNE.-He adopted the Natal Act.

Mr. JOSEPH COOK.-The honorable. member is speaking wide of the mark, and he knows it.

Sir WILLIAM LYNE.-I am not. The honorable member for Parramatta cannot point to any real, progressive legislation which has been placed on the statute-book by the Prime Minister. Whenever progres sive and humane legislation was proposed in the Parliament of New South Wales the right honorable gentleman fought to prevent it from becoming law. That is his public history. Let me now read what he put at the tail of his manifesto. deals with Western Australia and Tasmania in a postscript. After writing his address, he remembered that he had not referred to them, and therefore he adds the following postscript:

He

I wish to add a postscript, addressed to the people of Tasmania and Western Australia. I much re

gret that no representative of either State is included in the new Ministry. I hope you will, as long as this state of things continues, accept me as the representative of both States in the Government, and I offer my services in that capacity to all the representatives of the two States, irrespective of party differences.

He had the impudence to write a postscript casting a slur upon the two States mentioned in it, and to say that he will represent those States. So far as Western Australia is concerned, the only representative of that State who supports the Government is the right honorable member for Swan.

Mr. AUSTIN CHAPMAN.-Tasmania, at any rate, is pretty well represented just now by the honorable member for Wilmot.

Sir WILLIAM LYNE.-I think that that is very doubtful. Some of the representatives of Tasmania support the Government, and surely they do not require the assistance of the right honorable gentleman. I regret very much that the proceedings at the protectionist caucus were divulged last night. Secondly, I regret that the honorable member for Bendigo misunderstood what I said last night. What was in my mind was that at the caucus meeting of the Protectionist Party he was the only member who moved any motion in connexion with the extension of the fiscal truce.

Sir JOHN QUICK.-I did not move a motion.

Sir WILLIAM LYNE.-Then the honorable and learned member suggested it. I admit freely that he and the honorable

member for Barker were two of the strongest opponents of coalitions of any kind.

Sir JOHN QUICK.-And yet the honorable gentleman has joined another coalition.

Sir WILLIAM LYNE.-And the honorable and learned member has joined a coalition on the Government side.

Sir JOHN QUICK.-No, I have not. Sir WILLIAM LYNE.-Now that this matter has been broached, I think that perhaps it will be as well to give some further particulars. Two or three meetings of the party were held, and it was unanimously decided, with the information before the party, that on no consideration should they follow the lead of the present Prime Minister. There was a unanimous vote on that point.

it.

Sir JOHN FORREST.-I do not remember

Sir WILLIAM LYNE.-I cannot be held responsible for lapses of memory on the part of the right honorable gentleman. Other members of the party will remember it, and the fact that the right honorable gentleman does not do so proves nothing. When the last meeting was held, an understanding was arrived at that before action of any kind was taken another meeting of the party should be called. There has to this day, and those honorable members not been any further meeting of the party who are sitting with me in the Opposition corner have acted absolutely in accord with the decisions arrived at at the last meeting. Sir JOHN FORREST.-By entering into an alliance with the Labour Party?

Sir WILLIAM LYNE.-The resolution arrived at by the party was against an alliance with the present Prime Minister.

Sir JOHN FORREST.-Or with the Labour Party?

Sir WILLIAM LYNE.-I should not have referred to this matter but for the remarks which fell from the Minister of Trade and Customs last night. When half the truth is told it is as well to state the whole of the facts. I regard the coalition which has been entered into with the right honorable member for East Sydney as a particularly unholy one, and I am afraid that it has been brought about to a very large extent by anxiety for office.

Mr. MCLEAN. How many portfolios have been promised to the protectionists with whom the honorable member is associated?

Sir WILLIAM LYNE.-The Minister had better wait until I break away from my protectionist principles, as he has done. He will then have the right to attack me.

unionists in England expressed themselves as unfavorable to the introduction of compulsory arbitration laws, because such legislation would put an end to strikes. Our object should be to pass any measure which will have the effect of putting an end to strikes, and all their attendant troubles. The unionists of Great Britain believe that strikes afford them the best means of redressing their grievances; but we believe I hope I am right in saying that we all believe that it is better to prevent strikes, if possible, and, therefore, if a good Conciliation and Arbitration Bill would have that effect, we should pass it without any hesitation. We should do everything we can to prevent a repetition of the shearers' and maritime strikes of a few years ago, which inflicted such injury upon the community.

Mr. WILSON. Would the honorable member vote in favour of including the agricultural industry within the scope of the measure?

Sir WILLIAM LYNE.-I voted against that proposal, and I have not been in favour of it.

Mr. WILSON.-Would the honorable

gentleman vote for it, now that he is allied with the Labour Party?

Sir WILLIAM LYNE.-I am not allied with the Labour Party, except so far as is indicated by the published terms of the alliance which has been made public. The honorable member for Corangamite has been opposed to the Conciliation and Arbitration Bill from the outset, and yet he is now supporting a Government which is doing its best to pass the measure.

Mr. WILSON.-I am in favour of a Bill which would provide for conciliation and arbitration in connexion with the shipping, shearing, and mining industries only.

Sir WILLIAM LYNE.-I desire to say a few words with reference to the attack made upon me by the Prime Minister in connexion with the report of the Committee of Public Accounts in New South Wales. The attack of the right honorable gentleman was directed ostensibly to the honorable and learned member for Corio; but was really

aimed at me.

Mr. WILKS.-The honorable and learned member for Corio, had another barrel loaded to fire off at the honorable gentleman.

Sir WILLIAM LYNE.-I have had a good many barrels fired off at me, but [ have always come up smiling. In the first place, it was stated that I had appointed the Committee referred

to. Technically, I did so; but Mr. G. R. French, and Mr. T. A. Dibbs were nominated by the Prime Minister, across the table of the Legislative Assembly in New South Wales. The right honorable gentleman was attacking me in connexion with my financial statement, and said, "Why do not you appoint a Commission-why do you not appoint such men as Mr. Russell French and Mr. Thomas Dibbs?" I said, "I will appoint them both." The right honorable gentleman was about to suggest another name, when I interrupted him, and said that I thought it was only right that I should have a chance to appoint one mem. ber of the Committee. I selected Mr. Yarwood, one of the ablest accountants in New South Wales.

Mr. SYDNEY SMITH.-Had not Mr. Dibbs already expressed an opinion adverse to the right honorable member?

Sir WILLIAM LYNE.-I am not aware that he did so; but that does not affect the question. All the gentlemen who have been named stand so high in public estimation, and hold such high positions, that even if they had expressed opinions previously, I should have been perfectly satisfied with their decision after they had

heard all the evidence.

Mr. WILKS. Mr. Yarwood's appointment thoroughly suited the honorable member.

Sir WILLIAM LYNE.-I did not know Mr. Yarwood, until I asked him if he would act upon the Committee. I had only obtained reliable information as to his capacity. I wish to show honorable members how this Committee originated. The origin of this Commission was mainly an attack made by the strongest supporter of the right honorable gentleman in the Parliament of New South Wales.

Mr. FISHER.-Who was that?

Sir WILLIAM LYNE.-I shall give his name when I have quoted his utterance upon this subject. He said

Now, I come to an examination of the public accounts, and I think it only fair to the Colonial Treasurer that I should at once formulate my charges which, before I sit down, I shall prove right up to the hilt. I will not attempt to use any

I

unnecessary rhetoric. I will not take any figures from outside sources that cannot be depended upon. I will take my figures entirely from the quarterly Gazettes published in this country and from information supplied by the Treasury. have taken the pains to go back from the present time to the beginning of 1889, and I have carefully collated my facts, and I will stand or fall on them. I charge the Colonial Treasurer, in the first place, that during the whole period of his financial administration he has consistently and persistently misrepresented the real state of the

public accounts of this country. I charge him, in the second place, that he has consistently and persistently misrepresented and maligned his predecessors, and tried to put upon others a great deal of the matter arising out of his own administration. I charge him, in the third place, with having deceived this House in passing a Treasury Bills Bill, which, if it had known the whole facts of the case, which can only be seen clearly now in the retrospect, it would have been recreant to every sense of honour and public duty if it had allowed that Bill to become law. And I further charge the honorable member, that when that Bill was going through the House, and when it was necessary, after remarks of mine, to prove a certain position, in order to secure his own posi tion, he absolutely misled the House by state. ments in order to carry that Bill into law.

Mr. TUDOR.-Who said that?

Sir WILLIAM LYNE.-Sir William, then Mr., McMillan.

Mr. JOSEPH COOK.-The man who is most cordially supporting him to-day. Mr. TUDOR.-IS that the gentleman who was member for Wentworth?

Sir WILLIAM LYNE.-When the Treasury Bills Bill was under consideration, Mr. McMillan was the only member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly to grasp exactly what was being done, and he made this statement—

Now, however, the Government are asking the House-that is, on the statement of the 30th June -to cover with Treasury Bills an expenditure which has not been expended, which, I think, is exceedingly wrong in principle.

During the whole of this branch of our inquiry we have invariably, where we could conscientiously do so, given the Administration of that time the benefit of any doubt in connexion with any coming to the conclusion that the accounts for matters which have arisen; but we cannot help

1895-6 should have been submitted in such a manner as would have enabled the public to form a correct judgment of the effect of the change of We recognise system on that year's accounts. that the accounts, as they were submitted after the change of system to what has been termed the "Cash" basis, conformed to the programme sanctioned by Parliament and embodied in the Audit Act Amendment Act of 1895, and the Treasury Bills Deficiency Act of the same year. The accounts, as so made up, brought out a surplus; but, from a business point of view, we cannot see that any such surplus really accrued to the period, but the contrary, as we have shown, and, we think, this should have been clearly set forth at the time the accounts were submitted. In other words, the result of our inquiry shows that, under all the circumstances of the case, the issue of Treasury Bills, to the net amount of £1,024,700, as cover

The amount which has not been expended is not worthy of notice in comparison with the total

amount.

That statement was made twelve months after the Bill had been passed. Later on, Mr. McMillan said

It is a very serious charge against the Colonial Treasurer to tell a member of this House, when

he brings in a Bill covering Treasury Bills to the amount of £1,174,000, that the whole of the amount was practically expended, because if there is any meaning in words, that is what it meant, and, at the same time, £426,000 had not been expended by the end of the year.

Mr. McMillan dealt with the matter in detail, and gave the whole of the figures. It was his statement that supplied me with a key to the whole position, and induced me to get skilled accountants to analyze it. What was the result? I found that Mr. McMillan had understated the position. The report of the Finance Committee proves that it was understated, and that instead of £426.000 being unexpended, there was no less a sum than £550,000 unexpended. Indeed, the exact amount proved to be considerably in excess of that.

an ascertained deficiency at the 30th June, 1895, was unnecessary, and had the effect of considerably and unduly lessening the expenditure charged to the next ensuing year, and was, therefore, in our opinion, misleading, inasmuch as thereby the subsequent real condition of the finances was not made apparent.

The report of the Finance Committee emphasizes every word which I quoted from the speech of Mr. McMillan. I would further point out that the accounts were manipulated through paying the total amount of money received from trust funds into one particular bank, upon which general cheques were drawn. As proof of the way in which the accounts had been manipulated, I may mention that I was called upon to pass a Bill to legalize expenditure to the extent of £1,278,940. Every penny of that amount had been illegally expended, and that expenditure was unknown to the public and had not been before Parliament. I was compelled to pass an Act to legalize that expenditure, which the present Prime Minister had no right to so pay.

Mr. JOSEPH COOK.-And the honorable member was also obliged to legalize all his subsequent expenditure.