They were now called upon to make the choice, and it had to be faced. He would make the counties support the police, and as for education it was a mistake to make it a charge on the consolidated revenuv of the colony. Those that raised the money should spend it. He had said sufficient to show that the financial proposals were unsatisfactory. He complained that the. Government had done wrong in not bringing the. Public Works Statement down. He did not

blame the. present Government for the. financial condition of the colony. If any -. Government was to blamed it was the " Coiitiriuou's Government.", Kjcst the public works policy had Ideen administered altogether "different from what Sir Jnlj(i3, Yogel intended, aiid then they had de stroyed th^. best system 1 of. local self-go vern nieiit that 6o'iild hb #c vised* He would simply move that Ibis financial proposals of, the Government were •un satisfactory, and would leave the question in the hands of the Bo'uSe. Mr Oliver said that if the financial prop osals were unsatisfactory they were left as a legacy by the late Government. The present Government had been accused of creating heavy burdens on the working classes, but their proposals showed the contrary, and they were desirous of making the burden fair and equitable. They might have proposed a beer tax, but that would have been directed against the working classes. They had adopted the estimates of their predecessors, and after giving theni all tile cdilsideration possible they had put them forward. The late Government had committed them to large liabilities, and the resources had been pledged for that purpose. The liabilities of the colony had nearly absorbed the whole of the £5,000.000 loan. If the late Government had kept in office six months longer they would have had to resort to the policy of repudiation. He agreed that in the educational scheme they had been far too extravagant, and he felt that the time had come when it would be neces sary to resort to a different system to that already in vogue as one remedy towards removing the difficulty. Mr Montgomery contended that the blamo cast upon the late Government for the financial difficulties was not de served. He quoted financial statistics, from which he argued that it was unfair to say that the present difficulties were attributable to the late Government. 