Mr. Moorhouse considered that inference rather presumptuous at the present time. Members were continually demanding un necessary returns, involving a large expense in printing and clerical labour. The bead of the present Government had objected t* this. Mr. Maskeu did not say the Executive did right or wrong in refusing the informa tion, but he considered the fact of their re fusal favored the inference that the province was in difficulties. Mr. Moorhouse said that there were no grounds for such an inference. Mr. Maskeu drew a comparison between the state of the province in Mr. Moorhouse’s last two years of office and Mr. Rolleston’s. In the first there was a large overdraft and there were large liabilities involving elaims by contractors for railways. In the latter case there is now no overdraft, good credit at the Bank, and, by good management, all claims had been done away with.
