It would, he" contended, be a misfortune for. the country if the present Ministers were permitted to remain in office. Mr Ward said Mr Hutchison, al leged that Messrs Seddon, M'Kenzie., and himself had advocated a non borrowing policy and had gone in for borrowing. He quoted extensively from figures, and said that the total additional amount on which interest had to be paid under the regime of the present Government was L 301,774, which, divided among the population of the colony, represented only 3|d per. head,, and for this the people had obtained enormous advantages in the construction of roads, " bridges, etc. He denied that the sinking funds had been seized. Debentures had been issued against the sinking funds, but the money was not seized. He referred to the whole question at some length, and pointed .out how a. better, .system could be devised .to protect the whole of the sinking funds of the colony. Sir Robert Stout had contended that instead of there being a surplus there was a GTeneiency^ but her. oom bated this and held that as there were no defici ency bills issued and no overdraft there' could be no deficiency. It was the us.ua! practice to carry forward the balance at the beginning of the year and that was justified in the present year.. Jn dealing with l .he criticisms of the Opposition on the Customs tar riff he said that last year L 38,000 was received by increases, but against that L 40,000 was remitted -by .articles put on the free list. Tobacco and sugar, neither of which was altered, brought in L 20,000 extra, which showed the elasticity of the> revenue and an in crease in the spending power of the people. The accusation that the Go vernment had imposed heavy addi tional taxation on the people was groundless: as the figures he had quoted showed that the free items ' were in excess of those on which duty was paid. So far from departmental expenditure having, increased, as al leged by some members, he declared that it had actnally decreased. Mr Ward went on to defend the proposed expenditure on roads, bridges, rail ways, etc., saying it was necessary ip the best interests of the colony. As instancing the desirableness of foster ing the goldmining industry. 