NATIONAL GOVERNMENT

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 185, 25 April 1918, Page 7

NATIONAL GOVERNMENT

■ • PRIME MINISTER'S DEFENCE l A WELTER OF MILLIONS s WAR AND ITS BURDENS In proposing tho toast of the National Government at the 'dinner preceding tho annual meeting of tho Wellington Chamber of Commorco yesterday, the president (Mr. P. W. Manton) said that the country generally had confidence in what the National Government was doing. It waspatent to any thinking man that a National Government was tho only possjblo Government under existing conditions, seeing the schemes they had to devise, tho money they had lo raise, and the men they had to find. Such great and important work must surely be done ,anoro readily and more efficiently than would havo been tho "case were" party ■Government sustained during the war. Of course tho National Government had its critics, -who- said that they had not ■dono this or that, but any man who asked for things that wero impossible was not only a traitor $o himself but to his ■country. The Empire was now faced with the greatest crisis it had ever known, and it - 'was to thp credit of this far-flung corner of tho Empire- that it had given the lead to other countries, and that none ,had been ablo to do its part so rapidly or efficiently as New Zealand had been ablo to do. (Applause.) .In response tho Prime Minister (IM. Hon. W. F. Massey), after extending thanks for the cordial reception accorded Sir Joseph Ward and himself, said that people should think of the conditions ■they wero now experiencing after between two and three years of the legislation and administration of the National Government. Ho could say that tho Government had been given more kicks than compliments. They could stand tho kicks,',: feeling sure that tho compliments would come later on. (Applause and laughter.) They had been subjected to a lot of criticism, and they lad to expect it in war time. They had '■to do many things that were unpopular •with the people throughout the country •"7 m Miy things had been accomplished by tho National Government which would bo impossible to undertako under tho parly ■system. Money was required, and to |et it they had to bring down increased taxation. They knew,how heavy that taxation was, as he did not supposo there fas a man in the room who did not pay 1 income tax or taxes in another direction. JNo party Government could have stood up against' that increased taxation. An•other important achievement was •tho niacins on die' Statute Book "Ot the Compulsory. Military Ser-

vice Act; m that connection ■• he was proud to say that New Zealand was .the first of the Dominions to place such a measure on the Statute Book. (Applause.) Taking those two things alone, bo said that no partv Government, unless it had a majority 6i forty, could nave done the work the National Government had accomplished. - (Applause.) Tall Figures. When they took otHce it was with the "understanding that New Zealand should do her full share in the war, and though iinfortunate circumstances had arisen, that agreement was still in operation. It was agreed, too, that they would endeavour to keep the country prosperous. Anew was a "strong demand for our products, and negotiations were entered into between tho New Zealand and Imperial Governments for tho latter to take over our woo), meat, and darlry prodrcc. J-nose negotiations were, on tho whole !!!^ C r S i U k and J he . Im Penal Government supplied the shipping necessary to carry the products to tho Home markets, if had riot done that, thousands ot tons of produce would he stackfid up in our stores which would br trorth very little. At it was. there- was comparatively, little produce had been paid for meat, and . Jt was to ho noted that no advance was made on meat /until it was' placed on board ship. The amount of wool shipP* d J™' 481,870 bales, whilst.there-were 51a,630 bales awaiting shipment, payment tor j which had been made. The total paid for wool was and for freezing companies' slipe wool .£1,780,006'. There, were 172,000 boxes of butter left an store now, and we were practically at the end of tho season. It had been a Kood season. They had arranged with the Imperial Government to take 15,000 ions, but up to tho present ■ thev had been able to ship 18,000 tons, and still there wero 172,000 boxes in store, 125,000 of which would be needed for local consumption. The Imperial Supplies Department hati paid .£2,500,000 for but-' ter. ■. They had found it impossible to get steamers to take our fallow to. England owing to tho demands on space, and were trying to ship it to the western side of the United States. There were also 42,000 bales of hemp and 18,000 bales of tow awaiting shipment—a large quantity, lie admitted, but still ho 'thought that all who knew the position t, ould qprce i that they had done very well. (Ap- • plause.) For that they had to thank ; the Shipping Controller and Board nf i Trade on tho.other side of the world. One speaker had said that they wanted ' a more active Department cf Commerce. ' They had one already in the Imperial Supplies Department, which would prob- i ably merge into a Department of Com- ' merce after the war, and if it did as • good work then as now they would be ' proud of it. •At present the publio ' could not kuow much about it. Now ' they realised, that thev had been too ' modest—they had been hiding their light ; under a bushel—but they were going to ■ change that. . • '

A Staggering Total. Up to the present the total' amount paid out by tho Imperial Supplies Department for produce of all kinds was .£61,422,822, and the probability was that on the present rato of production there would be another .£20,000,000 paid by the end of tho year. Shipping the Keynote. The chairman was right when he said that shipping was tho keynote to the whole position, r.nd if they had not got all they wanted it was only right to say that tbo British Government had done its level best to relievo tho country of its produce. Then they had had losses at 6ea. In 1914 they had S3 insulated steamers; iu the follow! ng\ year, 84; in 1916, 78; and 1917, 62. In explaining these figures, Mr, Massey said that in 1917 they had been given more space, for some of tho vessels made the round trip, calling at Australia and filling up here, and some of them were unusually largo steamers. Then the cutting. up of the carcasses (instead of shipping then" whole) had saved 20 per cent of space. The result was that for last .year they got .£31,500,000 for their pro,duce, but that sum was partly accountable owing to tho increased prices paid. They had lost a number of steamers since the war broke out—nineteen steamors in all. TJiese wero not all Now Zealand were Australian— but they used to como to New Zealand ports. Biggest Trade Per Head in the World. As for our total trade, tho exports for 1917 amounted to .£31,596,434, and tho imports to Adding those two together, and dividing by the population, you got tho average trade per head in New Zealand—a greater trade per head than any other country in Mie world. It spoke volumes for the resources and energy of the population and tho productivity of the country' itself. (Applause.) No system of party Government, he ventured, could have equalled the record of the National Government since it was established in 1915. The chamber was interesting itself in post-war trade. Ho believed it was going to follow new linos. It was well known that the Imperial authorities had called Sir Joseph Ward and himself to England. Ono of the chief subjects on which they would consult would be Miat of post-war trado of the Empire. They had to look at it from a New Zealand point of view, but still had to remember how much more important was the Imperial point of view. There was a feeling growing up in Britain and in this country that in trade and commerce England had looked after tho welfare of every oountry other than her own. (A voice: "Quito Tight!") When the war

emtio to an end flicy had to encourage their own industries, not those altogether in New Zealand, but tlioso of the Empire. They had got to uso their own raw materials, instead of sending them to other countries to bo manufactured and then reiniporled, and they had to encourage suitable immigrants to settle here. At the samo time, from an Emlriro point of view, they must try and prevent people leaving tho of the United Kingdom and going _ to other countries outsido the Empire. Mien ho was at Home ho had been interested in that direction, nnd wns staggered at tho figures representing population lost to the Empire. To-day they would have boeu a better and a stronger people had they been able during tho past twenty-fivo years to keep these people within tho fold of Empire. They ; had to learn to profit by their mistakes, i Within tho Empire was everything need- ! ful for humanity, yet they had done litj tie or nothing with their resources. .! Take tho tropical countries. Had we I crown cotton? A little. . perhaps, in ' Egypt. But there were plenty_of places ;in Africa and tho islands—tho islands of ; the Sooth Pacific—where cotton could bo : grown profitably. A friend had told" him '■ Chat good cotton had been grown on an j isUnd cmT fco Australian coast. Then I there wero co'crat, sugar, tea, coffee, everything that could possibly bo wanted for the people of our Empire. They had to see that tho waste places were developed, instead of going outside to' other countries. Ho had always believed in a policy of Imperial preference, and he felt,convinced that it wus going to bo tho salvation of the British Empire, and he illustrated tho self-contained, self-sup-porting United States as an example of the result of such a policy, a country which had gone ahead by leaps and bounds, and was developing its resources in a manner never contemplated at ono time. Water Power. Speaking on the development of New Zealand, Mr. Massey said that water power was runuiug to wnsto in every corner of Is'ew Zealand. Whenever he went into tho country by train it struck him how water power might bo converted into power for the,railways, and that power must be utilised if they were to meet the enormous burden entailed by (ho tremendous expenditure in which they were necessarily involved. They must havo roads and build bridges,- for if they did not develop the country, if they did not encouraga population, how could they expect,to meet the very heavy burden that somo were finding difficult to carry at present? They wero looking forward for (lie war lo end, but no ono could predict with any cortainty when that would be—they could only express individual opinions. It might end this year—it might go on for years—but whatever happened they could congratulate themselves lhat they had. done their duty, nnd would go on doing their duty to tho end. (Applause.) The carrying on of tho war might mean financial rum to tho people of this country and those'of other countries, but it did not matter so long as they won the war. When they thought that NewZealand had sent 100,000 men away to fight—the number already gone was not quite that, but with those in camp that number was exceeded—and that in spite of that she had been able lo export .£30,000,000 worth of produce every year, it was something for the present generation to bo proud of and for future generations to look back upon with admiration and pride. (Long and loud applause.) "A DROP IN THE BUCKET" SIB, JOSEPH WARD ON NEW ZEALAND'S TRADE. Sir Joseph Ward said that he could echo thw sentiments of the president in urging business men to help tho Chamber of Commerce, because from the commencement of the war in New Zealand problems had to be dealt with that had never been experienced in their history. It meant tho bringing together of men, often with antagonistic ideas, whoso conclusions would hi the basis of a better understanding which would benefit the country as a whole. Hearing the figures the Prime Minister had given them they should thank God every day that they had got such a great producintr country. (Applause.) It was indicative, too, of the fact that New ?ealand was going to be ono of tho most productive countries in tho world If was the annual value of her exports! it ■was but a drop in the bucket compared with what it was going to be twenty or twenty-five years hence. (Applause.) It was a conclusion based upon incontrovertible fact that as closer settlement went on, 60 much the exports increase, and he hoped to see it reach one hundred millions sterling. % ""'

Mr. R. E. Sinclair: Provided you'liavo the_ labour in the country. Sir Josiph Ward said they must of necessity have rhufc Labour had been thrown into greater prominence since the comrnencenratt. of the war, and in the industrial problems ahead the great problem of labour was of first consideration. Tho intertwining of Labour and Capital was essential as it was inevitable.. They wore dependent one i.pon tho other. Their exports must bo inoro than doubled, for lie believed bat tho true solution of tho financial problem ahead was the progress in productivity Ntw Zealand was going to mako in tho next 50 years in order to carry the burden that would rest on her shoulders after the war was o.yer. Atpresent tho savingof tho British Empire caiwa before everything—on it dependwl tho preservation of civilisation and uhristanity for ages to come. (Applause.) It was to establish that 6afety for the British Empire, and to keen her in the forefront of the world's history, that men of strong political opinions had buried those proclivities—becauso only on- such a basis could the preservation of tho Empiro rank first.' They had had criticism, but' criticism to public men was tho breath of life, and misrepresentation was their daily lot. Sir Joseph Ward told how a certain journal had accused him of gross' extravagance—said ho tad been to .the theatro and bought tho ladies of the party 50s. worth, of chocolates, whereas ho had not bought a shilling's worth. Ho was accused of having an office, tho furniture of which was worth He had it valued, and found it was valued at JBIOO. Ho and Mr. Massby, it was' alleged, had dined at tho Ritz in London, and it had cost them between .£lO and .211 each. It was nauseating to hear such nonsense talked and to know that there wore silly people who actually believed it, particularly in view of tho times they were going through. Sir Joseph Ward spoke strongly regarding Samoa. Our boys had taken tho place from the Germans, and so far as they wero concerned it was never going back to them. It was absolutely imperative that Mr. Massey and ho Bhould go Home, if it was only to voice tho wishes of a free and independent people in that country. If the British authorities wero weak enough to concede what was an integral part of their possessions in tho Pacific, they would creato for tho enemy a coaling and wireless station, a submarine base, and a basis of future trouble. (Applause.) Their business was to see that tho flag their boys had planted there -flew for all time to come. What did it matter to them (tha speaker and Mr. Massey) if they stayed hero or went to England? It was their duty to go to tho heart of tho Empiro and sco that, as far as we in tho Southern Pacific wero concerned, it was kept boating in the right way, for they must have a fair basis on which to work out their own destinies to the greatest possible, advantage On trade matters it must be their endeavour to I pnsuro that when the war is over Pv\lish statesmen would not permit Parliament to make Great Britain and her I Dominions a dumping-ground for tho surplus goods of enemy countries in order to under-cut their own people. If they were going to allow that sort of thing again there was going to bo a great light. At Iho same time they must do (heir best to retain their trade with tho United States, which ns a great military and sea Power was going to tell a tale m tho future of the world. (Applause.) In tho future England must ] not only co-operate, but must listen. In the past sho had not listened. JTor statesmen wero so strong and masterful in their viowii. Mint there were no preparations for tho war to meet the avalanche winch was threatening (o sweep over and take charge of her; but I hey (the enemy) never could win against the intrepidity and deathless courage of our troops, who would win out in tho end, however far off that end might be. (Applause,)