The Feilding Star. SATURDAY, MAY 15, 1886. The Governor's Speech

Feilding Star, Volume VII, Issue 144, 15 May 1886, Page 2

The Feilding Star. SATURDAY, MAY 15, 1886. The Governor's Speech

Ths vice-regal speech delivered at the •pening of Parliament on Thursday last, is, in a great degree, inspiriting, and calculated to incite the colonists to make new efforts to remove the present commercial depression, which has had such a paralysing effect on enterprise for so many months. The large areas ef native lands to be thrown open for settlement will cause immense sums of money to be put in circulation by the native vendors. The progress of the Northern Trunk Railway, with the consequent expenditure of public money, will also tend to the same beneficial result. His Excellency, said we were suffering from the depression that appears to prevail throughout the world, but which is affecting us much less than other countries, because of our great resources. Ministers were of opinion that the depression ought to lead the settlers to greater exertion. We do not dispute the truth of this aphorism, butasthe majority of farmers and others depending on agriculture for their livelihood, have almost given up hope of a change from absolute loss on their labors, to a period when they can make a profit on their produce, they naturally have not much heart to begin new enterprises. The immediate prospect, then, of better times, as foreshadowed by His Excellency, with the certainty that the cheerful picture is not overdrawn, will have a beneficial result, by encouraging activity in every kind of business pursuit. Public confidence will be restored, and money now tied up mere usefully employed in a hundred different ways. The policy of the Government will be to encourage local industries, to afford abundant occupation to the people. Settlement will be encouraged by liberal land laws, and local bodies placed in a position te open roads and do other useful work.