The Feilding Star. SATURDAY, APRIL 23, 1892. The Visit of the Premier

Feilding Star, Volume XIII, Issue 127, 23 April 1892, Page 2

The Feilding Star. SATURDAY, APRIL 23, 1892. The Visit of the Premier

• The Hon John Ballance arrived in Feilding by the mail train on Thursday afternoon, and was met at the railway station by the Reception Com- \ mittee. After lunch he was shown over Messrs Cobbe and Darragh's new brick store and he congratulated the proprietors on their enterprise. He then visited the Feilding Stak office and whs much pleased with it. He afterwards inspected the Oval Sports ground and the race couz-se, and passed favourable comments on both. He was particularly struck with the splendid race cource, and the admirable arrangements made for the convenience of visitors. In the evening he spoke in the Assembly Rooms, and received j a welcome which, he said, was one of the most agreeable he had ever experienced in his life. Yesterday Mr T. R. Taylor drove Mr Ballance to Birmingham in order that he might form a j correct idea of the wonderful progress j this part of the colony is making in I the direction of settlement. He confessed that he had no idea this was such a grand country, where so many industrious and capable settlers had gone quietly to work and overcome the difficulties of clearing off the dense bush, stocking the land, making such splendid roads, and building handsome and commodious residences. With such a guide as Mr Taylor, who, from the fact of his having been Chairman of I the Kiwitea Road Board for so many years, possesses, perhaps, more local knowledge than any other man in the district, Mr Ballance would receive the most accurate and valuable information on all subjects connected therewith. What surprised Mr Ballance was that so little was known of this part of the Colony by people living in other parts. Tbat is easily explained The settlers have been so engaged in

working hard to make homes for themselves, that they could not spare the time to let outsiders know -what ,they were doing. Still the steady stream of new people coming on to the land, from other parts of the Colony, which they are purchasing from the older settlers while the latter, in their turn, are again taking up new blocks j farther back, and the increase of population as shown by /the last census returns, prove conclusively that this place is known to some extent among a most desirable class. Mr Ballance was altogether delighted with his visit, and there is no doubt that the information he now possesses as to the capabilities of this district will have good results when the occasion offers for him to use it. In our next issue we will refer to certain points of Mr Ballauce's speech.