A POLITICAL SPEECH.

King Country Chronicle, Volume VII, Issue 562, 26 April 1913, Page 5

A POLITICAL SPEECH.

LAND SETTLEMENT AND FINANCE. The Prime Minister delivered a political address in the Ohura Hall on Thursday night. There was a large attendance, and the speaker received an excellent reception. Dealing with question 3 of finance, he said that had it not been for the falling off in the gold export, last year would have proved a record. He expected that the surplus would be £600,000, from which he would set apart £500,000 for public works. The people in the King Country were devoting the best years of their life to development, and there was no cutting down of loan money to that and districts similarly situated., He referred to the old Loans to Local Bodies Act, by which money could be had for 3J per cent. This was unfortunatley abolished in favour rf a hug? 'cVme by which wealthy local bodies had huge sums let to them, and heavy commitments made. Provisions were mad« to lend the- £675,000, and to meet them theito v.-l.b only £17,000. 11.'.s money

had been promised at a lower rate of interest than the one at which it could be borrowed. The Government had introduced the limitation of advances. He criticised the short-dated loans of former ministries, which, he said, amounted to ten millions. This money had to be found, in addition to that for ordinary purposes. He hoped no future Government would raise money by such means. In dealing with the land question, he claimed that the Government had kept its pledge to give the settlers the absolute tenure, and outlined the facilities given to tenants for acquiring the freehold. He said he intended to give the leaae-in-perpetuity tenants the same opportunity of acquiring the freehold that had been given the others on the land purchased for settlement. In consequence of the graduated laud tax, a very satisfactory sub- I division of land was going on. There were cases where aggregation was desirable, that is where holdings were too small to support the occupiers, bat he would set his face against aggregation of an improper kind. Briefly touching upon the defence question, the Primf) Minister said he d ? d not propose increasing the expenditure, but enough was not being done for naval defence. Part of Mr Allen's business in England was in connection with naval defence. It would be for New Zealand to consider, in the near future, what it would do in connection with naval defence. He said the present Government had taken the people into its confidence, had restored the credit of the country, had rendered the finances of the country stable, and he hoped that before long the present limitation of advances for various purposes would be removed.

Mr C. K. Wilson, in following, paid a warm tribute to the Prime Minister and his colleagues. The evening's proceedings closed with a banquet, largely attended by the settlers.