A SPIRITED ADDRESS. (From Our Own Correspondent )

Otago Witness, Issue 2814, 19 February 1908, Page 31

A SPIRITED ADDRESS. (From Our Own Correspondent )

WAIHI, February 13

Sir Joseph Ward touched briefly upon the mining industry in an address at \\ aikmo this afternoon. He said that, it had now attained a position only second to two otkers, which had to be loined together to give them first place. Referring to the fact that last year's gold returns were Ices by about £250.000 than the previous year, he said that it was due not to the fact that our ore or alluvial products were diminishing, but to the fact that a great many of the dredges in the count ry which, formerly produced considerable gold had ceased to be payable, and stopped operations. There was no indication of the value of the mining industiy falling off. On the contrary, he believed that not only for the present, but for year« to come, thit country would eotitinue to add to its gold production, and so to the wealth of the Dominion ac a whole. He had alwajs felt that the great minim? industry should be assisted in oerv way possible to make more progress and increase in value. Sir Joseph went on to pay a tribute to the very valuable work done by the late Premier. Mr Seddon had never failed to keep the interest* of the mining industry to tho forefront, and his own desire was to follow in his footsteps in. that respect, and do all that was possible to make mining conditions better and to assist in the development of the mining industry generally. He made reference to tho trouble in which recently the coal miners at Denniston were involved in connection with a decision of the Arbitration* Court. He and the Minitter of Labour met 440 of the Denniston minere, and had a fair and square talk, with the result that, though the difficulty had originally beea acute, it was all settled before he and Mr Millar had left the room. This was the outcome of the common sense of the miners themselves. Next session the flaw in tho clause of the act that had caused this trouble (the bank to bank clause) would be dealt with so- as io give effect to what was intended originally. In tho course of his address this evening at Waihi the Prime Minister referred to the value to the country of Ministerial tours through the Dominion, and stated that he and his colleagues would always keep in close touch in this way with the people. ITe save a retrospective review of the work of tho pre^nt Administration, particularly devoiing attention to the acts placed upon the Statute Books last session. As the result of one of these, the Urewera country was to be thrown open in a week or two, and would be available then for the purpose of prospecting for gold and coal. This was a portion of the country where there must be hidden minerals. He claimed that the act introduced requiring Chines© to pass an education test was a better method than increasing rhe poll tax would have boen. Some «i : d ihat it should ha^e been increased to -£500. — (A "Voice: "It or.jrht to have been a thousand." — Laughter and applause.) The poll tax, if increased, would ~tiU be raid. a«= it was now, by wealthy Chinamen, wth tho result that thn Chinese coming heio had to remain until they had pa>d off the amount of the poll tax to him who had advanced it. Therefore, if it weio inorea-pd to £1000 wo should have to keep the Chinamen here till uidement day. — (Laughter and applause.) W T ith the education t*»«t, however, there, was no getting m without a knowledge of English, and even a bribe of £1000 could not sive thorn that We oifht nnt to allow the Ohine=e to come info New Zealand afc all. Thnt was hi« opinion. — (Loud apnlaijse ) D'j-cu.-mii^ the in'iiing industry. Sir ,To=ei)h said tbat thrmsrh the sro'd export* for 1907 t-howej a <]ccron~,o as comparedwith 1906. the results for Janu.irv. 1908, showed an increase of more than double the amount for January, 1907. Again, though there was this decrease for the whole colony lflit year, the Auckland province showed an increase of over £80.000 All our gold min-itig areas wore not Wailns or Karangaliakes. because tho permanency of those fields did not exist in certain other portions. In all other countries could he found the wrecks of what had been nourishing townships, but in Now Zealand what was going on in connection with tho wonderful continuation of the export of gold? There was transposition and transformation to consider, and these wove natural, though they n-ould not come in Waihi en account of tho certainty that ' there was there of / a continuance of the possibility of taking gold from tho quartz. Still the Govprnment must make provision for miners who would be affected by the working out of niinofi by making lands available for them, on which they could end their (lavs in peace and happiness. — • (Applause ) This matter was well in hand on the part of the Government. It was a< system that ought to be carried out in the northern province. Railways occupied a portion of the Prime Minister's speech hero to-night. He stated that since he first held office- as Minister after the Government resumed control of the railways,_ the concession's given back to the people in the 6hape of fares, season and annual tickets, etc., amounted to £850,000, including £500,000 to the agricultural and pastoral community, whilst the increased pay to employees dur« ing the earn© period totalled £375,000 pei annum. This mad« a total of concessions amounting to £2,108,000. Some of the Government's opponents said that & terrible Bum had been spent on the Dunedin Rail-

■».„.. .....non. r JLL 6 was altogether misleading, rvojue even suggested that a huge fortune had been spent there, which wa-s absurd. The Government's critics do not take the cost of the station only. but of the remaking of the railway yards, sidings, and tracks that had to be made on account of the position of the station, and they added the cost of all these together and eaid that was the amount the Government was spending on the station. That was unfair. Whatever the Government did in future in the direction of erecting stations. post offices, or public buildings, it was going to avoid the m.6tal:es of its predecessors, who put up buildings that had to be rebuilt two or thiee time's, because in building them originally they did not look ahead. In Dunedin 23 years ago the foundation of a station had been laid which it was intended to erect, buc that station was not built, and tor many years an old ramshackle building had remained to do service there. When the Government did build a new station it certainly built one that would not have to he r-i'lled down in 10 years or so. and that, he added, is what we will do in coniicc.iO'i wirh all futnie buildings of the scrr. We will so erect them aleo that any future additions that may be required can be carripd out in a consecutive way. Was it fair, when they acted on this principle, for people to come along and say thc3* had been extravagant. He noticed that the people that did say these things were the very ones who, ?o far as their own districts were concerned, cried out for the very finest buildings the Government could pobsibly give them. . VISIT 10 THAMES. INSPECTION OF DRAINAGE WORKS, j (From Oub Own Cohh.espont>ent ) THAMES. February 14. The Prime Minister and Lady Waid, accompanied by Measrs 11. Poland and 11. J. Greenslade. M.P."o reached Thames by motor fiom Waihi this afternoon. At | every township along the route they vvoie received by the settlers and town.spPopU 1 . who greeted Sn Joseph enthusia^rioalU . He had to listen to many local wante. none of any wide impoitance. On arrival here the party was met by the Mayor (Mr A. Burns). Mr J. Bagna!! (ohairman of the Count y Council), and ; members of both local bodies, and was formally welcomed. The whole of the I afternoon was occupied by a tiip by launch I up the Piako River in order that the Piime Miirfjter might gain some idea of the ' nararo of the lands in the Piako Plum-, \ and inspect a portion of the drainage works. A landing wa's effected at two places. j From what could be seen anil what was f gathered from authoritative sources, it would appear that since the woik of draining the Piako Plains was commenced in October last a. great improvement has been effected, and that the day of winch Sir George Grey dreamed — the day vigßen this large area should teem with smiling honie6 and fields of waving grain— is approaching. Much ha« been done" in the direction of j clearing the Piako and Awaiti Rivers of i logs and other obstacles to their flow, such j ofl the removal of willows that were choking the course of the streams at the bank- | sides. These means of congestion, so in- { etrumentaj in preventing the flood waters , from coming off tho Piako Plains, are now I being steadily got rid of. Mr W C Breakeil (

(engineer in charge of the woik = ) ha>s now about 14 miles of surface drains made, ranging in width up to 10ft ai.d in depth to 3ft and 4ft. One effect of the=o drains ha* already been to make available considerable aiea« of flax which, formerly standing in stagnant watei. vw counted, but i» now to be teen flourishing in \.iiiou.=tages of growth, and forming as it stands 1 a valuable asset. Under favouiable conditions and providing that pioper progress continues to bo made with the d'ainage 1 of the plain*. Mr Breakeil consider? it fjime likely that there will bo Miftitieiit flax on the area to keep 30 or 40 fia-xmilU at v.oik theie in tlu'ee jeaiV time. At the present time there are 130 men eniplovcd m cutting the 17 or 18 surface diam-> being foimed. In the course of two month* it i<- expected , that two speciallv-conoti licit d diedge= will ' be on the spot in connection with the pail of the scheme that involves the diet'aing out arid cutting of a c«iv' from the luncfion of the two rivoi- at Maukoro inland to an outlet at "Wanaka urn. 15^ mi'es j a way. Thi» will bp pioceeded with hhoitiv. j According to Mi Breakeil it will be ((into , possible to have anything up to 10 000 acres of the Piako Plains drained and } ready for •.erlloment a. year fiom date. At the picsent rate of progress and provided that the Government continues its I piesent policy of giving him «veiv facility jto carry out the work speedily and [ thoroughly, it should be finished in about | four y ears' time. There is an area of from 1 150.000 to 200,000 acres on the Piako Plains which will be benefited by the drainage I and so made available for settleis. The ' Government-owned area, io 96,000 acres. The land drained is equal in quality to an area which Mr Breakeil drained on the j Wairoa River at Raupo, and which is now worth over £20 per acre. It will thus be seen how valuable an asset to the country this swamp land promises to become. The opinion is freely expressed, both here at tho Thames and in the Ohinemuri district, that the area will be the most valuable the | Government possesses Very optimistic 1 views are also held as to the effect of the of the lamK. narticulailv upon ibe Thames — its neaie-t town and poit. Judging from the way the woik is proceeding at present tho Gove •nment i-. evidently disposed to push on with it. At present the drains are taking the water into the Piako and Awaiti Riveis. but the cv entua l 1 outlet will be by wa\ of the bitr ranal. and | Waitakaruiu should m the futuie become i an important place. 1 As to how the '■ilting of the Ohinemuri River affects the Piako diainage question. ■ it may be stated that it causes the nvei to 1 overflow on to the Aviaiti Swamp and consequently the Piako River has at mvj sent too much to do in carrj insr ofl this ' overflow. Whoie the diain£i<re woik* «ie in p rogues i~ in tho Waitoa County. some ' ni'les away from the Piako Swamp, near Alorrinsvillc, over which the Waikato lailway, passe=. and with which the Piako Plains are often confused. It is considered that the Government should pur- j chase certain Native lands which now r-ridiron the Piako Plains and thus make the block on the west side of the liver solid.

By way of change, the Thames people showed no anxiety to wait upon the Prime Minister in connection with local affaiis. Theie were therefor© no deputations. Instead of the public address in the Miners' Hall onginally arranged for the evening, theie w as -substituted a moonlight reception

in the Victoria Ro-oi-ve, which waa illuminated for the occasion. Here a crowd so larae that no Kill in the place could have held it gathered mound the band rotunda.

The Mayor introduced Sir Joseph, who spoke on various suhjects tor iuet o\er an hour. He road a telegram from the Hon. JaiiH 1 * jU't-iowan expressing 1 egret at his unn\oidabie alienee. He tlion reviewed , tho facr? as alieadv given le^arc'ung tlie I Piako Plains, which, he said, should be ' known as tho Hauraki Plains, if only to di-tingu'sh them from the portion of the I Piako Slwamp that had brought trouble some veins ago upon certain people who had tried to bring it into a conditions for cultivation. He recalled the fact that Sir George Giey, when lie predicted what ! mieht lake place with regard to the«e plain-., was ridiculed. The position to-rlav. however, showed that his predictions were about to be fulfilled. Already there was evidence that what at one time was belip\ od to be almost was-te territory would be capable in a comparatively short, time of takinj? settler* and enabling them to establish t'ood hornet and earn sood livings on it. The expenditure to date on (he drainajre of the plains was between £3000 and £4000. and it would only be a short time before the land would be a< good for producing puipo«c=; a* any other in the country. He retailed the facts given rotating to the area of the new plain, and the probable throwing open of several thousand acres before lone;. Nothing, he said was more important to the busine=s men in our town*? than to have the population put upon tho land for tho sake of production, and so increase the volume of our exports. New Zealand was especially a producing country. though in the towns and cities our industries were beinjr built up side by side with our products. It was to exportation that, we looked to a large extent for a return of moneys from the Old Land to provide an increasing amount of work for our people. If we wanted that work we must make provision for the increased productiveness of our land. This led Sir Joseph to 6peak for a while upon the question of a preferential tariff. In other countries, he said, there was a hia;h protective barrier against us. If we tried to get some of our products into those countries we should find that out. They in turn entered into Rreat commercial treaties with overpowering nations, but in New Zealand we were in the extraordinary position of finding our own beloved Old C'ountrv standing to traditions that had made it po in for a Freetrade policy for years. He was not leferrina to thi-s matter with an jdea of being so presumptuous as to tell them at Home how to govern the Old C'oiintiv, but merely to show that v\ p realised out here that there really was a bar against us from Germany. France Italy. Aiistrin. and. indeed, fiom ulmo=t rho whole of them, because we did the larger part of our trade nnh (ho Old Country. The Government of the Dominion moreover, was anxious to mould pubho opinion to the extent of saving that there should be some system of preferential trading between tho peoples of the British Empire and her colonies and ourselves. — (Applause.) If we could coorjerate with our kinsmen in Canada and Australia for the purpose of having an exchange on a preferential system fair to each other it would give a great impetus, to our country, and would be particularly beneficial to those of our produceis and settlers who had gone into the interior.

Speaking on the mining industry at Thames, Sir Joseph Ward said that in tho diet nut named they had suffered many v icissitudes and fluctuations, aS" was so ofton tho case in connection with the particular industiy. In the pa«t whenever a mine produced an excessively rich lode it roo often happened that it gave out cnt'rclv appal ontlv there having been a concentration of vi'luo. At the Thames they ouprhf not to abandon hopefulness. — (A Voice: '' "Wo don't.") Ho referred to the educative influence on the industry f\erci«ed by tho loc.il School of Mines, and paid that he considered the Thames had a futuie of urcit possibilit ies. though, of couree. in mining there was always a certain amount of doubt. He knew that up to now t!.o Government had very readih helped the mining indn-tiv in the? country. e\eii in cases whore there had existed doubt., in order to r-e sine what was to be found underground in eeitain places. The same policy would go on in future in order to ensure not only hope, but success in certain portions of the Dominion. — (Applaud.)

The re~t of his speech Sir .Tcs c ph devotod to subjects alicadv dealt with in p'-micnw addresses. At it-, close he was accorded a vote of thanks and a vote of confidence in the Government.

There followed a =ocial in the Minors' T T nion Hall, at which the Prune Minister was the truest of the Boroujrh Council.

VI^IT TO HAMILTON. HAMILTON. February 17. 'me Prime Minister is in Hamilton tod.iv. He opened the Carnegie Library,

and was

entertained at

a garden party

i at the Lake Reserve. He also visited the p hospital and inspected the new buildings, j> J which will cost £15.000. In the evening > j he received deputations.