THE PREMIER’S VISIT.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXV, Issue 73, 3 April 1913, Page 2

THE PREMIER’S VISIT.

MINISTERS BANQUETTED. A LARGE AND REPRESENTATIVE GATHERING. INTERESTING SPEECHES.

The banquet tendered to the Hon. the Premier (Mr W. E. Massey) and the Hon. the Minister for Public Works (Mr W. Fraser) by the Stratford Borough Council, Cotrnty Council, and Chamber of Commerce was in every way a highly successful function, reflecting credit on all concerned, and the Town Hall last night was well filled. The Mayor (Mr W. P. Kirkwood) made a very efficient chairman, the speeches proved interesting, and the musical programme was excellent. A splendid spread was provided by the caterer, Mrs M. H. Brooking. Apologies for absence were read from the Hon. 0. Samuel, Hon. T. Kelly, Messrs Newton King, A. W. Budge, and T. R. Anderson. The toast of “The King,” proposed by the Chairman, was first duly honoured.

PARLIAMENT OF NEW ZEALAND

Dr. Paget, in proposing tho toast of the Parliament of Now Zealand, said it was represented by a body of men noted for their solid work. Mr Massey, in the class of members in the House, was to be congratulated. (Applause.) It appeared to him (the speaker) that when the present Parliament, opened it somewhat resembled a game of “Rickety Ann.” (Laughter.) There had been a “Rickety Ann” amongst them which it was realised it would be well to get rid of, and ho believed this had been done by Parliament. It was to be hoped the present Government would remain in office for many years. It compared very favourably with any Parliament in the world. (Applause.) Their life should be lengthened he considered, and the time was not far distant when he hoped they would see the period of Parliament extended from the present term of 'three years to at least a five years’ duration. In tho speaker’s opinion, a short-lived Parliartient was detrimental to tho* interests of a 1 cJuritry, for three reasons, viz., in the first year members were able only to‘get into harness; in the second term, they did a little' work; while in the last year, they were all the time wondering whether they would be kicked but at the coming elections -or whether they would get back again. An extended,sand continuous amount of work 1 idded to ! -the dignity of the proceedings, and ( again l (said Dr. Paget), he hoped to' see Parliamentary service extended to five years. (Applause.) Mr rJ. B. Hine, M.P., r , in, reply thanked the proposer • of the toast for the very generous way in which ho had treated them.! As parliamentarians, they did thjeir best, though it was probably 1 lick very much. The people of New Zealand, taken as a whole, was generous in its treatment of politicians, and Was also imbued with commonsense. It was this common sense that was also expected of parliamentarians and provided that quality was there, the high 'level of the past -Parliament would continue to obtain. He thought on occasions like this members of local bodies ought not to be backward in deajing with what they think should he the keynote of Parliamentary life. .After all, the members, although in *an exalted position, were but representatives of constituencies. Turning to finance, Mr Hine said it was a great pity that a spoke should have had to be put in the wheel, and spending temporarily stopped,i hut he thought the people would look back on this time, and realise that the Parliament of the day was doing all that they considered proper in putting the finances on a sound footing, and that they had done a great deal for the little time they had been in Parliament. (Applause) Mr Okey, M.P., in reply, said that if ever a man was entitled to lead Parliament, that man was the Prime Minister. (Loud applause.) The country little realised what Mr Massey had had to go through before ho won the position. “Ho holds it at the present time,” said Mr Okey amid applause. Only a few years ago when there was a small party around Mr Massey, they felt that it was useless to continue the party system any longer; but, he said, “No; we’ll bang on; though I am the last man left; we’ll keep the flag flying.” (Applause.) Ho did wo until tho people rallied round him and sent men to support him. The speaker pointing to the Prime Minister said “And ho is there”. (Loud applause.) It was said the morning tho Mackenzie Government went out that it was only for a short time. But they had had labour conferences who .said “Massey must go;” and “Rickety” Russell said: “We must got rid of them at any cost.” It was all to no purpose, and he might be there for the next 20 years, although the speaker himself did not want him there for that time, as ho thought it was a mistake for any party to he in office for so long a period. He hoped that in their work they would benefit the country. ( Applause.) It was bis opinion that they were in for a bad time; that was generally admitted. Though many of the settlers had had bad losses, they did not try to make them all up during the first year. He hoped the Treasurer and the Minister of Public Works were not going to say: “T am going to pay up all the losses before I can lot yon have any assistance for the backblocks.” Raid

Mr Okey: “I don’t want that.” Continuing, he said there was a progressive party behind the Government. (Hear, hear). Ho was convinced they were going to see progress in their steps. But local bodies must have money. One of the Government’s departments was the lending of money to farmers, and up to the present an amount about equal to twenty millions had been distributed. While -the Government had been lending that money, a lot of other capital had been drifting out of the Dominion, and now they found that they were not in a position to lend to small fanners at 4 J per cent; and there was - a shortage of money. There was great trouble to get money, but they must get it. That was the feeling of the Prime Minister and the Minister of Finance. Mr Okey said he was quite satisfied the Government must open up the country and increase the exports, as that was the only way to build up a country. Hang up the exports, and it was bad business for everyone, but they were going to pull the country right. (Hear, hear.) H it had not been for the revenue they would have been “in the soup” until they were able to go to the money market and get the money to lend to farmers and local bodies, so as to make roads. Ho maintained there was no better measure to open up the roads than the loans to local bodies Act. In conclusion, Mr Okey said they must find the money even if they had to charge a little more for it. (Applause.) Mr G. V. Pearce, M.P. (Patca) was the next to reply. Speaking in lighter vein, Mr Pearce remarked that the: proposer of the toast had advocated the riddance of “Rickety Ann;” they wanted to get rid of “Rickety” Russell, and ho thought the next election would do it all right. (Laughter). Continuing, Mr Pearce said he quite endorsed the remarks of the previous speakef with reference to their Leader, who was in every respect the right man in the right place. (Applause.) Personally, he wished to thank Mr Masseyvery much for coming up to Taranaki province, also the Minister for Public Works. He hoped they would have a good look at the province, for there was no doubt it would stand' looking at. (Laughter.) This visit must do good, and the Ministers would certainly learn something, if only it was how to make' butter. Mr Pearce continued that Ministers and even ordinary members of Parliament, had a hard row to hoe I .'At election time they were first asked to stand, they could not sit down, 'and of course, could not lie. (Laughter.) Speaking of the length of 'time' for which Members were elected, Mr Pearce said he Agreed yvitli Hr. Paget in this re'speit, dnd he hirasplf had advocated on the platform extending the term' to foulyears.: As i regards' the expenditure of bbi|rpwec( mpjiiey, lie noiiced that Mr Okey was always in trouble in this respect. Presumably the money was all sunk in “those wells,” and 'he only*hoped irw'dlild'cmnd up again in due course. (Laughter.) Mr Pearce said he would like to point out to this asseni,Biy Ithat th'C reason why a stop had'beelV 1 put to-ex-penditure of public; 'moneyl/ ’whs due to the committments’ made iiy* previous Government's! " ■ Mdnfejf had Iffien loaned in large sums ' to cityelectorates, to harbour boards,' and to such bodies who could have g'dne upon the London markets for their loans, while small local bodies could not do so. In conclusion, - Mr Pearce - continued that the party in' power fully recognised the need for the development of the country, and the consequent increase in production. (Applause.) Mr C. A. Wilkinson, M.P., said it afforded him, verygreat pleasure to respond to the toast. As to the remark by the proposer of the toast that in the second year members of Parliament did a little work, ho considered, judging from his slight experience of Parliament, that it was heavy'work.' Had they seen' Mr Massey struggling with the Land Bill, they would know it was not light work. Day after day, and night after night, he had striven to put that very important piece of legislation on the Statute Book. Land settlement was most important to the country; they must have close settlement of land which was a thing any Ministry must give full precedence to. Every member of the Cabinet lyas not behind in holding that opinion too. They required no evidence hut that of Taranaki to prove that the whole of New Zealand should be settled in the manner that this very flourishing part of the country was to bo seen. (Applause.) In his visit through Canada, said Mr Wilkinson, ho found money was booming, as much as 7 or 8 per cent, and up to 15 per cent, being obtained. It was surprising to find the amount of ignorance prevailing regarding New Zealand. When, on one occasion, he stated be had come from New Zealand, the reply was: “A very fine town, New Zealand!” They did not know New Zealand was a country, and lie had to inform them of the fact that it was so, and that it was a country of which ho was very pleased and, indeed, proud, to belong to. (Applause.» He did not quite agree with those people who said “Borrow, borrow, borrow!” One statesman had omitted to borrow, and they seemed to have got along all right. He believed they should do with a little less borrowing and pay a little more and have the host possible out of it. He paid taxes, amounting to some hundreds of pounds each year, and lie always felt that the amount was not wasted, hut was being used for the good of the country, and was put into circulation among the people. As to the Opunako railway lino, Mr Wilkinson reminded his hearers that other districts had claims for the route ns I well as they had, and ho hoped that

they would admit that 'the claims were as fair as their own. As to the Ongarue-Stratford, that was a different matter altogether. The whole of the people of Taranaki would assist in pushing through the line, as it was certainly of most importance of, any railway in New Zealand and should be built without delay. (Applause.) Mr Wilkinson referred briefly to his position as representative for Stratford on the New Plymouth Harbor Board and said he hoped to be in a position to help them in the future as ho had done in the past. New Plymouth Harbour, he said, must be the harbour of the province of Taranani. With all due respect to his friend, Mr Pearce, he believed that its future would be a great one. (Applause.) A great factor in the development of the province would be the port of New Plymouth, from where their produce would go forth to the countries of the world and whence would come their imports of all descriptions. It was their duty to build up the port. (Applause.) DAIRYING AND FARMING INDUSTRY.

Mr J. B. Richards proposed tiro toast of .the dairying and farming industries. As a member of the Chamber of Commerce, Mr Richards said it gave the Chamber great pleasure to entertain the Ministers on this occasion The Dairying and Farming interests, ho said, were, necessarily to bo studied, since they represented so largo a proportion of our exports, and on those exports was based the prosperity of the Dominion. It was oi great importance that the interests of the rural population should be studied, and the promotion of settlement given attention to. The rural population as a rule were self-dependent, self-reliant, and always a tower of strength to a nation whether it he in time of peace or in time of war. (Applause.) The speaker referred especially to the great work of the pioneers, a race of heroes, and men of whom we would be proud. (Applause.) These men ou the land, were, as ho had said, ready to help themselves, and were prepared to lay burdens on their shoulders. In the development ol this province, they had not been afraid of burdening themselves with rates. Mr Richards quoted a statement of the of the province for past years and said that the increase was a health} 7 and likely to be much larger in the future, with prosperous times obtaining. Ihe maximum of production, however, was by no means reached, and much could bo done in this respect by improved labour ppnditions. Efficient labour was in great demand, and dairying prospects would benefit largely if' that demand were satisfied. (Applause.)

'Mr 18.. Di,ngle, in the Course of a short j-eply, ,?aid he was often struck with' the siniij,aji;ity.pf the positions of the Massey party and that of Mother Hubbard, of the old nursery rhyme, who went to the cupboard to get her poor doggie a bone, but when she got there the cupboard was bare and then the poor doggie got none. The Government cupboard was/ bare, too, although thpy, were willing to meet the wants of. the people., “We, don’t want bone,” said Mr Dingle, “we want something on the bone.” (Loud laughter.) The question of the supply of labour was exercising the minds of the farmer at the present time, he continued.. More men and boys were required to assist to milk the cows. In regard to the member for Patea’s remarks about the work of an M.P., Mr Dingle stated that a farmer worked very much harder than ithey. (Laughter.) He worked from 4 a.m. until 8 p.m., and should have all the assistance possible. The people of the district particularly wanted the model farm so well solicited that afternoon. (Applause.) Mr W. M. Stevenson also briefly 'replied, and referred to the disabilities under which the farming commuiu ity laboured in regard to assistance; Ho hoped it would shortly ho raith gated. The prosperity was due to a largo extent to the work of the small dairyman. He had no hesitation in conveying to Mr Massey and the members of his Government the message that the small dairy farfticr had every confidence in them. (Applause.) q LOCAL BODIES. i

Mr W. G. Malone proposed tin? toast of tho Local Bodies, in all sincerity, alleging it was the most important toast of tho evening. The toast of the of New Zealand he would not except, since it was a party Government that was so honoured. Though he meant no reflection on the members of Parliament ; the fact that they were representatives 'of a party Government was their misfortune rather than their faillt. l ln Ids opinion, tho greatest reform that lay in the power was tho abolition of that ceaseless struggling add wrangling, as well as useless 1 expenditure, incurred by the party system. In local bodies there was'no party. Since the beginning of lurid, the local bodies had been the backbone of this country, and tho speaker paid an eloquent tribute to the sterling work accomplished by the men who represented the ratepayers or) our public bodies. (Applause.) The Mayor of Stratford (Mr W. P. Kirkwood), replying, said if a man rl ’ wanted to know how crooked he was let him sit oii a local body. If Ik* wanted to know what a scoundrel lie was, let him enter Parliament. He made the remhrk that local government was a splendid training ground for Parliament, and went on to say that he regretted that many people in New Zealand neglected to give full consideration cfo men who gave up their time to slerivee nr. local bodies. Such men were euritled to all honour. (Applause.),'

1 Mr W. Hathaway (Chairman of ! tlio Stratford County Council) said tlioro could be no two opinions that the local bodies had done a great deal of work. He regretted that the i Navy had not been included in the j toast list and emphasised the importi anco of naval supremacy in safeguard- • ing our industries. Tlio reading I problem was next touched upon by Mr Hathaway, and he asked where would be our dairying industry to-dav if the roads were not constructed and the settlers had not burdened themselves with a debt approaching £132,- ' 000. The speaker went on to say that the prosperity of the country was not so great as appearances made out, this point being indicated by the | fact that the Stratford County Counj oil had this year collected £720, beI ing 10 per cent, on overdue rates. ] (Laughter.) Speaking of valuations, tiie speaker urged the appointment of practical men as valuators who were thoroughly competent to carry out the difficult tasks entrusted to them. In conclusion the speaker said he would like a pronouncement from the Minister for Public Works with regard to metal from the Egmont ‘ Quarries, tliis point not having been touched upon by the Minister when tlio deputation waited upon him. (Applause.)

Mr Athol Meredith (Chairman of the Whangamomona County Council), as a backblock’s representative., said that the district he represented must have money; everything depended upon their roads, for whose construction money must be obtained at all costs. And as regards cost, they were not particular what interest they paid. (Laughter.) If the present Government which would supply this financial needs they must get another Government which would suply this demand . (Applause and laughter.) “OUR GUESTS.” The chairman then proposed the toast of “Our Guests,” stating that this was the first official visit to Taranaki of the Premier and his colleague, the Hon. Minister for Public Works. The settlers had therefore thought it fitting to combine in welcoming them to this district, and the banquet was in honour of our visitors. He recognised that there were times when the people of New Zealand could afford to take their politics more seriously. Referring to the business of the afteinoon, Mr Kirkwood said ho was optimistic that some material good would result therefrom. • 'And lie believed that the Opunake Railway would eventually be started from here. (Applause.) Referring to the remark made by Mr Richards that this was a poor district, he thpught that that was not so, The people here were much too independent for that. l (Applause.’) Although they were not individually wealthy, there was a limit to the j amount of taxation that pedple in such a district could afford to pay. That limit he felh was List approaching. Mr Kirkwood went on to refer to the excessive cost of road making in this district, and said that this fact could be judged from the cost of road-making, which was somewhere in the vicinity of two thousand pounds per mile. In order to make ptopei progress with the roads, the people of this district must have assistance fioiri the Government. Touching afeain upon the visit of the Ministers, Mr Kirkwood said he very much regretted ; that their stay in Stratford district |was so brief. (Applause.) MR MASSEY’S REPLY.

The Premier, who was greeted with .rounds of' continuous applause, pie .faced his remarks by thanking those present for the very cordial reception tendered to both himself and the HonMjAister for Public Works. As His Wpiwhip had indicated, this was not byvvany means his first visit to laianakii, As a private member he had visiteji this province and had had a hea tty reception; as leader of the Opposition he had visited Taranaki, and lUuid been heartily received, and now dm was proud that his reception as Premier had been none the less heartyi,, (Applause.) His presence in Stratford that evening was the fula promise that ho and his colleague would pay the province a visit, move especially to personally inspect thbi country through which the Opunakee railway would run. The visit was-partly for pleasure and partly for business. That day they had made a drip into the hinterland of Taranaki,, and they had met some of the worthy'pioneer settlers, and found possibilities'iof further settlement, to an extent of which they had never dreamed. VHo would say this thao the people oftTaranaki had developed, and were fostering the great dairying industry to such an extent, that '1 aranaki had nothing to learn from any I other part of New Zealand so far as 1 this industry \was concerned. Before ho went any further, however, ho wished to thank (the members of the local bodies 'for the kind thought which had prompted this representative function. Ho had been told that I there were men connected with this I function who were .political oppon-

cuts of the party which he had the honour to lead, and to these men especially ho would like' to extend his very hearty thanks, his political

opponents, ho would quote scripture and say, “There is joy. of evciy sinner that repenteth.” Arid ho hoped that they would repent before it was too late. (Laughter.) !( _ . _ Mr Massey continued that his friend Mr W. G. Malone had hee» very hard on the party system. They knew that it was not perfect and that it had its difficulties, hut still no country in this world had been able ,to find a liettcr system. Ho would, \howcver, suggest a way to get rid of the party system, and that was to support the Government in power. (Applause.) Let there he one party. Support a good Government when they had the opportunity of supporting one. (Applause.) Mr Hathaway had touched upon a vital question, when he had

referred to the Navy. That speaker has asked what would bo the good of raising produce, and making roads, when our trade routes lay unprotected. Wo were proud and glad that there was in the other hemisphere a Navy belonging to Our Empire, a Navy I, ’which was capable of holding its own against the navy of any other Power, or even the navies of two Pow-

ers. That was the position at present. But looking at the matter from New Zealand’s standpoint, there was. at present no Navy in the Pacific. We had no Navy to protect or trade routes, to protect our coasts, and that was the position which had to be faced to-day, and before long people would have to think of it very seriously. Mr Massey went on to say that very soon a great battleship would be seen in our own waters. The programme had not been yet arranged, but ho promised, amid applause, that the Now Zealand should visit Taranaki, so that'the people of tins province might have an opportunity of seeing the vessel part of .which belonged to them, and in which ship they were directly concerned. The speaker continued that he was not going to touch on party politics, or reflect on his opponents—if indeed the present Government had any in Taranaki, and he thought these were very few. In this instance, he referred to the efforts of a Stratford correspondent to the New Zealand Times to discover a “mare’s nest” in a certain railway deal, but said that that “mare’s nest” had, when looked in-

to, been found to contain nothing. The present party, Mr Massey went on to say, had now been in office for nine months. Difficulties had been met with in every direction—difficulties of which his audience had heard, and difficulties of which nothing was known by them. There were, for instance, industrial difficulties, and he would like to point out that at this moment there was no strike in progress in New Zealand and no indications of one occurring. They . hoped that a better state of things would prevail in the future, and that a more friendly feeling would come to exist between employers and employees than had existed in time gone by. (Applause.) He noticed that the financial difficulties had been referred to by almost every speaker, and these were indeed very real difficulties. But the difficulty of the Government had not been with the ordinary, revenue of the country ; in fact, he thought it was a matter of congratulation that tlio country had been so prosperous during the past .year. And in this respect, he would like especially to congratulate Taranaki upon its prosperity. Everywhere they had travelled that day, they had seen evidence of prosperous tunes. Taranaki had had a .good seasonjj the graps had been good ; there was an abundance of feed, and price f s, |pr‘products high. ■ The province had contributed* largely to the prosperity of the 'tiomiiiion. Mr Massey stated further that he agreed with the suggestion that it would be a very good thing for the Dominion if two or three other provinces were subdivided and settled in the way thi,s. prosperous province had been d<p,no. (i Coming hack to finance, the Premier wptj.on to say that they bar} experienced no diffi-

culty so far a§ the revenue was concerned. The. financial year was not sufficiently advanced for him to state what the surplus would be ; but when ho was in a position to give this information, he thought he would be able to state that there would be a very substantial surplus, though not perhaps as large as the one of the previous year. Mr Massey pointed out that the country now borrowed for a great many other purposes than was the case in the past, when the London market was approached only for money for Public Works. To-day we borrowed for loans to local bodies, purchasing pf land for settlement, purchase of Native Lands, advances to settlers,, advances to workers, State coal mines, and many other proposals which in the aggregate made a very large sum. For all these moneys we had to go to'the London market. When a year came such as we were experiencing at present, money had to be allocated according to the importance of each proposal. But there were some proposals in connection with which they did not dare cut down expenditure. One of these was road making. Now, while they were cutting down expenditure in other directions, they had not cut down the expenditure in connection with the roads, and it would be found that when the public accounts appeared, more money would have been spent : on the roads than in the correspond- ’ ing period of the previous year. The point which ho desired to be specially 1 observed was that when the Government could not borrow the Governincut could not lend. Conditions on the London market to-day were very ' different from the conditions obtaining two years ago. Mr Allen’s mission t I k ... /i i 1

5 had been exceedingly successful, and i a loan had been floated at a fair rate of interest. When wo went again, 3 ho sincerely trusted that wo would be able to got more money at as low a s rate as Mr Allen had done. The position was full of difficulties. His audience would realise this when he told them that within the next two * years, ten million pounds of shorts dated debentures would have to he met. The system of raising shortdated debentures was, in his opinion, * as wasteful, unbusinesslike, and ex- * travagant, as it was possible to ims agine. Take that 4$ million loan 1 of last year. They would have to go 1 to the London market again, and raise ’ sufficient money to pay off the origir mil investors. He was not speaking 0 of any difficulty in meeting short- ) dated debentures in New Zealand, but a when they had to go on to the Lon--0 don market it was a very different thine. The investors in the loan he d K

had mentioned, had been getting ovei live per cent, for their money, and they (the investors) did not wish to renew. They were quite satisfied with the five per cent, they had had, and if the loan was going to bo renewed wo should probably have to give them five per cent, again. But the Government preferred to go on the open market and take its chances There was the Government’s difficulty, and it was that difficulty which hat; prevented them from raising th money which was urgently requireo for the development of the country. If any apology was needed for his going into this matter in detail, he woah say to his audience that it was bettor they should thoroughly understand the position. Mr Massey continuer that it was necessary for the whole o. the people of this country to bo exceedingly cautious. A paragraph hat been circulated in the press to tin effect that within the next few month:the financial people in London ex pected to see loans placed there ti the extent of one hundred millions. Everybody was looking to London for loans for different purposes. An in crease in the rate of interest, how ever, made it difficult for us to ge our share. In this country we wouk have to be exceedingly careful, am not only would this caution have t< be exercised by the Government, bul the same precautions would have t(

ho taken by local bodies and by pri vato individuals. The Government must be exceedingly careful to se that the money it raises in this wa; is properly spent, and that prope value for every shilling is received (Applause.) .Mr Massey then wen on to refer to an experience lie hat recently had in a southern elector ate, when the member for the district who was a political opponent, and win had said that he would give him (tin speaker) a policy, and that was tin increase of the exports from twenty two millions to thirty millions. Thi policy, Mr Massey said, he accepted Our exports must be increased, bu. to increase our exports we must havi more people settled on the land. Sub division must be encouraged, export must he increased in value as well a: in quantity, and the increased money got in return would fully pay us back-

To put people ou the land, however required money for roads, money fo advances to the settlers. To show that the Government had fully realised the necessity for settlement, tin Premier stated that within-the nex few weeks’ there would be opened uj for settlement in the Taranaki pro vince, from fifty to sixty thousand acres of Crown Lands. (Loud ap plause.) In addition there would In a further thirty thousand acres open ed up within the next few months. Thf Government was, moreover, pursuing the same policy throughout other pro Vinces in the Dominion. Ho beiiev ed that good had been done not onh for the districts concerned but for tin whole of the Dominion. (Applause.) The Premier then touched upon tin land question—the most importan question -of the day. During the fev months they had been in office, thee had changed the land policy of the Dominion from a leasehold to a treehold one: (Loud applause.) Ho be lieved they had done the right thing and, judging from the applause, In took it that his hearers agreed with him in this respect. The freehold g.ivO more encouragement to the settlers, and in doing this we were help ing not only the people in the conn try districts but the people in tin town as well. The benefits that wen conferred upon the settlers were bene fits conferred upon the residents oi the cities', for every man that went on the land, a living was provided foi a man in the city. One of the Government’s difficulties was that years ago a far greater proportion of tin population lived on the land. Unfortunately that was not the position to-day. The greater part of the peo pie at present lived in the cities and in the towns. It was a dangerou. position. All was well so long as the present prices for exports continued ■ but wo would have to ho very careful, seeing that should a slump tccur grave dangers would be created It was the duty of tlio present Government to turn the tide, and sene! the citizens into the' country, and b;>

tins means increase our products and hotter the country as a whole. Ii conclusion, the Premier touched upon the matter of land valuations. There was no doubt, he said, that tins was a burning question, there being a strong feeling that the harder a settler worked the higher became the taxations lie had to pay. Without going into the whole of the provisions of the Valuation Bill of last session, Mr Massey said that improvements were better exempted to-day than they had been during the last twenty years.' Ho instanced plantations and water races, as being exempt and referred especially to the fact that today improvements in the shape of roads were exempt from taxation, though this had never been the ease in the past. He was sure that the Bill would have a really good effect towards promoting the development of the primary industries of the country. (Applause.)

THE MINISTER OK PUBLIC WORKS. The Hon. Mr Fraser, in rising tn reply, met with an exceedingly sympathetically warm reception. He said Mr Massey was better known than he was, hut he had known some of then; before and had met others that day; and he hoped they would never I r strangers again. Many of those present would not see eye to eye with him in regard to the political questions of the day, but nothing he might say would, he hoped, he taken as a slight. Mr Fraser referred to his entry into political life, through the channel of local body business. For forty years he had been connected with lo a! bodies or Parliament, When he was 2o

years of age he was sent by a mining community to represent them in the Otago Provincial Council. That was in the (3(J's. He felt it a great honour, more particularly because lie was a runholder, and the miners were not supposed to have much time for those whose interests were not altogether identical. He was ten years or so continuously as chairman on the Vincent County Council, and he said he must admit to-day that ever since then he had felt the benefit of the training he had received in carrying out his duties. lie would hardly admit that the toast of “The Local Bodies” was more important than tnat of Parliament, but he did say that they were the nurseries of the men who had to go to Parliament, and they gained considerable experience there that could be turned to account in the

political arena. In 1893 he was sent to Parliament to represent Wakatipu and he had ever since continued to do so. They had had many a long fight and a hard one. His chief (Mr Massey) and he had fought together. When he entered the House there was a small party of men, about fourteen altogether, and he had cast his lot in with them, knowing full well .e was giving up all chance of political

preferment. ‘‘lt was my duty to Jo so,” said Mr Fraser, ‘‘and I never regretted it.” (Applause.) With regard to the position he held—or rather :he dual positions of Minister of Pubic Works and Acting-Minister of Finmce, it had, ho admitted been no light task for him to carry out the duties luring Mr Allen’s absence. In the irst place he desired to find as much nouey as possible for the requirements if the country, but ; t the same time iG had as Treasurer to restrain him<elf as he had a knowledge of the position—it was a rather delicate position. “Money must ho obtained,” .vas the cry of some. Well, all he ■ould say was that Mr Massey had ,iven them in a few words a very succinct and clear account of the portion. He would add a few words and say that they had nothing to fear in ;his country with regard to Internal Affairs. The revenue was buoyant, ind expenditure was not abnormal; t was higher than last year but en-

irely satisfactory; and the surplus it the end of March would be a fair ind reasonable one. There was another aspect, and that was in regard to the question of borrowed money. \Vhy, he asked, did they need to borrow money?, , It was because their surplus was not large enough and not Efficient to build railways, roads, and oridges which were necessary for the progress of the country. He was quite at one with those who said that i country like New Zealand required development,, i And so they could not do without money. If anyone would rffer him the money, or show him how co get it, he yi’ould clo it. That was die purpose fp'r, which they had to borrow. If it ,w,as only K j;qr the purpose of railway's,.,.roads and bridges, ind for lending to settlers, he told them that he had not the least doubt mt that he could get it at a reasonible rate of interest without the slightest difficulty; he could get a million for immediate 4(eg.uiremcntfi ?t [ Put the fact was they Iqapl to boyqow money to, pay those from whom. Xhp. country borrowed ten yeqrs ago. The present Government hjad to stand fl ail, which >ras no satisfaction to them. It would take some five millions to repay short* dated debentures a‘nd loqns which would soon become due, and if they were to raise, pi millions there would only be IJ, millions for railways, roads, and public works, even if they did not borrow a shilling for meal Irodies and for advances to settlers. If they borrowed six millions, they would only get about one and a naif millions for themselves. So, ohen, they would see the difficulty the present Government was faced with, dhort-dated debentures were the trouble, and they were going to have difficulty in raising the money required for ordinary purposes. Air Allen had gone Home for that very reason, to work out a scheme so that those short-dated debentures would he wiped off the slate. Perhaps, said Mr Fraser, some of his hearers had no ticed in the Parliamentary papers the quotation “debentures redeemed”; well, that simply meant that they were taking the money from- A to pay B.—(Mr Massey; “Yes; that’s just it.”) —No country such as New Zealand, continued Mr Fraser, which required to go on to the London money market ought to he put in such a position with regard to money that had been borrowed formerly. In private business a man who did such finance would soon be in the Bankruptcy Court. Of course, nations could not go through the Court, hut such transactions had discredit thrown on their credit. Now, during bis Parliamentary career, he iiad spoken bis mind rather freely; he always considered it best to speak out; and lie had a word to those who said; “You must get the money at any price.” That meant throwing a slur upon the credit of the country, which would have to he paid for hardly in the future, and they had bettor not have had it. It was a suicidal policy in his opinion for any Government to say, “we must have this money at any price, whether we pay live, six, seven, or eight per cent.” That would be ruinous to the country to do so.— (Hear, hear.) —“I for one am not going to take part in any such action .it all,” said Mr Fraser. “There is no .iecessity whatever to do it. It will he hotter to wait a little. I don’t mean to say that we won’t borrow until we can get the money more cheaply. If the rate increases all over the world ■-as at present seems the prospect of ueing the case—-I think it will be only i for a time. We may have to pay a little more. But we ought not to have to pay more than our neighbours who were not discredited.” There wore complaints about the trouble of borrowing money. Former Governments would loud to almost any extent, but the present Government could not do «o. The money lent by

by {hose Governments Ims boon cheaper money than anyone could borrow anywhere else. And that was because it was obtained from the Post Office at 3 per cent to 3J per cent, and the reason the present Government could not do so was because the Post Office had not got it to give. The previous Government borrowed £-,- 090,000, which they were able to lend out, of which £500,000 was returned and £1,590,0p0 which went to local bodies, advances to settlers and to advances to workers. How much would be available in April, Mr Fraser said he did not know, but in February last there was about a million less, leaving barely £50,000. Now they would understand the difficulty in lending money to those who wanted it. Why, they might ask. Well, it was not because the people were, less thrifty or that they would not lend it, but on account of the high rate of interest for the last eight months, they had taken it out of the Post Office and were getting 61 up to 8 per cent. Who could blame them for investing in the other securities? Mr Fraser referred briefly to a statement that was made during his north-

ern tour, in which it was made to appear that he said the sum of £675,000 in grants had been promised and only £17,000 had been expended to pay contract works. What lie did say was that £670,000 had been granted as loans to local bodies, and that the Government had only £l7, T 000 with which to pay them. How could the Advances Board agree to grant any further loans until they could pay those off? As honest men they could not do it. Any person desiring to borrow money, under the Advances to Workers could not do so, as the Government had absolutely nothing to grant him. Granting of loans was in the hands of the Advances Board, who were guided by statute as to what they should do; and not only was that the case, but it should be pointed out that they were independent of the Minister altogether. “I want you to understand,” said Mr Fraser, “that there is nothing of the pessimist about me. There never was. Yet I am not a foolish optimist. 1 am inclined to say that, from the knowledge of facts from London, the

KJlUWittU&tr UI ItttlS i I will jjuiiuwuj LUV/ credit of New Zealand stands high—(Applause)—and stands well.”—(Renewed applause).—“Let us keep it. When we put before them in London a true position of our affairs, we will have no difficulty in getting money. Especially do I think that Mr Allen lias arranged to have the short-dated debentures taken up as they fall due. I have an abhorrence of short-dated debentures. 1 denounced them at the time and said it was a ruinous policy. Where is there a man in Parliament to-day who will defend it? There is none. They all recognise it. I hope Parliament will never recognise such a policy in future,” Proceeding, Mr Fraser said he believed in roads and bridges, even be-

fore railways. What good are railways without roads and bridges, ho asked. The last definite figures, up to ten months, showed that £22,000 had been actually spent for roads and bridges, a sum which was £22,000 more than was spent the year before. That was not to the end of March, when the figures might be different. With regard to railways, the expenditure was not so much, but still he considered he had kept faith with Parliament and with those for whom the-authorised sums were placed upon the Estimates. They would find that he was not far behind in the expenditure, and he hoped in the future to lie able to do more. “Only give me, say, three millions,” said Mr Fraser, “and I will make things hum a bit!” (Laughter and applause). New Zealand was a difficult country to road, he continued, and he referred to the country out OmoaUa-way over which they had travelled in a motor car that afternoon. There the country was very difficult to road. His sympathies went out to those who lived in the backblocks, and in every way he would do what he could for them in preference to others more favourably situated, he would always do so. (Applause.) Mr Fraser expressed his exceeding gratification at the splendid reception accorded to him. Replying to Mr Hathaway on the subject of the Mt. Egmont quarries, Mr Fraser said they must not imagine that that was his last visit to the district—it was only a “preliminary canter.” He would make a special trip and go over the route. He had cancelled previous engagements in the. north to pay the visit to Taranaki, and probably before the House met or at any rate afterwards he intended to come up again and go over the Strat-ford-Ongarue route, and then he would pay attention to this other matter also. Mr Fraser again thanked the gathering for their reception and resumed his seat amid loud applause. The usual toasts of “The Chairman” and “The Press” were duly honoured, and the latter was responded to by representatives of the Stratford Evening Post and the Taranaki Daily News and the Herald. The musical programme was a feature of the evening, and was contributed to by Dr. Carbery, Captain Dampen and Mr F. H. Wilkie, the orchestra, consisting of Messrs Thompson (piano), Grubb and Jl. Cottier. The gathering concluded at midnight with the singing of “Auld Lang Svne.”