MINISTERIAL SPEECH.

Te Aroha News, Volume VII, Issue 481, 18 June 1890, Page 6

MINISTERIAL SPEECH.

MR RICHARDSON REPLIES TO SIR R. STOUT. Duuedin, June 10. The Minister of Lands addressed a very largely.attended meeting at Wyndham, Southland, last evening. He began by referring to the question of federation, stating that it rested now for the people, through their representatives, to express their opinion on the question. The most important question he was going to bring up was the Land administration of the present Government. Sir R. Stout, through the press and by a speech at Oamaru, had made strictures on that administration. He charged the Government, or rather him (Mr Richardson), with looking to no other point but the realisation of cash by the disposal of Crown lands, with having destroyed the deferred payment and perpetual lease system, with having refused to carry out the provisions with regard to small grazing runs, etc. Sir Robert Stout -was an extraordinary man. The principles of ordinary men guided their actions, bub nob so with Him—he kept his principles in one pocket and his practices in another. When Sir R. Stout was Premier the Midland railway scheme was introduced by his Government, awd at Oamaru he stated that while the present Government complained of the scheme they had given to the Company at enst three or four thousand acres mor bha , /as proposed. It was nob worth while 1 ■'qLJ. 'oning Sir R. Stout’s figures, but tb s one of those half truths for which fr'ff . s famous. He had forgotten to mentio;,- thT jobber side of the question, that in exchange or this land given to the Compapy ithe present Government had reserved the right .tq select 750,000 acres of the auriferous lands vyithin the Midland area, lands of far greater value than those given up in exchange. Sir Robert Stout had also said that 1 the land sold by the Company recently for £4 10s per acre was land given to it by the present Government. This was not a fact. The whole area to which the Company was entitled was determined by the late Government, the only alteration having been the exchange and alteration of the block through the West Coast ranges for the auriferous land referred to. Sir R. Stout had termed the Manawatu Railway business a monstrous job, while he had termed the Midland Railway business a good bargain to the colony; but in the first instance the Company had only received 201,000 acres, subject to strict conditions as to settlement, while in the second instance the other Company received 5,900,000 acres, subject to no settlement conditions whatever. Since he left office, this enemy of companies and monopolies, this friend of small settlements, had endeavoured to start a mortgage and agency company in the Catlins River district, and had tried to get that company a larger area than the laws of the colony permitted, and at a less rate of interest, and had, if the speaker was correctly informed, also a good deal to do with the formation of the I second largest timber monopoly in lhe colony, the New Zealand Pine Companv, which held twenty-four square miles of forest land in Southland, ten square miles in sawmill areas, and fifteen in reserves | connected with them. Since the present Government had been in office the average of Crown lands dealt with had been 200 acres to each selector. After quoting returns bo show the unmistakable success attending the present land administration as compared with the previous one, he argued that little if any real dummyism now took place, as was shown by the small percentage of transfers and the large number of agricultural holdings taken up, and contended that no one had reasonable grounds for complaining that persons were compelled to leave the colony through being unable to get Crown lands, Speaking of railways, he referred to the Railway Commissioners, and expressed the opinion that while their management might not be faultless, they were entitled to a great deal of credit for what they had accomplished, especially in the interests of farmers. After referring to one or two local matters, Mr Richardson concluded as follows; — 44 1 know you will be expecting me to say something of the policy of the Government, but as it will be so shortly disclosed in all its details in Parliament, it would be out of place for me to do otherwise than deal with it generally, and, speaking broadly, the policy of the Government is a policy of settlement and progress, of common sense and prudence, a policy of paying its way, of pausing in respect of railways, and pushing on roads—a policy that can be pursued without borrowing.” Mr Richardson was accorded a hearty vote of thanks and confidence.