The Daily News. SATURDAY, MAY 7. THE PREMIER'S SPEECH.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 383, 7 May 1910, Page 4

The Daily News. SATURDAY, MAY 7. THE PREMIER'S SPEECH.

The quantity of ground covered by the Premier in his policy speech at Winton is amazing. In all, the Premier's speech occupied about twenty columns of ordinary newspaper space, and he seemsiba have touched every phase of work in which the Government is engaged.

The real essential in this country and the definite goal for which every statesman should steer is the settlement of the land. The settlement of the lami can only be achieved 'by removing every restriction, by .fighting for se'ttlers, by •attracting settlers after the local land liunger has been .satisfied, and by constantly and at all times subordinating every phase of experimental legislation to this end. The State has only lately been seized of the paramount importance of papulation and settlement, and, having been seized, it rather hedges its benefices round with legal restrictions that are somewhat bewildering' to the potential settler. There is too much provision and too little settlement. The Special Settlement Finance Act, which is partially communistic in its provisions, is good if it attracts the people who are willing to take up land without spot payment. But the point is that there is so much land and so few people that no conditions could be too easy for the ultimate use of all available lands. State concentration on vital points is infinitely more valuable than an individual rechauft'ee of the whole field of State endeavor. The State Advances to Settlers and Workers is a measure of the highest excellence, but here, again, the statesman's point of view should be more complete preparations for more settlers and more workers. The greater availability of land or even the gift of land to the people 'who nominally own it would in time make it less necessary for the State to borrow such great sums to lend to units. The Premier shows that the complicated method of transfer in respect of Native land has been simplified. As everybody knows—and Tarauaki people 3,s well as anybody else—immense areas of Native land are simply locked up and grow weeds and laziness. "Taihoa" is the weed that has kept the Native land locked up. Vigor, enthusiasm, statesmanship are needed to tackle this vital question. It will never be really tackled, despite any new methods of transfer, as loug as' the Ministerial head of the Department slumbers. The pakeha officers of the Department have taken example by their chief, and have also slept. It' seems hopeless that any mere Act of Parliament can awake the Department to a real sense of its responsibility. The State may be credited with having passed very many progressive j measures. Remissions of taxation are; popular enough, hut the road to ulti-1 mate success is in an ability to be self-, supporting and to produce the goods for | which we are now taxed. In a country I that contains enormous areas of land J yearning for cultivation, the Premier i tells us'that 310 heads of families last i year took-up land. The Premier's figures! show the large number of persons who I applied for land, and the very small number, comparatively, who were able' to get any. The present system of gambling on ii chance of getting land is very sporting, Ibut it is not good nation- j ally. There is not at the present mo-1 ment in New Zealand one able-bodied, man whom the Government should not! ■be wildly eager to settle on the land.! Settlers are the life-blood of the coun-| try. The Post Office figures might be; proudly scanned by any person in the; Dominion, as they reveal the solid posi- j tion of the Dominion. The Premier, we ( are delighted to see, corrected the im-l pression that large numbers of people' were leaving the Dominion and few com- j ing here. The wickedest slanders in regard to affairs in New Zealand are some- j times not too wicked to be used for political purposes. The "stinking fish", slanders are the worst 01 their kind. !

It is constantly demonstrated that in': no country in the world can a man of force, skill, and energy achieve better I results than in New Zealand. Our par- j ticular contention is that he shall be > invited to come by every possible means! —if the land hunger in the Dominion' is adequately satisfied. ' j State finance is one of the sciences few citizens understand, and the fact that there is a surplus of nearly half a' million pounds should be cheering. New, Zealand" people are so used to having surpluses that this item will! possibly not seriously elevate them. It is absolutely necessary, if the country is to be! adequately developed, that New Zealandshould borrow money or raise it by! heavier taxation. The Premier has fully ' explained how, by the creation of a sinking fund, the present immense debt is to be paid in "seventy-five years. It is j pointed" out that the work done by the j present generation must necessarily be, of advantage to the future generations, | and that they therefore should be, equally; liable for the payment of in-j terest.' It is conceivable that they may j borrow at the same rate as we are doing. No doubt if Governments of the j future subordinated everything else to. a policy of population and settlement' our successors might find even a quicker | way of paying ofiftlie present liability of ■ seventy millions. \ Necessarily the Premier devoted aj very large amount of attention to the Defence question. One point is new.; The Government intends to increase the' age for the compulsory military training of men to twenty-five years. This is) excellent, because, under the first pro-1 posals the age umit was twenty-one years. The vast army of uncontrolled I loafers, spielers, street-corner loungers, racecourse guessers, thieves, and other undesirables are over twenty-one years of age, and military discipline will be| the best thing that ever happened for, their n-ood. It is sincerely hoped that' no political interference with the »e-' verity of the discipline will take place.' The Premier nrnmises reform in local govi Tranent. Local government reform

that nothing will now prevent it. Hut we are afraid that a multiplicity of bodies is rather ■popular, because small communities ■prize distinctions and dearIv love the elevation given by statutory titles. Rov.crtm-; '.o Native lands, the Premier ,;oi:-..- .mi. mat of the total has .been promised for years. It is hoped area held by Maoris—the vast majority of which Wows only "taihoa"—four hundred an" wen', thousand acres are now uiulc. iU'gouation for purchase. There seems to "be plenty of room even on this piece for a number of white persons. The Premier -promises greater attention to the backblocks than before. It is reasonable to assert that this matter, which the Premier dismisses in a short paragraph, is of more importance than anything else in his statement.