NEW ZEALAND'S POSITION

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 151, 5 October 1910, Page 8

NEW ZEALAND'S POSITION

SPEECH BY THE PREMIER. THE GOVERNMENT'S RECORD. Wellington. Tuesday. The Prime Minister, addressing a social gathering of the Liberal and Labor Federation last night, said that the record of progressive Liberal legislation placed upon the Statute Book was a very fine one. That legislation had gone in the direction of relieving taxation, increasing the settlement of ths land, reducing the area of land upon which people could settle —whioh he believed would have a great effect in the future, so far as land settlement Wits concerned—and helping the workers in many directions, although often the Government did not receive the recogition it deserved from those who ought to take an unprejudiced view of what 'had been done in that respect. They ihad been working along lines of policy that would most benefit the people, and that policy they would keep before them so long as they had the support and goodwill of those associated with them. It would still be their endeavor to keep this country in the forefront so that it might continue to be, as it was to-day, an object of great interest to other parts of the world. He klioved it would take the great Commonwealth of Australia twenty-five years to do anything approaching what the Liberal party in this country had done in the shape of forwarding legislation in the interests of the people generally.

TURN OF THE TIDE. No so very long ago there came a turni of the financial tide, which for a short; time ran against them, and which caus-' ed a good deal of concern in the land, to the Government, and to every class in the community. During that short period there could be little doubt there were some people in New Zealand who made the position worse than it really was; who did not help them by showing a determined confidence in the country. • Therefore, he was most happy to tell, them that the results of the first six months of the financial year were most satisfactory. Sometimes, in the matter of dealing with the revenue during a quarter or half-year, their opponents wanted to know the expenditure for the same period. But if they looked at the practice followed by other countries in respect to announcing a quarter's or a half-year's returns they would invari-: ably find that the revenue only for that J period was given. The only time they! could accurately guage the expenditure' was at the end of the year, when the final balance-sheet was made up. In. the meantime, it •was pleasing to knowj that the revenue for tbhe six months toad increased by £374,556 more than the six months of the previous year. (Applause). They had in the Customs Department one of the barometers indicating the financial and commercial conditions of the country. Customs 'had increased by £142,272. That, he thought, l ought to impress the business communand have an effect upon some of their pessimists. Looking all round, he believed they were in for a good year. Stamps had increased by £1115,987, and there was a cash increase in Post and Telegraphs of £10,897. Beer duty showed an decrease of £928. He made no comment upon that, except, perhaps, that people did not appear to be quite so thirsty as they were during the previous six months. (Laughter).

THE RAILWAYS, _ i , s n Tho railways showed an increase of £9152'63. That was the great carrying concern which they owned themselves. Many countries did not own their railways, and the transport of goods and [ passengers was in the hands of public corporations. It was, he thought, a very fine thing for this country that the people owned the railways, for if tkhere were any tendency on the part of a huge combine to act detrimentally to.the interest of the people, the people owning] the railways would see that thiey were not used by one cla»s as against another. His colleague, the Minister of Railways, had managed the railways remarkably well indeed, and the increased revenue shown ought to convince people of the fact fchjit trade was improving,' that settlement was going on, and that a better state of things generally was existing. (Applause). In the Registration Department there was a decrease of £3649, due entirely to two causes—the stopping! of the oyster fisheries in the North, and the education test imposed on Chinese, which had had the effect of reducing the number of Chinese coming into this country. j ASSISTANCE TO SETTLERS. With the money available, added to what would ibe obtained by loan, the Government would be able to give more assistance for the construction of roads in the backbloeks and thus add to the comfort of the men and women carving out homes for themselves. • The Government had asked for more money for this purpose than any previous Government in the history of the country. The Government ought also to be able to assist further in the matter of railway construction. The railway results were, as he had shown, exceedingly satisfactory, and by judiciously utilising the money, facilities so much required in different portions of. New Zealand could be provided. Thesewere just as much needed to-day as they! were twenty years ago, or in 1884, when Sir Julius Vogel inaugurated his public j works policy, /and without which New, Zealand would have been a sheep-walk to-day. The land would have been divided between a few persons; and it would have been impossible for so many people throughout the Dominion to have attained the positions they occupied at the present time. He was sure most people 1 realised that the country had recovered! from the short respite from steady progress which had taken place some eighteen months ago; that the country had rounded the corner, and that the Dominion was prospering again without any fictitious booming—a thing which should always be avoided. (Applause). INFLATED LAND VALUES. He wanted to say a word upon a subject which was generally known as "tightening of money." Numbers of people had been drawn into a. land boom in the cities and suburbs, particularly in one or two of the northern districts. The craze, in 'his opinion, had led a good many people to invest their earnings in land, and even up to the present they had been unable to get relief from their financial burdens incurred during the boom. It was of the utmost importance to avoid a recurrence of anything of the kind. People in public positions and otherwise should do all in their power, now that better times were imminent, to steady things. What was going to happen in the larger cities which would increase in population as the progress continued? It would be found that many people would' be ready to occupy these suburban properties. The safest course was for the owners to make a loss and let the sections be occupied instead of "hanging on" to them, as was the case at present. It was no good trying to draw the vitals out of the people in regard to the land. It must be remembered that a great evo-

lution was froinc: on, and it would be difficult for any combine to extract higilier prices for allotments tlwn had been paid a year or two ago. ADVA.VHS TO WORKERS. The Government's advances to workers department Jiad assisted workers to the extent of a sum approaching £1,300.000 since the system had 'been in operation* and the workers recognised the advantage of going a few miles out to obtain a cheap 'home. This policy would change the whole system of values for town and suburban pro'iertie*. The priors were too hiijrh for the average man of this or any other country. The development and progress which ihad been experienced for so many years was in view once more, and lie could assure tihem the Government would assist the people, not individually, but bv legislation, to improve their positions; and that was wiat the Government was endeavoring to do tothe very .utmost to-day. (Loud Applause).