THE PREMIER AT GREYTOWN.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXI, Issue 9124, 25 June 1908, Page 5

THE PREMIER AT GREYTOWN.

| PRE-SESSIONAL ADDRESS. LAND NATIONALISATION. THE GOVERNMENT AND SOCIALISM. FINANCIAL STABILITY OF NEW ZEALAND. POLITICAL RUMOURS. By Telegraph.—Abridged from Press Association Message. GREYTOWN, June 24. The Right Hon. Sir J. G. Ward, Prime Minister of New Zealand, visited Greytcwn to-day to fulfil a long standing promise to visit the borough, and deliver a political address. He was received at the railway station by Mr D. P. Loasby (Mayor) and the Councillors, who extended to him a hearty and appreciative welcome, to which Sir Joseph replied in suitable terms, exp-assing at visiting the Borough. He was driven to the Greytown Hotel, where he was entertained at luncheon by prominent local Liberals.

In the afternoon the Premier attended the private conference of delegates of the Liberal Association fr.im all parts of the electorate, at which there was a large attendance despite the inclemency of the weather, some travelling over 70 milas to be present. The meeting, the Press were informed, was very enthusiastic, and unanimous in adopting •* plan of action in connection with the coming campaign to secure the return (if Mr Hornaby, the ptesent member. Subsequently Sir Joseph was entertained at afternoon tea by the ladies of Greytown, and then received a local deputation asking for the construction of nineteen miles of track from Woodside towards Otaki at a coat of £2OO. The deputation explained the advantages to the district, and in reply the Premier said he had been asked for all sorts of things everywhere, and could not commit himself, but the matter was not a large one, and it would have his consideration.

In the evening the Prime Minister delivered his last pre-sessional address in the Town Hall. The chair was taken by Mr Loasby (Mayor), supported by Mr Hornsby, member for the district, and other prominent local politicians. The Mayor introduced Sir Joseph Ward to the large audience, who listened to him with close and manifest interest.

The Premier, who was received with loud applause, thanked the Mayor ard citizens of Greytown for the reception accorded to him, and said that he felt it was well that both sides of the question should be heard. He did.not believe in the old Biblical injunction about presenting the othar check, and intended to smite back as hard as the smiter had first struck. The Premier went; on to refer to the great prosperity of the Dominion, and said that the country was producing commodities for which there would ever be an Jn..'j.'.siiig demand in the markets of

c world. The Premier lefjneJ to the financial position of the country, as he had done in his previous pre-sessional ceches. It was useless, he said, to controvert a fact which had- been certified to by the Au litor-General without ah objection of any kind. (Lcud applause.) Sir Jos:ph continued on the lines of his Christchurch speecn on the subject of taxation and the remission of taxtion in the Customs, Post and Telegraph Department, and other departments, and said the amount reached £1,550,000. Concessions had been made amounting to 6a 4d in tha po.und. The only increase in taxation (in the graduated land tax) in the past ten or twelve years had been voted for by the whole of the Opposition. Referring to land nationalisation, the Premier said it had never been advocated by any member of any Liberal administration. He showed how the land nationalises had asked for no more taxation, and explained, on the lines of his previous speeches, how the doctrine that the land belongs to the. people already, and need not be paid for, involved dis-nones-ty. He defended the Government's land policy, on th? ground chat it was thoioughly honest. With a reference to Socialism, the Piemier said that the Government opposed to revolutionary Socialism thoroughly and detcrJ minedly. Some people tried, without the slightest warranty to convey the impression that the Government was Socialistic. That was absolutely untrue. There was a vast difference between revolutionary Socialism and Social Reform Acts. Amongst the later were the Advances to Settlers Act, the Life Assurance Act, the law making the railways State railways, and the State Fire Insurance Act. These were Social Reform Acts, the benefit of which was recognised by all. The Government did not try t * do all the bus'ness of the country, and did not desire to do so, but it desired to protect the people from private extortion. No single ut-.tera-ice in any speech by any Me nber oL" the Liberal Government c )uld be adduced to show that it was in favour of revolutionary Socialism. (Loud apflause). Continuing, the Premier said that Bishop Julius, a high dignitary of a great Church, had cehvered two important discourses to which he felt it necessary in so far as their public aspect was concerned t) allude. In doing so he must be permittiri t ) remark that tic Bishop's position, apart from his hirh personal standing as a man, gave weighc to his utterances that would not attach to 0112 occupying a , less pi'ominent position in the eye of the public- -in fact ho felt it all the more incumbent upon him to say something concsrning the deliverances of Bishop from the fact that the Opposition mouthpiece at Wellington, "The Dominion" newspaper, had been good enough t3 state in its leading columns that the deliverance in some respect 3 was directed at himself, as would be seen from the extract he would read from an article published on the 23rd inst.,

he was not sensitive to Press criticism, and was dealing with the ma ' : " ter calmly, and dispassionately, and without feeling except from the standpoint that the "Dominion's" political prejudice and aspirations for its party caused it to be unjust and unfair, and a refutation was called for in the interests of the Dominion. The "Dominion" had said: —"They were hard wrods His Lordship uttered, but they were true. We have no horizon he had said. We are the narrowest people on earth. We think we are the hub of the universe, and that at anyrate the old Country is dependent upon us. We are very little and talk big, in short what we required was less bragging iind tnore faithful service. Each individual New Zealander must settle with himself the issues raised by the Bishop's sermons, but their lessons for our public men were the concern of everybody. Perhaps New Zealanders had begun to wake up, but in Sir Joseph Ward's case the disease was more active than ever." He wanted to say that he had no reason to suppose that the Bishop's allusions had special reference to himself, but the fact that the newspaper "Dominion" was kind enough to say that it was intended for him made it necessary that he should first say a word or two as to the cause of the apparent appreciation by that journal of the Bishop's remarks. It would be remembered by many that on more than one occasion he had found it necessary to point out that the "Dominion" newspaper did its best, a short time ago, to decry the financial position of New Zealand, when at that time, if the paper had had tlie influence to do much harm, an incalculable injury would have been done to the oeople of New Zealand. It had preached the doctrine of preparedness for a panic. He had read the utterances of the Bishop, as published from Palmerston, and he personally had listened with great pleasure to the second deliverance of his Lordship, and neither in the Palmerston speech nor in that he had listened to, was a single word said by the Bishop that could possibiy be distorted into a reflection upon the financial stability of New Zealand. As for conscription, he was opposed to it, and he believed the country was strongly opposed to it. ' The Post and Telegraph Department, continued the Premier, reflected, probably, more accurately than any other branch of the public service the material progress of the Dominion. The letters posted last year revealed an increase of six and three-quarter \million over 1906, and reached a grand total of 85,500,000. Other mail matter accounted for a further increase of eigDt and a quarter million. The telegrams sent numbered 6,868,211, exceeding last year by over a million, producing a nett revenue of £220,003. He hoped to announce, before long, further Post Office reforms. Referring to native lands, Sir Joseph said some did not realise what the Government was doing in this matter. They were bound by the traditions of thsir race to see that no injustice was done to the Maoris Dy them. They had laid down the principle that the Commission on Native Landsjhad to report on every block of native land in the Dominion. Under the communistic system of life adopted by the natives, it was difficult to ascertain the t:us titles, but nobody could pokt lo any native lands which were not administered for the benefit and good of the natives, and alrca'y much daylight was penetrating the maze of native land problems. The Premier then went on to refer to the progress of the land for settlements policy, recapitulating what he had said on the subject in previous speeches. Referring to the labour laws, the Premier again explained the intentions of the Government in regard to the amendment of the Arbitration Act

For the development of the country they must provide roads, bridges' and railways, to open up the back-blocks. They could only borrow prudently. In spite of the fact that the Government had already been asked to spend <£10,000,000 in new railways, lie would tell them that the Government had decided to spend £200,000 per annum for the next five years for the building of new roads in the backblocks.

The Premier then made some remarks on the subject of rumours set afloat for political purposes. Thus the Government had been accused of closing down fiaxmills. They might as well sav the Government was responsible for the sunshine. They deplored the fall of the . industry, and hoped it would soon be 1 restored. Then it had been rumoured that there was disagreement in the Cabinet. Could they point to any public body anywhere in the world which never had internal differences of opinion? And had not wisdom overcome such .differences? Where in the world were bodies which made no mistakes? They had to choose in this world the men who made the fewest mistakes. He justified the financial position and financial policy of the Government, and showed how baseless were the attempts of political opponents to discredit the financial operations of the Government. They ought to be above doing anything on either side of politics calculated to do harm to the country merely for a the purpose of gaining a political advantage and damaging the Government.

In conclusion, the Pre.nier oxpressed the intense concern of himself and his colleagues for the welfare and financial stability of the country. They could not indulge in reckless finance, but they could try to create social conditions which would Rive equality of opportunity co the sons of the poor as well as the rich. (Applause). He paid a eulogy to the member for the district (Mr Hornsby) as one who had tried to carry out the ideals of the Government in these respects. (Applause). The Prime Minister wished them great prosperity, and concluded his address, which lasted over two hours, amidst prolonged applause. Mr Wllia.m Udy moved, and Mr H. Bennett seconded, a motion expressing hearty thanks to the Pramier for his able and instructive address, and expressing continued confidence in the Government. The moMon was carried by acch.mation, and the proceedings were brought to a close by a vote of thanks to the Mayor, proposed by Sir Joseph Ward.

EXTRACTS FROM THE SPEECH. (Special Reporter). THE DOMINION'S SOLIDARITY. 'lf you can tell me any other country that can maintain the same level of prices for a number of years I should like to know it. We are in this country now beyond the stage when we are dependent upon wool, and W9OI alone. We are happily in the position of being a country that produces articles and staple products which must he used and must be eaten, and therefore we are in a more independent position than those countries which depend on favourable times for their markets." A RECORD FINANCIAL YEAR.

"This is not mere assumption, but facts—facts as incontrovertible as the fact that you are before me. Our revenue for the past year was £9,065,000, the highest in the history of the Dominion, After provid ing for the payment of £150,000 01T the floating debt of the Dominion, £BOO,OOO for public works during the past year, there remains for transference to the Public Works Fund of the Dominion the sum of £707,000. Just think of the vastness of tin 3 figures--a credit balance for ihe TAXATION AND REMISSION. "People have been led to believe *ome hav« arrived at the conclusion themselves thai the Government has increased taxation. I can tell you this that the only increase of taxation which the Government has brought about in ten or twelve years is the graduated land tax, and this was supporttd right through the House. And what has the Government given back for this increased taxation? The equivalent to £1,555,000. Yet you are not /told this by those who never fail ■ toi advocate that the Government has increased taxation. THE GOVERNMENT AND SOCIALISM.

"There are some people in New Zealand who will irisrepresent the Government and its position regarding Socialislm. The Government is strongly and determinedly opoosed to revolutionary Socialism. People ( who tell you that extremes afe the panacea for all social evils, tell you the Government has evil) designs against any social reforms. What has the Government done to show its sincerity towards securing social reform of a true type? From the Advances to Settlers Act alone —that great social Act of enormous value—the users oi the money furnished by its means (in other words the people of the Dominion) have saved 000,000 as a result of the Act. Last year they had .£1,200,u00 distributed through the Act, this year they will have £1,300,000. How many people would say "Repeal the Advai;c:-3 to Settlers Act." Then there ia the Government Life Assurance Aci—how rnar.y people would ask for the repeal of that Act? or for the repeal of the OH Age Pensions Act, or the Kailway legislation? How many would carje to see these vast businesses, doiiig the untold good they are, run by private companies? Compare such social acts as these with the legislation some so-called Socialists would have on the Statute Book. How could the Government subscribe to the policy of these individuals when it has its own acts or: the Statute Book, which ara of a true social character. ?

"Socialists, or self-styled social reformers, have advocated and are still advocating, the nationalisation of floxir mills, bakeries, coal mines, land and so forth. I asked ona person who had such ideas where was the two hundred and fifty millions, or three hundred millions of money to come from that would be required to pur chase the land if nationalisation were effected, Tne reply was, "You don't need such a sum, the land is rightly ours already." I say that for a Government to countenance such "social" ideas as that would be absolutely dishonest. As a matter of fact the Government never has and never will subscribe to such theories. LAND RESUMPTION..

"There is not a single instance from the North Cape to the Bluff where the Government has said to an individual farmer, "You'll nave to give up your farm." You cannot find a singe instance where the Government has proposed to take a freehold from end to end. Yet such an idea has beei inculcated into many people's minds, but I venture to say you will not find a single practical farmer who understands the true position who will indorse such an erroneous theory. It will be found on investigation that not a single member of the Government has ever advocated such a policy as that alleged against us regarding the taking of land for closer settlement purposes. THE DOMINION'S STATUS. "I have never been stupid enough to argue that New Zealand is the hub of the universe, as has been implied by my critics. I have in season, and out of season, always maintained that the Dominion is dependent on the strong arm of the Old Country, the strong arm that has never failed us, and never will I have said in my speeches throughout tha Old Country, as can be seen on reference to the newspaper files, that New Zealand would never divest itseli of its responsibilities to the Motherland in recognition of what has been done and is now being' done by the British Navy on our behalf. Only a few months ago I was in negotiation with the Home authorities in jegard to an increase of the New Zealand Naval Vote, and I shall have something for Parliament to ratify in that respect during the coming session. We are trustees for an important outlying portion of the British Empire, ftnd while I am opposed to approaching: such a matter in a jingoistic spirit, I say we should spend outlast penny, if needed, to maintain that outpost of the Empire, and keep the old flag flying, with all its glori- ! ous traditions. CONSCRIPTION. "As far as conscription goes, J am entirely opposed to such a thing, and I believe that the country is opposed (o it. I should require a great deal more pvidence to the contrary before 1 would alter my views on the subject. SOME POSTAL FIGURES. "The number of letters dealt with by our postal officials during the past

year would, if made into one long ribbon, stretch no less a distance than 8,040 miles, anC would therefore equal the diameter of the earth. The postal articles of all descriptions dealt with numbered 125,500,000. The postal notes sold were, in round figures, 1,000,000, valued at £345,000, while 3,300,000 money orders were sold. THE YEAR'S LAND SETTLEMENT. "The Government has, during the past year, settled 2,235 fresh persons on the land, on an area aggregating 1,336,899 acres. The Government received as a result of its land transactions from the whole ot' the Dominion the sum of £634,000. So far as your particular district is concerned —by this I mean the Wellington land district—we received from it a total sum of £97,262. LABOUR LEGISLATION.

"There are people who believe that there should be no such things as labour laws. 1 don't say there are many, but still there are some. We should approach such laws from the standpoint of doing what is fair, and not for one side to try to get the better of the other. The law should aim at doing justice to all parties, and unless it dues it is impossible for such a law to stand. In connection | with our Conciliation' and Arbitration Act the Government will make an honest attempt next session to amend the defects unfortunately shown, which gave one decision for one party, and another for another party. Rather than keep such a law as it is it would be better to have no law at all. Some people—a good many, apparently-—entertain the notion that the sole object of the Act was to prevent strikes, but that, as you all know, was only one of its many purposes. It was designed chiefly to prevent the many flagrant abuses existing in our industrial con unities, which are now happi!y non-existent. FLAX—A REFUTED ACCUSATION. "1 have heard a most extraordinary rumour just the oihtr day. It was, that the Government had been responsible for the closing down of the flaxmills. (Laughter). Why, we will soon be accused of being responsible for Ihe sunshine —or want of it. The closing of the flaxmills was, caused the falling of the Home markets. What, as a matter of fact did the Government do? It did the only thing possible, in remitting the grading fees to allow the exporter to be able to sell his flax at a lower price. THE, DOMINION'S NATIONAL DEBT. "It takes a lot to make me feel in-/ disposed, but sometimes, when I hetr and read what is said about our national debc, I think I ought really to try and be indisposed for the pake of enjoying the sensation. When people talk- about the Government increasing the national debt by £25,000,000 they forget entirely that the taxpayer doas not pay the interest on the bulk of it at all, but the man who gets Ihe direct benefit of the use of the ir.oney—the farmer, the railway user, etc. They overlook the fact that more than £10,000,00.0 of the £25,000,000 is reproductive."