Wairarapa Daily Times. [Established 1874.] MONDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 1895. THE PREMIER AT SPRINGFIELD.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XVI, Issue 4960, 25 February 1895, Page 2

Wairarapa Daily Times. [Established 1874.] MONDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 1895. THE PREMIER AT SPRINGFIELD.

Tub Premier has made a speech of three aiid a half hours length at Springfield. It is rather a feather in his cap that he did not follow the example of his colleagues, tiie Socialist Ward anil the Communist MeKenzie, by sending a four column report of it to the lending Ministerial journals, It is, however, his mis- i fortune, and also the misfortune of the public, that the Press Association should have boiled down its report of this address to little more than a quarter of a column, for this hardly does justice to it. The Premier, with all bis faults, is better worth listening to than either of his colleagues, because lie is more in (ouch with public opinion, and does not carry a bee in bis bonnet. As far as we can form an opinion of the epitome of the speech which has reached us, the Premier made much of the recent resumption of Ministerial authority over the railways, and claimed that they had been popularised without impairing the receipts or increasing the expenditure. The financial results of the changes which have been made during the past few weeks can only bo a matter of conjecture. There has been it reduction on the carriage of fruit-, but this cannot materially increase traffic till more fruit is grown. There have been the School excursions which have certainly popularised the administration, but it is too early to guage their financial result. To carry an adult from Masterkra to Wellington and back, a distance of one hundred and forty miles for three shillings is a doubtful experiment, and we question whether the Department can do this without a loss, especially when it is borne in mind, that many adults nse the excursion trip for business purposes. We shall be very glad if the new ideas which have been introduced, can be carried out without loss of revenue—one of them, a reduction in the freight of sheep, will bo specially approved in this district-but it is quite premature, at tliß present time, to express any other opipjon upon them, than ft frank admission that they l are popular, aid will reflect ctfiflit on the Government, if they are unaccompanied by any substantial loss of Revenue, There is one reference, in ! Mr Seddon's speech, for which we feel grateful. He does not think , with reference to the Tariff Commis- j sion, that the time has come when , the people should be we lieavity !

taxed, Tlio Tariff Commission is at tlio present time a bogie which is alarming and harassing the trade of tho Colony. This plain statement coming from the Premier will tend to reassure people, though some may ask very pertinently why has a Tariff Commission been appointed, if there is to be no considerable increase of duty. Perhaps the Tariff Commission is set up as a house of cords to amuse the trade unions. When iterets high enough, the Premier, we trust, will blow it down.