THE MINISTER OF LANDS

Auckland Star, Volume XXVII, Issue 98, 27 April 1896, Page 3

THE MINISTER OF LANDS

(BT TELEGRAPH—PSESS ASSOCIATION.)

Palmebston, Friday. At the Town Hall to-night the Hon. MoKenzie, Minister of Lands, addressed a meeting of hie constituents, over 250 persons being present. Mayor Gill presided.

Mr MoKenzie, in tbe course of. his address, said the Conservatives did not state whab their own poiicy was. It waß, he believed, one of their planks to stop tee laud for settlement scheme, and they would have free trade in native lande, which the present Government prevented, As to the charges made against them by ■the Opposition he said thab last session all fair returns asked for were granted. It was said, too, tbab free discussion was nob allowed, bub a look ab the lengthy speeches of tho Opposition in Hansard showed there was no ground for that statement. Tbe roaaou the Opposition walked oub of the House when tho Public Works Statement) came up for discussion was that on the Estimates there were votes for almosb every one of these gentlemen, and they were afraid to go to their constituents and say they hart voted agaiwst certain sums of money in their own districts. Before the Ministry was six month- in office, ib was said they were galloping to a deficit, bub they came oub with a surplus, and had had a surplus every year sinco, this being their sixth session. No previous Government had been able to do the same thing. Another matter by which the prosperity of the colony could be judged was by the debt per head, which in 1390 was" £62, aad in 1895 £60 10s. As for borrowing, it was for a very differenb purpose to what their opponents, wheia in office, borrowed, for wibh the money the Government bought land for Bettlemenb, and seeing that ib was settled upon a a Boon as secured, and returned 5 per cent., thero could be no loss to the people of the colony. Ho held thab the action of the House in granting aid to the Bank of Now Zealand was justified, in bhe face of tba great loss that would have fallen on tbe colony. Had the Bank closed its doors, other financial institutions would have followed, and even if the colony loat a couple of millions of the guaranteed money, ib mattered nob, seeing the benefit ib obtainod by maintaining tho Bank in a sound position. If properly managed, the Hank should be in such a position in nine or ten years that the people of the colony would not lose a sixpence. Through tho Midland Railway arbitration, £1,700,000 wag saved to tho taxpayers, yeb the Conservative papers said very little in praise of the Governmenb for their action, which should commend itself to the whole colony. Tbe Governmenb actod wisely in introducing the Advances to Settlers Act. It had reduced the rate of interest in the colony, and he was .in a position to state that. 65 per cent, of the apiicants were people who wished to pay oIF mortgages which were in existence. Concerning tbe tariff it was said thab nothing had been done for the farmers, but he held that in allowing fencing wire, twine, and other articles used by farmers to come in free, the Government had conferred a great benefit on settlers. Tbe tariff was one of which the farmers and the working classes conld nob complain. He hoped the tariff would not coma up again while he was a Minister. When the Governmenb took office they were expected to provide lands for settlement, bnb they found that their predecessors bad disposed of the best land and thab only remnants remained. It was impossible then to provide land without the power given by the Lasda for Settlement Act. .In native lands bhey had purchased 355,000 acree, and a large portion of it was already settled upon by Europoans. With regard to the general land policy they bad from the time of taking office pub 10,902 settlers on 2,402,000 acres of land, and during the short period the Lands for Settlement Act had been in force they had purchased 20 estates which had already been disposed of, and which was now yielding more than 5 per cent. Other seven estates bad been purchased, bub had nob yeb been paid for, and thero were other estates under negotiation. The Blind River Estate in Nelson was now yielding 4| per cenb. At first ib waß run down and only a portion of it was taken up, bub it was now all occupied, and its crops were splendid. The Government had been doing as much as they could in the way of putting people on the land under the land improvement farm system, and some 500 persona had already been placed on areas under these conditions. If the people of bhe colony were prepared for it thero was no end to the good they could do, and to the number of people they could pub on tho land. Between the village homesteud system and the land improvement farm Bysfcem, 2,000 working men had been pub on the land with their families, and baking the average number of the families ab three, it would been Been that 3.000 peoplo had been put on the land. Ono thing necessary in connection with the system was that bhe Land Board should have the right to select the settlers so as to keep oub indifferent parties, and allow only bona fide working men bo go on the land, and to be on the allotments. Speaking of what the Governmenb had done during their term of office, he said bhey had spenb very large sums of money in finding work for the unemployed. In the first year ©f the Ministry's existence the sum of £99,000 was spent on roads, and last year tho aroounb was £219,000, while this year it would be about £250,000. The number of men provided for in the first year was 2,583; second year, 3,874; third year, 3,371 ; aad last year, 3,125. Tho people on the Marawhanua estates were thriving, notwithstanding what was said by Conservative papers. As so the work of the coming session, he would introduce bhe Fair Rent Bill, which was before the House lasb cession. He did not think ib would pass, however, as it wonld probably be blocked in tho Upper House, but tho question was one for the peoplo, and he was sure the people would decide in its favour. Another Bill the Government hoped to be able to introduce and pass into law waa the Fair Interest Bill. Ho saw no reason why the State should not insure against fire as well aa againeb death. Tho Local Governmenb Bill would be an extensive measure, proposing to reduce the number of local bodies and doing away with a great deal of the official expenditure going on now. He was afraid ib would be impossible to posa it through this session, and ib would be a question for the general election. Aa for the Alcoholic Liquor Bill, he contended that no Government bad ever held office in the colony who had done ao much to place the liquor traffic in hue hands of the people of the colony. In conclusion he said ib was only by efforts such as the Governmenb had been pubbing forth thab the progress of the colony could be k»pt going, and that the people could be made happy and prosperous.