THE PREMIER'S TOUR.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXVI, Issue 274, 16 November 1905, Page 3

THE PREMIER'S TOUR.

MEETING AT DETONPORT. J THE r.A.XD QUESTION. The Premier addressed the residents * PevoTiport in the Foresters' Hail | 2j S t evemW, the burlriine being , crowd-! ga to the doors. Mr W. U. Timewell. j nresident oi the Dovonport branch of ! and Labour Federation, pre-1 •sideiL aaul Mr £■ vV. Alison, sitting I Member fcr Waitemafa. and Mr S. Clin-! bird,. Liberal candidate, were seated on I the platform. The Premier, who was yeiy warmly received on entering the 22,11, uas presente>! uith handsome touquets by Misses Trmewell and Os'lome. .... The Premier, in nis opening remarks, congratulated the district on its progress, and referred to the great services rendered to Devonporr by pioneers like th? late Captain Burgess. Air Oliver Mays and Captain Duder. He dealt with the voucher incident at some j lemrth. and went on to say that they .jiad.aH heard something abcmt the jkipaarika trip. _\ 'Vaiee: "'Knock it on. What about I Ministers' expenses?" Mr Seddon: "It the gentleman will i not be impatient I will him the expanses and more than he bargained for." Tiii-' Premier then went on to I detail the items of expenditure in the j "jSorth Island picnic." a voice asking i anxiously if there was nothing tor soap, j jfr Seddon replied that there was only 1/6 for soap. (Laughter.) He regretted having to refer to such matters, as ; they were lowering to the tone of public I life in. the colony, but ii the Opposition ! vere continually going to Lhrovv the ! MapourLkii. trip up at t.ii*_* Ciovenuueat i they would dust the Opposition with ! insect powder. (Laughter.) LAND QUESTION. Coming to the hind question, the Premier said that ilr Ali-on was opposed \ to the il>iiJs for settle- j jnent policy. Cries of "No. no." and "He's got too jiivh of his ore." The Premier quoted from Mr Alison's speech a statement laai he was opposed i to. the purchase of la rge estates and the j leasing of the land for 999 years. Voices: "Ah: that's a different i thing." The Premier said it was not a matter j or leasing; the assertion was that Air '[ Alison was opposed to the lands for I settlement policy. The Government j had purchased 92Ji38 acres in the Auck- I i&nd province for closer settlement at ; 3, cost of .£269.370. and those who j opposed that settlement were doina a i grievous wrong to Auckland, lv the j Waikato there were now 30 families j settled on the Matamata Estate, where. ! iormerly. there was but one homestead, ] there was a school, a large number of ' cows, and every sign of prosperity. The purchase ha<: been so successful that ' ilie Government intended to purchase \ tie Mangara Estate, adjoining the Ma- : fcunata. and offer it for selection. THE BrCKEESTAFFE ESTATE. I A voice: ''What about Bickerstaffe?" | Mr. Seddon >aid that the sections on j tie Bic-kerstaffe estate were being rapid- I ly taken up. and the whole estate would | shortly be settled, and nothing more! "would be said resardimr it. The Govern- I meet had bousht the land for 5' aji j icre less than the price recommended by ; the Land Purchase Commissioners, and j the price compared ijvith that of adjoin-j ing , ; was fair and reasonable. The GoTETTnnent had priri nothing in the i tot of eoTnrei=s>cn. if the settler > eiose to appoint an agent to act be-, tweea the Government and himself thit | was a matter of privstp arra.ngeinEnit, , and the 0-avprcrment had nothing what- J ever to do with it. , NATIVE LAND. Mr. Alison had in t:i~ speeeb at Birk- I esiead adverse v criticised the aairve ■ land administration of the O-overntnent. But in the discussion on the Maori Laud , for Sr-ttiement Bill Mr. Alison had eon- 1 gratuloted the Government on the' measure, and a number of Opposition i members had e>:pres?ed similar views, j LEASING OF LANDS. Mr. Seddon went on to say that it , would he a sorry day for Xew Zealand "when the letisma , of Crown lard> was done away with. By doing anything to | prevent a man obtaining a lease they "would be doina , a grievous wrong to | •be poor man. A voice: '•"Give him the freehold." The Premier said that to a man with , a small capital the lease i to Id system tet suited. What i-a-i. he possessed [ wouJd be absorbed in stocking, fencing;,! and improvement.-. If he had to pay | cash for his land lie would be forced iaio the hand? of the money lenders. In Ws opinion a 999 years'" v?ll~ ~ equal ro any freehold. (""Hear, hear."' and "No.~") Under that system the set- I tiers got their land at four per cant-,; while if they borrowed money they i Would have to pay five pfl-r- cent. A voice: "What about revaluation?"' ! Mr. Seddon: '-There i= no revalua- j tion." A voice: 'TThere may he." Mr. Seddon:. "Well, in 999 years yoa i ■worrt be here to sell it." i A voice: "'Our children should b<? I BindiedL~ The Pretnier reminded hi? hearers that | inierrnptions did trot help In the dis- | mission of large question.-. ~ PCBLIC WORK- i-rvPKSBITUBE. j The Premier quoted the figures given j "n tke previous night to -bus that the i 3arth had not been unfairly treated: ty the present Govemmenr. but hi- ' the North Island had received a ' nmeh larger expenditure than the South. Biese figures werp in the records of the , «olony, and available for Mr. Alison to i Jnake the same comparisons. Before the ' Enpplementary Estimates came down lasi ! session Mr. Alison Trait-'J on hun and ' pohited out that thei-e were some matters in the district requiring attention. Hieir member had mad? out a good ease.' >Kd would do the speaker trie justice to i ■""■y that votes for these works appeared ' !°a the Estima-tes. FEIEXDLY SOCIETIES. j The legislation governing Friendly So-' tieties had long been defective, but the i j ma nbers of the various societies were j ■£ot agreed as td tiw form which the j fcgislation should take. He intended as *«ly as possible to arrange for a con**™ce of the societies' representatives at WelKngtoii, the colony to bear the A draft bill would be sent to ~"s conference for an opinion, and tiros i assistance of the societies would] ~* obtained in amending the leeislation. j He was not sure that they "not in certain ways give financial to these societies, but he ■wild not say much on this point, behe did not wish it- said that Ip had done so because it was ! g Bl prior to the elections. Well when ~^.k a & large questions the time to , them -was just before an election. JSear, hear.) A Bamher of other topics dealt

] with an Tuesday mgM were tonebjed on, and in eonc±adin*r the Preimier urged his hearers to be true to J themselves at the approaching elections. IHe was cheered on resuming ffis seat. Mr. C. H. Clinkard. Government candidate tor Waitemata. moved a vote of j thanks to the Premier for his statesmanlike speech, and the confidence in the Government cf the meeting and of Waitemata. (Cries of "TSJo" and cheers.) lAs the special champion of Liberalism Ib. Waitemata. he said that there -were sufficient "Lf!>erals in t"he electorate to I win, a statement that brought cbeers I from the (Government party and cries oi j dissent from the Opposition. On a show jof hands the motion was carried by a very large majority, and the meeting eonclnded trith cheers for the Premier and Mr. Clinkard. and counter cheers 1 tor Mr. Alison.

I VISIT TO HELENSVTLLE.

The Premier left tor HeJensviUe by th-e 10.50 sun. train to-day. He delivers a. public address in tiie h'.n in the evening, and to-morrow he will proceed northwards by rail to open the section at railway from Woodcocks, the present J terminus, to Knipara Flats, a distance Jof three miles five chains The Premier j returns to Auckland to-morrow, and i leaves for Rotoruia by Saturday's cxi Dress, delivering a speech in the evening, and proceeding overland to WelI linston. I