The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News and The Echo. WEDNESDAY, JUNE 5, 1907. A POLICY SPEECH.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 133, 5 June 1907, Page 4

The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News and The Echo.

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 5, 1907. A POLICY SPEECH.

' m ' Tar the reuse -that Jack* assistance. For the icrong that needs resistance, far the future injlie aiiimnce, r. Ami the so&ii that tec con do.

Under existing circumstances it is perhaps too much to expect that Ministers should be in a position to lay any serious policy developments before the country. Certainly there was nothing remarkably novel in Mr. Millar's speech at Dunedin last "night. But it affords the colony sa.tisfactory assurance that, in the ab-

sence of the Premier, our public business is being conducted in an energetic and business-like way, and that Sir Joseph Ward's colleagues fully appreciate the toeavy responsibilities laid upon their shoulders. Though, under a democratic constitution, the people really are the State, a great deal still depends upon the general ability and capacity for gove:mjE«nt displayed by individual Ministers. In this respect Xcrsv Zealand has been singularly fortunate in recent years; and while the death of Mr. Seddon and the inevitable absence of Sir Joseph Ward from the political stage have left lamentable gaps in ;he Cabinet, they have helped the country to understand that the Liberal Ministry is. to a man. com : posed of able and conscientious administrators, of whom the Minister for Labour is neither last nor least.

Among the topics Touched upon by Mr. Millar last night a foremost place was taken by our industrial legislation. From several remarks recently made by him -we gather that the Minister for labour has been much interested of late in that most intricate of economic

problems, the relation between wages and prices. The steady rise in the necessaries of life has compelled everybody in the country to realise the difference bet-R-een •■ real "" and " nominal " Tvages; and Mr. Millar has even expressed some sympathy for tie suggestion that, it might be possible to fir a statutory limit for the rise in price of necessaries. Last night, however, he indicated a simjpler experiment, in the direction of establishing a Wages Board as a Bttbsidi-

ai-r festnre of our arbitration system. It can liardly be claimed that tac exiperience of Victoria, tor example, has given conclusive proof of the value oi ; Wages Boards. l>nt something of the kind in close connection -with comDulsjDry arbitration might prove genuinely usefnL At the same time -we do not think that the Conciliation Boards should be abolished to' make room for this new tribunal It snonid not be forgotten that the Conciliation Boards were once the fundamental "feature of our Arbitration system; and most of the dim.-, cnlties that have arisen in connection ■with tie Arbitration Act might have been avoided if conciliation had been resorted to invariably in the first Jrtace before the final expedient wae ■fcned. The /Vr.»»ffiatim Boards -might,

[possibly Be empowered-to act as Wages ißoards in some tents-tire fashion; but it appears to us that tie system, has always needed the extension and enllargenient of their powers rather than itheir destruction." *- —

; A subject about ■which Mr Millar was mot particularly happy or conclusive was the Land BflL 14 seems to "us that the Minister for Labour has not even as I clear a conception of the question at issue as the Minister for Lands. To say j that the outcry against the Land Bill is due to the excess of the assets of our j landowners over liabilities, or the nigJi I price of our exports, is to display a very I inadequate -acquaintance -with the merits jof vlie erase. The section of tLe Ministry which supports the bill is eridentij/like Mr Miliar, chiefly impressed .with, the dangers arising from the - accumulation of large areas of land in a few hands. We admit that careful precautions should be taken to secure the rights of the people in this respect. But it is evident that Mr Millar entirely fails to understand how absolutely the progress of settlement —in other words the prosI fieri try of the country—depends in the j Xon h Island on the acquisition of the freehold. The question of endowments is of very little importance to us, because past experience has shown us that such Lrown lands as are .now available ior these purposes could never brrng in any large revenue under a system of jjuie Lasehold. .Despite Mr .Miliars discmitner. \ae Land iiiil mil st-and or fail on the freehold and leasehold issue, and it is to be hoped that Ministers will realise fhi* truth in time.

On the subject of finance, -we are glad to be able to agree with Mr. Millar that Government is displaying a genuine desire to husband the resources of the colony, and at the same time is trying to get rid of some of our more immediate liabilities. The reduction of outstanoinn Treasury Bills by £150.000 is cerUimy a step in the right direction., for nothing i= more dangerous in public finance than thj rapid accumulation of short-dated debentures of this type. With the exception of the issue of .inconvertible State, paper, the constant over-the-counter sale cf Treasury Bills is the most risky experiment that a Finance Minister can make, and we hope that a radical change in policy in this respect is heralded by. tba redemptions to which Mr. Millar referred. As to the annual surplus, the transfer of £775,000 to the Public Works Fund and its espenditure on roads and railway? oaght to have convinced evea the most sceptical Opposition critics that j Liberal surpluses are genuine, and this year's balance of £717,000 i= eertainJv a substantial foundation for further active development of the public works policy. Borrowing should undoubtedly be cut down to the lowest practicable TnrnJTmTm. But the finaacifirs on the Opposition j benches invariably ..vexpJaife sach a country as -.this- am be GSefiatf Hjr] and raMwavsJ which necessarily mean a heavy annual loan expenditure. Against our liabilities : we can set a splendid array of assets, and the evidence supplied by our financial ieturns proves conclusively that, as Mr. Millar claims, the Liberal policy, while vigorously progressive, i= not extravagant, \ and continues to be dictated by due ooniideration for the needs of the colony, and its people.