The Auckland Star.: WITH WHICH Are INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News and The Echo. FRIDAY, JUNE 25, 1929. THE GOVERNOR'S SPEECH.

Auckland Star, Volume LX, Issue 151, 28 June 1929, Page 6

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

FRIDAY, JUNE 25, 1929. THE GOVERNOR'S SPEECH.

For *,he cause that lacks assistance, For the wrong that needs resistance, For the future in the distance, And the good that we can do.

Though the vice-regal Speech delivered to Parliament yesterday contained a good deal of material, there was nothing in it of a startling or unexpected character. On the two really vital questions of the moment, the Railways and Land Settlement, the little that was said followed closely the lines of previous Ministerial statements, and it was expressed in general terms without any attempt at analysing the Government's intentions in detail. Naval policy, road transport, taxation and education were the other main topics mentioned, and these, with some comment <011 the condition of Samoa and a sympathetic reference to the calamitous earthquake in the South, made up the balance of the Speech.

The administrative activities of any government are necessarily limited by its financial resources, and the Speech dwelt naturally 011 some important aspccts of the financial position. A deficit of over half a million litis to be wiped out, and with this object in view "some adjustments- of the incidence of taxation will be necessary." The proposed changes will be awaited with considerable interest by those 011 whom the burden of taxation at present chiefly falls. But the general condition of the country, its good financial standing at Home, and its highly favourable balance of trade, amounting to 110 less than £.12,000,000 last year, provide a sufficient guarantee that the Government will be able to find the revenue that it requires without in any way straining or depleting the resources of the Dominion. - 111 regard to Land Settlement, the Speech naturally lays stress on the necessity for pushing 011 the Government's programme with till possible speed. The areas available for this purpose are the undeveloped Crown and such improved land as, after due investigation of its possibilities and its price, the Government decides to purchase. While much may be done with the great stretches of land in the North Island not vet occupied, we believe that the policy originally defined in the Lands for Settlement Act can be carried out to-day with great benefit to the whole country, and we hope that the promise of special measures to ensure the purchase of siich land on reasonable terms will speedily be fulfilled. As to • Railways, for further details we must await the Financial Statement, which we hope will contain some, adequate justification for the proposed completion of the Southern Main Trunk. In the meantime, the Speech assures us that the Government will not build short branch railways, and that the competition of motor traffic will be taken into account in all future construction. \ An important question, closely connected with Land' Settlement, is the matter of Immigration. On this the Speech, ■while supporting in general terms the policy of "British migration within the Empire," gives an assurance that assisted immigration so far as we arc concerned "must be regulated at all times, by the economic exigencies of the Dominion." In regard to Education, while we appreciate the importance of vocational and agricultural training, we hope that the Education Department will not be induced to sacrifice for any such purpose the fundamental principles on which the cultural development of all communities must be based. As to Samoa, it is to be hoped that steps will be taken to lay once more before the natives the Government's promise, of generous consideration for their grievances, 011 condition that tliev cease to defy or break the law. As for the rest of the Speech, of all topics of general interest, the earthquake looms largest before the public eye to-day, and the Government may bo commended for its prompt offer of "generous practical assistance." But while the process of reconstruction and recovery must be long and costly, it is to be hoped that measures will be adopted at once to ensure the relief of the most necessitous cases among the refugees from the funds already accumulated and regidy for distribution.