SPEECH AT REEFTON.

Press, Volume LXIV, Issue 13112, 11 May 1908, Page 7

SPEECH AT REEFTON.

(riUESS ASSOCIATION' TELXGRAM.) REEFTON, May 10. ' Yesterday Sir Joseph Ward, arrived, at Reef ton, andl was warmly £**»** at the County Council Chambers. The Cadets formed a guard of honour. In thanking the residents, Sir Jo*>ph Ward.specially dealt with tho subject of drill. , _ . _„ In the afternoon the Premier opened the section of thoßeeftonWostport railway to Crona_un. Speeches weie made at Cronadun by tho Premier and Messrs Guinness, Colvin, and McKeuzie, M.P.'s. The evening was taken up by a speech given before a large audience, the county chairman presiding. Tho Premier stated he would sketch the past actions of the Government in. regard to land legislation of the past session ; as many, both Press and people, criticised the conditions and legislation desirable. Many laws bed been placed on the Statute Book last session for every walk of life. He would chiefly confine himself to an account of the legislation. He reminded them that tho population of the Dominion was less than a million, andi tho territory a little under that of Great Britain and Ireland. He brought before them the condition of land legislation in those countries. Game laws and the aggregation of large estates benefited tho few as against the many, but the duty of the legislators here was to improve the conditions of life for tho people, and those coming after, and) to raise the country to a higher plane of civilisation than that of the Old World, the causes of which were outrageous laws concerning; lands. The Government deemed- it necessary to take steps to prevent the outrages, abuses, and anomalies recurrent in the Old Country. Tho people here woald not allow wealth to*, monopolise the land, and tho Government moved in that direction. Men had said. that the Government wanted to confiscate land, but not a single Bill or word of : the Government could bo taken to mean this-. The Government introduced the graduated taxation prevenifcing a. man having more than £40,000 worth of land unices he pays the graduated tax. The consequence was that many land owners would sell out to escape the tax, and the land would be filled with people instead of cattle and sheep. The second Land Bill provided nationaJ reservos for endowment, for education., and old age pensions. As the cost of these increased, the revenues, already £80,000, would increase. The third Bill was the Land Bill which prevented anyone purchasing the freehold of the leasehold at the prices ruling when, taken up, and taking advantage of the largo accretion in present land values. These Acts of the Government would benefit the people. The JNative Lands Bill had also opened; up «. great area of native ttnoooupied land for the benefit of setfcl ements. Strong remarks had- been made concerning the increase in taxation, but the Govj ernraont had! reduced' taxation by &f 5 2£°° : 000 Customs, £274,000 Post Office and Telegraph, £860,000 miltways, £20.000 Bheep tax, the people, getting the practical benefit from : these reductions and remissions. Referring to the success of the supera-nuatioii schemes for the Civil bervice, police and railways, the PretaM*r promised a scheme for general superannuation. This would be the corollary to the superannuation scheme already m force, and would enable anyone reaching sixty-five to retire'and end his days in peace and happiness, rne Premier spoke strongly of the necessity of assisting farming interests, as all lived on the irktustTy. Bfe commented strongly on the competition* of Canada and the Commonwealth, and said that the Dominion suffered in England at the hands of the Danes, Germans, etc., while the colonies were ready to defend her interests. Speaking on the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, the Premier said _iat next session the Government would bring down measures which would, in their opinion, amend the Arbitration Court. The Court was a good piece of machinery, but required some alteration which the Cabinet would do. .The • Cabinet would do its best to preserve that portion of our law which had been, of the greatest benefit to the worker. He would be frank enough, to tell those concerned that the»Governme_t of New Zealand would never allow anything to be done, either, by employer or employee, that would cause disruption of industrial peace. , (Applause). Hesaid that people spoke of the Government as being a divided concern, because of the-views adopted by this member or that on the land or single tax questions. The Government was simply composed of men who abidetl' by the verdict of iho majority, and onco a decision was arrived at that was a concrete expression of the Cabinet as a whole. During the next session Cabinet had resolved that the minority election should be done away with, and they would introduce a Bill for. -that purpose. Whether it would control voting by means of an absolute majority or a second ballot, he could not yet say, but they were determined that no member should get into the House by a minority voto, as had happened in the past. The Premier asked them to judge by tho actions of the Government, and hot by rumour. A hearty vote of thanks and confidence was carried with tumultuous applause. WESTPORT, May 10. Sir Joseph and Lady Ward arrived overland from Reefton by motor car to-day. They left their car on the other side of the river at the Nine Mile, and crossed by a small boat and drovo into Westport. They were mot at tho punt by tho Mayor and other representative townsmen.