THE PRIME MINISTER.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 120, 13 February 1908, Page 8

THE PRIME MINISTER.

TOUR OF THE AUCKLAND DISTRICT ADDRESSES AT PAEROA AND KARANCAHAKE. IMPERIAL DEFENCE." ■ . • (BY:. TELEGItATH.' —-PRESS ' ASSOCIATION.) ' '"Paeroa, February 12. ...Sir Joseph",and Lidy' Ward arrived in Paeroa at no'ori to-'day from'To Aroha, travelling by! motor-car. They were welcomed to ; tho-township'by the Chairman of thoOhine- . muri County Council' fi&r. W. G. Nicholls). Several deputations waited upon tho Prime Minister in connection with local matters. , : The Prime' Minister subsequently paid a brief visit to; Karahgah'ake, where, after receiving* several deputations on local matters, ho .was requested to give an address. He acquiesced; delivering "a twenty-minutes' speech, in which he expounded and defended the . general policy :of the Government." A vote of thanks was accorded to him. In the evening he delivered a political address at Paeroa, . and was afterwards en-

tertained by the'Chairman-and members of the Ohinemuri County, Council at a banquet. SILTINC UP OF THE OHINEMURI / > RIVER. (by telegraph—special correspondent ■) ; ' U';■ ylir, February 12. ; The toost"'important 1 niatter which the Prime Minister'was called'iipon to deal with at . Paeroa to-day. was-the; silting up of the Ohinemuri River.' Tailings' at the rato of from ,35^000' t0... tons per month are being turned into 'this'liver)' and as a result are choking.it,"desWoying !it_ior navigation. In. addition ;thß V tailings' are being spread over the flats,- impoverishing settlers' lands, arid are;; also.destroying the drainage of the district 1 . ; o ( n.;top. of;all; this it is foared that, the .'water must,'-soorier or 'later, spread over

• the flats; in whichcase many .settlers would, bo practically '.ruined.,lt- is; on the tapis, too, that"the Piako Swamp''drainage may bo affected. ; Tho matter,, has" formed the. subject of a petition to' "Parliament, and has been recommended to the' .Government for favourable" consideration: ' r Thesfi facts were all laid before Sir Joseph }\ v ard by a representative deputation', and'it was also suggested .to him .that.'the' Government should'

1 subsidise .a schemff/'for miking tho tailings ;infov;a;;,.Mmm'9naar 'ooinmbdity, such as • bricks,^.-a;'scheme.'! that' 'was "put forward as beirig-feasiblo. I '' ; J > ; lii■■ reply .the Primo Minister said he recognised the vital importance of this.qucs- . tion; v'eiy,-close attention, 1 and •tho; Government .'would assist any practicable scheme. , : v , Th^y, .'did -not,/however, ; want to,' take , the'course',suggested for tho of:;tho. find afterwards that' the intention of the.'; experiments had not'-ibeen 'realised.. They,wanted to be sure ,th'at'':the';bnck' , indiibtry''suggestod could be established, at' a',,price to/.ensure tho successful; carrying on ( of the/enterprise, and:that theTbricks • were. fa . ordinary, .bricks now'' obtainable'.'..' There "was a. difference of opinion, on, this, subject; .'Some thought that some of the best bricks in -the country could bo i.inade from-the If the Govern-merit.-could;preveht,Vthe''de'struction of the , :.settlers', .lands and;.'presei;Ve the river, and 'at\the same'.timo contribute towards an, industry '-with'. !a-"goodv 'chance • of success, they would '.be.' prepared, to ,give a con-, siderable, '~contribution,., running into sev- : 'eral. thouMn3s; : (App\ausel): He considered, however,;>therb:-sh6uld.'T)e some co-operation between ,the ..two r 'locar.bodies interested, who were receiving between. them about per>year ; .from thoigold revenue. They had a responsibility in - this matter. He hoped •bbfore;. very f long to be i'ablo to submit a practical .proposal to sojye, the silting-up difficulty; -There :j was, no . doubt that when the realised-that ".theV destruction was 1 going; on..in with the Ohinemuri River v and " the j surrounding land, that it would ;becomo a question 1 there should not be a modification' of the' lawon.,tho lines of preventing the putting of ,the'- tailings f into. the rtypr 1 ,0r,- assisting in the handling of;tjhem'r "(Abplause.) "

; THE ARBITRATION ACT. ...In the'course of his speech at Karangahake this afternoon Sir. Joseph' Ward referred in an' interesting- manner : to tho' Act. It .could,' ho said, be improved, but none the"leS's'.'it.'had-.dbno away, with the old system' of .tho Strength vof- the 'men against the strength- of money... Under that, system only one class suffered—the workers; and their wives l and children. A similar state of things would be,our lot here, if in the future 'we. repealed from our .Statute Books that important ' piocoriofi ,worlcM wWcli enabled disputes, to be.settlcd by a process of law, and providod in, tho. fiueantimo .against any loss of production in the particular industry affected. . - SPEECH AT PAEROA. : The Prime Minister's address in the evening/ which, was'given before ail audience that filled the .Criterion-Theatre, was largely upon tho lines of, his policy speech in Auckland recently.::He,dealt ,with tho prosperity of ' the Donimioiij'; and- legislation of accent years, particularly: referring to the land laws, taxation,'. a and:-.tenure. Ho'.quoted figures: in support, of; a contention that the tariff alteraMons > had-, benefited everybody in the country. Ho touched. on tho questions of, .tho: protection'of infant' life, immigration, and; finance. •He made an interesting digression on-tho subjcct of defence,; leading up to it by a, reference to a white. New. Zealand. ; ln New Zealand, he said,;, the, people, minted to ensure for themsolves a'-ivhite'-raco. They wanted to prevent' a mixture,, particularly with Eastern races.'.,Yet,what were.the facts? Within a few day 3' - ..sail of New/ Zealand there, wcro millions of Chinese and millions of Japanese. It was. the former wo had to look to. The Chinese \v;ere t ,being:-educated to-day in tlio arts And sciences. ana : warfare, and in the.latter by ririen -who wanted to uso them iii the future for j their.- own. aggrandisement'. Wo lia'd . the .shadow' of; tho.-yellow peril ovor Now , ZeTtlandi ' ' Suppose," tho ■ time- should come -in fufu're.-J.y.ears.', : .w,hcn'..tho .educated Chinese , were, able to shoulder a gun; and take their'positionin; tlio. fiold on equal terms : of - other " natibhs. : : :,'Could wo expect a handful, "of; people ,'iii l.New Zealand •to effectually .defend our shores against them P; .This : was one-of-the dangers on the horizon to-day. We must recpgiiise that it was oiir boundon "to -insure against it. Germany's policy for. a long timo had been to build ships of war to be: abla to tako part against Great Britain should occasion arise. Why had the British Admiralty refused to agree to a reduction in ; tho Naval Estimate? It was because Germany "was .carrying out this building programme with her navy. A This , was.'a' 'menace, to Great Britain, and so a jwlicy'iof'b'uildiug two warships to one was forced upon the people of Britain as a mere act, of .future defence' and safety. Wo should never-have a naval en-gagemenfon-thonNoiv Zealand coast. Tho future engagement would be in tho Mediter-ranean,'-perhaps',: ! or in the" East, off India, perhaps-; but when it did come, let us hope that England would win. If Germany woro to. win, it would mean, that, not only Great Britain, but every portion of tho British Empire would be beaton. Tho forces that were moving in the.different-empires compelled us 1 in; theso-young, .countries, not to neglect small matters. When the, poojjlp of tho Dominion heard that' the'naval agreement under which New Zealand was paying £40,000 a year to the British Navy had.to-bojincreased thoy must remember that this payment was not being made on sentimental grounds. They must; try-and realise that thore was property hero'valued.'at several hundrod millions at stakd. As! tho peoplowould insure their houses, the Government, as a common-scnso ono, must insure against..any foreign Power coming'in 'and' taking our,;porsonal property. Tho British Navy; was our first liuo of defence, and British'pluck,''coiirago, and tra-. dition would 'come' in there. If tlio last defence was. sjvept away;oy.ery man in tho Doeven in-tbo event of tho beating of the British 'fleet in tho'Mediterranean, or in tho East, would fight on tb.tho last to preserve, their, country. (Applause.) ■ At - tho'close of his Vyc. Forrest .((chairman of", the 1 Paeiroa' branch of tho Lib-, eral ahd ':Labpur; Federation), moved a vote of Sir Joseph, ;and a vote of con-: hiim as Primo Minister, and in tho Government. yThis .was, carried by acciamation'. ' Ch'eers wore. giyen for Sir Joseph and Jjady/.Warde ;• - '