THE PRIME MINISTER

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 156, 26 March 1908, Page 8

THE PRIME MINISTER

SPEECH vATONEHUNQA,

REPLY TO LEADER OF THE OPPOSITION. • FINANCIAL .POSITION OF THE COLONY. GOVERNMENT POLICY DEFENDED. v : \DY TEI,*ECItAPI!—riiKSS ASSOCIATION.) -' ■ Auckland, March 25. • 'The Primo'Minister (Sir. Joseph Ward) addressed: a large-- audionco at Oneliunga tonight-, in reply to a specch by the Leader of the Opposition (Mr. Massey), and to recent financial criticisms in Wellington. It ,was. a very extraordinary, tiling, said Sir Joseph, at the-outset,--that there seemed to bo an effort to cast doubt upon the financial stability of tho country.- Tlio Leader of tho Opposition' admitted that tho: country was sound and prosperous, and ho took, up tho position of the increased indebtedness'' of £10,000,000' during tho last six years. It. was, therefore, necessary to say what this £16,000,000. had-been invested in. _ Of that sum, .-£10,527,156 v/a's - interest-bearing. Mr. Massey,,ho, said; addf)'ted"the old method of giving the incroascd indebtedness per head, stating/what, the indebtedness per hj3ad_of population-was how, -as against 1895.; Ho ni'udo" iio ' allowanco. for trie amount that, ought to ■ be.-credited to this in the shape of the asscts' in -which the money had been invested; For.instanco, tho money loaned to farmers in every .case,-had the security of land behind it, as also lands purchased under tho Lands.for Settlement; Act. - The money in.vested'' in railways -had. the security, of railways behind it, and so;on,.and yet one found a writer,/ who, by 'tho way, was ; a land na-'tidnaliser-iand .'single taxer, writing in support' of -Mr. Massey in. l .Yftf'ious papers, and taking-; up the same lino of argument and making a comparison'with- England, where the railways were,privately owned, and where .there./was no' Advances ',to Settlers Department.- That'/ v sh.ohld. be: sufficient to-show, at least the unfairness/of such a method of judging tlio financial/position of tho country. Sido by . "side with' .'tho increased ; bor■rowing that had taken-place, .they would find iMr. Massey'and his friends urging every.session 'largiy'additional-'cxpondlture, running into millions, "for' fresh " railways and other ■public .conveniences,■ so that if_ Mr. Massey was really in earnest in his criticisms'in this r'c'spcct, he/should! say-..straight out that'lie was 'opposed- to .borrowing for additional public, works. Our revenue as at March :31 this year,/, was . the highest on: 'record, approaching nearly-£9,00,000. sterling; the, balance of rovenuo over. oxpendituro at tho end of the present finajieial yaar, inclusive of £800,000 taken oiit .of ordinary revenue and transferred to tho public Works Fund, was, in "round firur'eSj and we would have at'the beginning of the financial year on April 1 next £750, ; 000. ' Tho position was unprecedented- in tho; financial history of tho country. / • ; .// .■ ': . ' PUBLIC WORKS. . "f;-"

; "'ln the House,and.outside of-the House," continued, tho Prime Minister, I ■ havo strongly, resisted' and rofuspd to yield' to the demands'/, of' both Opposition and Government members ;,td givo elf cct to a largely inpreesed policy,', of . public , works, and I have not at','any time "urged;, upon - the people a course' of \wild. or'extravagant-public expenditure. eithor ' publicly' or privately. (Applause.) '" '' RENEWAL AND CONVERSION OPERA- . . TIONS. "Alarm has been expressed regarding our renewal 'arid conversion' operations, and - the questipn ,has been,,,asked ; why, in recent times,/money has been borrowed at 4'per cent; instead of 3} per cent. I am very gjad''to"'say j.that all these operations have been attended ' toi long before the; time of their'..falling 1 ' The total amount' matured ''during the'• last tlireo years , was £6,202,366, of . which ' £864,000 was converted, '*£2,819,066 renewed, - and ,£2,420,300 ,'redeemed. The interest'on £862,400 of this amount , was.' reduced'; from 4 per cent, to 3J' iperM'cent.'. Of amount redeemed ,£BOO,OOO was paid ,out of released sinking fund, and the balance was provided for either, by tliq issue of debentures at the same interest ,or'by .the :'sale of 3J per cent, stock. There, was , also; 4 per cent, debentures not yet duo converted into 3J per cent, stock; and an annual saving of interest of over £4400 per annum, effected. In addition to this, £124,000 of tho released sinking fund was dovoted; to the payment off of a like amount; of 3.V cent: debentures, this amount -beiug practically wiped off tho public debt. ■ ■ ' ' /

; WEALTH OF THE COLONY". . Referring, to public -and private wealth, .Sir Joseph said thoso who were impugning ,tho v gentral stability of tho, country, should have faith-in its future when they recognised, that tho private wealth in 1890 was ( and in 1806 £304,654,000/ an £162,000,000 in six years.' Public property was £62,041,000 in'l9o6, an increase of £18,800,000 in six years. Native lands and improvements, exclusive of lessees' interest, .increased .in . six years by £3,900,000, and public indebtedness for general government, including the foreign loans for Iccal bodies, increased by £16,500,000. Tho net credit balance over and abovo the public indebtedness of both Government and local government owing outside tho Dominion was £171,206,000, _ and this for a community under a million. ! .Ho quoted increases .in gold and silver, kauri-gum, and coal, etc., to illustrate tho extraordinary natural resour >es of. the Dominion.

REPLY TO MR. VAILE. '■Ho then- referred/at considerable length to the'letters written; to the Press by Mr. S. iVailo, ofAuckland, and showed by figures that the Customs had riot been an increased tax, but. the increases represented increased prosperity and greater purchases of luxuries, tiir Josoph also stated that railway charges had riot increased ; at and . that .it was ■ ridiculous, to say taxation, was " moro than it was 12 years ago. The greater revenue from, tho, income; ;tax ,was. the .result of the in- ' creased earnings of the people. He generally-ridiculed.'Mr.-;Yaile's theories as regards railway finance, and gave a synopsis of railway progress,- and. concessions since the Government, resumed control in 1895, showing a total of, £850,000.-concession • in fares'and freights, £883,000 in additional train services, and < £375,000 increased pay to railway men, -a-grand'total'o! £2,1U8,W0. i'he revenue for all lines, increased for the current year by £112,743. ... . . "if:, "ADVANCES TO SETTLERS. Replying to Mr. Massey, as regards advances * to settlers Tmd workers,. he said' this year tho total granted to settlers, under the Advances to' Settlers Act, was £1,239,000, and fb under Advances to Workers Act, was £247,500. If Mr. Massey's amendment to. increase 1 , the. margin for workers to 75 per cent, had .beon carried, either the settlors would have had to do with £295,'000 less, or the workers'would have had to do without the £247,500, to enable tho settlers to get . the amount they did. Tho Government . was never, opposed to advances to ,workors ; as since 1899 loans had been upon the basis of a two-thirds margin, both upon, urban and suburban", lands. When the Advances to Settlers Act was bofore Parliament, ~Mr;;;.:Massey declared against a two-thirds • margin, and said 60 por cent, would be.sufficient for all purposes,, and urged that a limit for a settler should be- £250. The Advances to Sotilers :'Act was for years opposed by the Opposition, who prognosticated disaster. : THE LAND BILL. Speaking on tho Land Bill, the Minister denied that, as stated by "Mr. Massey, tho revenue from endowments was only £49,000. It was, £86,000. It was expected that, in addition, tiinber . royalties would realise £50,000. to £60,000. Mr. Massoy advocated the freehold. He-(the spoakor) replied that tho freehold/option existed for Crown lands. The aim of t^e'Government had always been to'encourage the holding of land in moderate areas. He quoted figures to show that in 1881 thore were 50,852 holdings of 15,206,897 acres, and in. 1907. there were 72,358 holdings of acres. Out of 3/ acres of occupied land only, 8,884,295 acres

wore hold in estates of 50,000 acrcs and upwards, while ton years ago 10,120,643 ncrcs wero in large cstntcs. lie combated tho statement- that valuations ( would not be fairly assessed at tho end of a 66 years' lease. Mr. Massey said tho Government was not pushing on with settlement, but tho Government desired that every section should bo thoroughly surveyed and road access provided. Tlio whole survey staff, was engaged, and every, effort was being made to put all suitable lands on the market at the earliest momoiit. It was impossible to obtain additional surveyors. LAND NATIONALISATION. Speaking oil land nationalisation, Sir Joseph said ho wan"' surprised at Mr. Massey asking if ho (Sir Joseph) was ill favour of land nationalisation, becauso it was (lis-, tinctly stated in Parliamentary rccords that he (tho speaker) had declared the Governfnont was not in favour of. land nationalisation or singlo tax. Land nationalisation meant tho talcing of privato land by confiscation or otherwise, and voting it to tlio nation. The Land Act did not nationalise or seek to nationalise land. It aimed at reserving some land already belonging to the peopl ofor tho people. Land Acts years before the present Government took power for reservation for education purposes up to the whole of tlio remaining Crown lands. It was truo tlie .sanction of Parliament was required, but the principlo was clearly confirmed by a Statuto passed -many years ago, and no, new principle had been introduced -in ' providing . endowments for education, and old age pensions. Tho legislation of tho past eleven years had aimed at closer settlement, but Mr. Massey opposed the I compulsory powers of tho State acquiring lands for closer settlement, and voted against Sir John M'Kcnzio. There never was an Act in which the Government proposed to tako away tho freohold from a man who owned his land.

. SOCIALISM. Mr. Massey ; . said the Socialistic. section had been getting a little from every session for eleven years, and betrayed _ himsolf in that, for during that : period legislation had been in tho direction of-limitation and subdivision, apd this Mr. Massey calls Socialism, and one, must assume he ,is opposed to it. Tho Governmeht Socialism had ~ never been revolutionary.' ' It' had dono. moro .for tho small farmer ,than any. previous legislation. The Government opposed tliati revolutionary Socialism vyhicli destroyed individual effort. THE CABBACE CARDENS. ■ In referring to the cabbago gardens, Sir Joseph said'the people i opposed the growing up of a Chinese population, and tho Government would do/ all in its power to prevont Chineso coming- into direct conflict as competitors with..Eurbpeans. No jeering from anyone would deter the Government from its course in' this respect. ; COALITION. . In conclusion, tho Primo Minister said that no suggestion of coalition had come from him, nor had it come from tho Leader of the Opposition' to him;" TK6."lino', of demarcation was 'clearly defined, and. the project which had boon ' discussed : need not bo seriously considered. A vote of,;thanks and confidence was carried unanimously. ■