LAND CONFERENCE DELEGATES ENTERTAINED.

Evening Post, Volume LXVIII, Issue 135, 5 December 1904, Page 5

LAND CONFERENCE DELEGATES ENTERTAINED.

LUNCHEON AT BELLEVUE GARDENS. By way of recreation, the various LaniS Board member.9 (to the number of 48), who have been sitting in conference with the Minister for Lands for the past few days, journeyed to the Bellevue Gardens on Saturday, where they were entertained at an excellent luucn. The Hons. TY. Duncan and J. Carroll were present at the function. After the customary loyal toast, Mr. John Stevens pioposed "The Premier and the Ministry," and spoke at some length) in eulogy of the present Government. Iv the coursa of his speech he referred with approval to the change from the days of earlier Governments when, if a farmer wi&hed to interview a Minister, he had to pass through "as many doors as shut out the public from the eight- of the wive* of the great Maliarajahs of India." Speaking of the Opposition — which he admitted was necessary — he urged that the Opposition, should oppose in a broad sense, and_ take exception to the methods of the Government, and not to its respectability. It was a discredit to humanity that sucb things were done. Despite the fact that much had been said against Mr. Duncan, yet he was held in high esteem by biobli people in the country, and deservedly so. Neitner he nor sMr. Carroll had ever refused an interview to any one seeking t« obtain one. The policy of the Goveralnent, he contended, was to "level up," and not to "level dowu," and in spite ot the predictions that ruin and devastatioa would ensue upon the advent of th« Liberals to power, the result had been that the colony was happy and prosperous. The toast' was supported by Mr. Andrew Matheson (Greymouth), "who spoka in similar terms, and referred to the ©vidences which he noted fh a recent trip to England and America of the well-adver-tised state of the colony. In the coursa of his response, the Hon. T. Y. Duncan expressed the convictioa that the- life of the Ministry was largely due to the fact that its members were not born with silver spoons in their mouths, but had started at the bottom of the ladder, and were all practical men. In com* ing through to the front they had be» come pretty well acquainted with tb» wants of the settlers generally, and they always had these in their minds. After speaking of the Premier and his rise t» power, the speaker v referred to his owa work He had been endeavouring to da his best to carry out the work of his predecessor—the lats Sir John M'Kenzie. H» had been a strong man — stronger thaa ever he (Mr. Duncan) could ever hope to be. No one ever had more of his predecessor's confidence than hiniEelf , and when, ever he had been in trouble he had alway* sent for "old Tom Duncan." After th© post of Minister for Lands and Agriculture had been offered him (Mr. Duncan) he had consulted Sir John, because the work — including the administering of roads and bridges, agriculture and forestry, was very heavy. But he had takeu it on. The present Government had instituted the Agricultural Department, and had also initiated various industries which stood high in the eyes of the other colonies. The land for settlements policy had, been inaugurated by the Ballance Government, and no one could have been better, fitted to carry it into effect than Sit John M'Kenzie. But without the Advances to Settlers scheme it would not have been easy to carry out, and the result of the latter policy had been to lower the rate of interest. It was the first thing that sent the colony along to prosperity. He had no doubt that the policy of land for settlements would still go on as well as it had done so far. He concluded with an acknowledgement of the kindly references to himself. The Hon. J. Carroll- also epoke, and claimed that the Government had always done its best to perform its duty to tlie people, and to promote every concern that was of advantage to the colony. "We have tried our best to do this," he con tinued, "and though we are not, per haps, fortunate enough to hold ' very higl places in the social scale, yet we cuh claim honesty of purpose, and can tuk* a certain amount of credit for looking after the interests of the people of New Zealand. Politics in this colony were of a very rapid growth, and developed more rapidly than in older climes, where the conditions were more firmly "set." In % pliable and elastic young country such aa this, the minds of Ministers should be ever on the alert to meet the changing wants of the time; and the colony had in the past few years gone through many stages since the days when the colony had only one great industry — namely, wool. As time went on, other industrien sprang up, requiring new branches of Government, and calling for new departments of administration. Whatever thfr present Government's sins might be, they could claim to be original and experiment, al, and to have made things better than they found them. They had, in fact, been pegging out claims for posterity. All the various Ministries deserved their meed of praise. The earlier Ministries ha<J done noble work, and the present Ministry had followed many of the furrow* which they had laid down. Mr. Carroll then dealt at some length with the land tenure question (as reported elsewhere). In a brief speech »Mr. Carroll then proposed the toast of "The Land Boards and Crown Land Commissioners of the Colony." The colony, he eaid, owed a deep debt of gratitude to the Land Board*, which had done their work honestly and well. If they had been tied down by the Land Acts, that was not their fault, and they had sacrificed much time and energy to further the intentions of the Legislature. The Commissioners also had worked hand in hand with the Boards, and had done very well. He was convinced that with an improved ordei; of things the Boards and the Commissioners would bring about a great improvement. The toast was responded to by Messrs. Humphries (Canterbury) and Strauchon (Wellington). The former mentioned that after his assocsitioa with the Land > Boards hv. would be sorry to see any change in those bodies. Mr. Strauchon echoed this sentiment, and said that he had heard n» serious complaints against the Boards. A vote of thanks was passed to the Minister for Lands, \\ ho , expresf-ed tha hope that the present conference of Land Boards would not be the last one.