THE PREMIER AT DUNEDIN. CLAIMS A SURPLUS OF £781,030.

Evening Post, Volume LXIX, Issue 122, 25 May 1905, Page 5

THE PREMIER AT DUNEDIN. CLAIMS A SURPLUS OF £781,030.

THE LAND QUESTION AND OTHER MATTERS. [by TELEonAPrr— i'uess asrocution.l DUNEDIN, 24th May. The Premier, at the Princess Theatre this evening, had one of the lnrgest and most enthusiastic audiences ever men in the city, passages and corridors being packed, and hundreds being turned away. On entering the Premier received an ovation and there was loud and prolonged cheering. The stage was occupied by repiescntative men, and tho ex-Mayor, Mr. Christie, pietided. Before cominencini; his address, the Premier read a message fioui Loid Meath conveying Kinpiro Day greetings, and called on the audience to sing the National Anthem. Launching into his speech, the Premier said he had ti> quote Sir William Itusscll's testimony. (A \oice : "A good man too.") Tho Premier ; You are quite right, and this what he said : "1 consider that Mr. Seddon is the strongest men we have ever hud." Continuing, ho Mid Mr. Massey and tho Opposition bad been " boomed " during the l;ust few weeka. Ho never rctfeeted on the press of tho colony, but he would yay that the Opposition press had done, a little too much booming. They ought at least to be fair. After v. " boom," thero w*is always a "burst," and they would have it next November. It always followed. The Premier went on to refer to recent speeches by Mr, Massey, and, after a reference to the High Coinmissionership, dealt with the Public Revenues Act. Some time ago he had said thero was not a single measure that the Opposition would daie to repeal, but what did they think tho Opposition would do? They would repeal three clauses of that Public Revenues Act, and one clniibe of another Act. Seeing that the Government had placed no fewer than 840 public Actit on the Statute-book, and seeing that tho Opposition was prepared to repeal only four clauses, ho was forced to confess that, the New Zealand Parliament was ftie best legislative machino the world had evei 1 known. Clause 3 of tho Public Revenue Act of 1900 had been asked for by tho Departments, and had nothing whatever to do with tho iiicreaw of £40 given to members of Parliament during that session. Tho clnuse referred to was necessary under the Post Office Act and under the Railways Act, and it was to avoid putting the clause into tho Appropriation Act that it was inserted in the Public Revenue Act. Clause 4, which enabled tho transfer of items voted from one class to another, had been the law since 1872. Dealing with clause 9 (differences with audit), he said tho law remained unaltered. There was some alteration in the wording, but there' was always tho same power in the matter of disputes with the Auditor-General as the powers that now obtain. It was a necessary power, and no Government dare be without it. The Public Revenues Act of 1900 went before tho Public Accounts Committee, and tho committee unanimously passed it, and beyond a technical amendment thero were no alterations made in the Act. The real opposition to the amendment was not from the Opposition, but came from tho " Leftwiugers." • PUBLIC ACCOUNTS. Speaking on the question of audit, the Premier said the public had been angled. Tho expenditure accounts of •the Railways, Lands, nnd Customs Departments wero audited by the Government, and thpae wero the only threw dopartn^nts which audited their own reI venue. The Lands, Railway, Postal, And ' Customs revenue accounts were audited by tho Departments, and nobody had seriously questioned in .the House the granting of that power to axidit. The most serious charge made against the Gorornemnt "was that Ihey corrupted the press of the colony, and ha asked why tho pross of the colony did not stand up and say they were beyond question. The Premier then quoted figures to show that tho Opposition papers oftvm received jnoro for advertisctnonts >than the pipers supporting the Government. It was not a case of "Kpoils to the victors," out "spoils to the vanquished." Tho Premier then went on to financo, and announced a surplus of £761,036. The receipts for the year were : — Reveniio, £7,282,870 ; sinking fund accretions, £63,200; other reocipts, £1127. Tho expenditure had been: Permauent appropriation, £2,670,972; annual appropriations, £6,635,902. The excess of receipts from expenditure was £711,295, ana a. balancs from last year of £49,471 made up tho surplus. The Opposition tried to hoodwink tho colony by stating that the Governrnont was charging expenditure to capital which ought to be charged to revenue. Tho Public Works Fund was not purely a loan fund, for half of it camo from tho Consolidated Rovenuo, and if the. Opposition took all the money that had ocen exjjended on building and renewals, they wouM still have £200,000 loft out of the £600,000 transferred from tho Consolidated Fund. On ol&t March the Public Works Fund was in credit to the extent of £861,870, and to that had to be added the balance of tho lust loan to be received, making £894,607 available to start the year with. THE LIBERAL PARTY. Mr. Massey claimed to be n Liberal, but ho had voted against the Lauds for Settlement Bill, Old-age Pensions Bill, and Advances lo Settlers Bill. It was no thanks to Mr. Mass--oy or the Opposition press that t-Ue country was prosperous, mo necessary legislation to uwke it so had been dragged from them. Tho Government had done far more than any one else to bring capital «nd labour together. Ho would hko to know this : What good did it do when U»e Opposition was oternully discrediting the colony? If they could burst the present Government's finance, Ihe Opposition thought it could get on the Treasury benches, but as long as he lived he would maintain a sound finance and mako this crippling of the colony's financo impossible. Tho proposed Civil Service Board was a feature of the Opposition policy, but this, tho Premier declared, would bo the substitution of a bureaucracy for democracy. THE LAND QUESTION. The Premier then referred to the land tenure question, and he asked how many Crown tenants there would be if Mr. Massey .had his way. The question of tenure was for tho people of the colony to settle, and Parliament would be in a better positiqn to know wh»t lo do when tho Royal Commission had completed iv duties At the present time the land revenue was £483,000. When was that money to come from if there were no tenants? He (the Premier) said, "You must keep to the leasing system, so tint every poor man in the country can go on the land if ho wants to."* Ho had •voided taking a positive attitude on this question of giving the Crown tenants the freehold He w«» waiting for further inforaumon. Owing to agitation by extremists, who said tihere was going to bo revaluation, the tenants had become nlnrmcd. All contracts made between the Government and its Crown tenants must be scrupulously observed. If there was to be any alteration in the law it should not be retrospective. There was

a very large area which did not pay a penny of land-tax. Mr. Maseey wanted to increase the land-tax, and if the Crown tenants knew the reason why he wanted to do so they Mould have borne questions , lo ask before they accepted tho freehold. The Government proposed to increase th» graduated land-tax, but it had always been opposed by (lie Opposition. PREFERENTIAL TRADE AND OTHER MATTERS. Dealing with, the question of preferen,' tiiil tiade, the Premier traced the growth in our imports fro.n the United Kingdom from 58.19 per cent, in 1894 to 60.6 per cent, to-day. America had doubled her exports ti>*N«T Zealand, while our exports to Amenca had remained almost btationary, but now he was glad to say that the imports from America were stationary, and our imports from the Mother Country were going up. The saaie thing had happened in Canada after the passing of tho Preferential Tiade Act, and although it had been but a short lime in operation lteie the. effect of it was noticeable, and ultimately we must in our own inteicistt:, in tho interests of our race, and in tlw intents of our Empire, give ull the trade we can to the Mother Country. On the hitbject of old-age pensions, tho . Premier stated the Jjf.sions cost the colony £195,000 per year. It was now * quest ion whether they might not give m , little more to the old lolk. Out of thenlnigo surplus this ye,ir, he did not think they could do anything Utter than to in- , crease tho pension to JOs » week. That ; would cost £94,000, and increabe the total cost by one-third. He had considered tho nia'lte'r very carefully, and Parliament would be asked to make the increase. Another matter the Go\ eminent had to cou- , sider was the necessity for Is'ur.ses' Homes, j There were not enough nurseh in New Zea,-' N land, and Ihe Government had a schemo ! under which they proposed to train from one hundred to' one hundred nnd fifty, nurses, v ho would be sent where their ser- - vices were most requiied. Ho wus quit* J sure that many valuable lives might b« I saved by this means. ' THE GOVERNMENTS POLICY. In conuclusion, Mr. Seddon Kuid he musti I refer to the policy of the Government. ■ They proposed to go on with the teachers* superannuation scheme, and he would lika to see a superannuation Hchcme for- tho whole Civil Service. Thero must also be a readjustment of teachers' salaries. Forestry and tree-pla-nting must b© systematically carried out. Local govern* inent with an assured finance would also receive the attention of the Government, - whose local government proposals had ' hitherto been blocked by the Opposition. 'Hp thought it was th« fcoolest thing ' imaginable for tho Leader of the Opposi- -' tion to go about the country outlining local government reforms. Royalties on timber and flax wero to go to the local ' revenue. Tho fruit industry was to b» encouraged, and the housing of tha workers was to receive attention, while ' there muht be sooner or later a limitation of the area of land to be held by one person. The policy of tho Opposition wn»- ; this : The restoration of the power of tho , Auditor-General, the repeal of the Public ' Revenues Act, Legislative Council reform,/* ; the appointment of a Public Service ' Board, local government reform, freehold ,' for Crown tenants, and independence ol Magistrates ; but would all these help tho i country to bo prosperous T He did not think so. Tho policy of the Opposftioa - was one of negation and stagnation, ami • on the other hand tho policy of the Government was one of progression. A vote of thanks and confidence WAD carried at flic conclusion of the speech.

Tho effort* of the Wellington Acdi- | mstisation Society to stock the provincial* \ \ rivers with rainbow trout are militated ' against by gill disease, which has lately been prevalent amongst the stock rain.- { bow at the hatchery, and it has now « been decided to discontinue holding n«in" " bows in captivity for breeding purposes* All the stock that showed signs of Aja* , ease wero destroyed, and the healthy < ones wero liberated. In the coming sen- - son a supply of Tainbow ova will btt ' obtained from the Government eyeing station at Rotorua, nnd will be distributed from Masterton as fry and yearlings. At present an attempt is being made to stock our rivers with, rainbows by the liberation of yearlings, but it in difficult to say at present whether it will be successful or not. Rainbows have ■ l>oen taken during the past season in tia Makuri, Mangntainoka, and Makakahi, Hutt, Akatarawa, Wainuiomata, Waikanae, and Ohau. The Masterton Committeo oh the other hand report that none of those liberated in tlieir streams '- havo been seen again. The society caused a largo number to be liberated in tho Hutt river, partly in tho hope that, if they became established there, they might find their way into the harbour and return to the river as sea-run fish. Ifc is well known that there are some splendid browr trout in the Wellington harbour and around the coast, and the possibility of rainbows thriving there also and returning to the rivers is well worth striving for. Dr. A. M'Arfhur, S.M., io-day g*v* judgment in the civil action in which the Wellington City Council sued Hehry Wright lor £11 11s lOd, balance owing for rates on sections 7 and 8 of the Town Belt leased by defendant at a yearly "xsntal of £77 10s. His Worship remarked" that it seemed that defendant says "you claim from me £54 on two items, reait and rntcs; 1 I say I only owe you £43 on these two 'terns. 1 enclose you a cheque for the latter amount, but direct that tho amount for rates bo first paid out of the proceeds of the , cheque. " In liis Worship's ooiuion tho plaintiffs V£?r6 bound to appropriate as directed by toS^ defendant, and .is tho amount paid Dy^ the defendant was greater than iWlaim. for rates, 'he considered the plaintiff must appropriate tho amount which would settle tho claim for »ates. Judgment wai for defendant, represented by Mr. Vaa Haast, with £1 h costs. Mr. O'Shea appeared for the Corporation. In th« case of Farr and Bonnie v. Francis. Loudon, n claim of £37 10s for prepar. me plans for a building in Willis-street, judgment was for defendant, with £5 5s costs. Mr. Bunny appeared for plaintiffs, and Mr. Loughhan for defendant. In respect to r«J doer, the annual 1 , report of the Wellington Acclimatisation Society mentions that tho jport in Soutk, Wairarapa has bf«ii good, and som« excellent heads obtained, especially on T<} Awaiti and other private tstids. Th* fact that the greater portion of the Government land on which red de<v mn (sonw 30,000 acres) has been proclaimed a r©. sene makes it difficult to obtain good heads other than on private lands, «ml leads io trespass on the rose we. It « suggested that the most satisfactory war out of the difficulty would bo to ope* somo 10.000 acres of tho reserve t« sportsmen, and to most strictly .ireserva the remaining 20,000 as an absolute sanctuary. The new heixls at Wainui-o-inata, •Paraparawnu, and Palmerstoa North are increasing well. The deer liberated oh the Tararuas ai» reported to be thriving, and it is advisable that more deer should be sent thero ns soon, as amiable. The annunj aUempt to capture red deer calves was not ao *«cccssful as usual. Six were caught, 6f . whioh number three died. At Par*, paraumn «^ed doe-r continue to thrive «nd increase in tho vicinity of the game farm. • Among the tags a 16-pointer was notio ed by the -caretaker i^st AprU.