PRESS DELEGATES.

Evening Post, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 76, 29 March 1912, Page 2

PRESS DELEGATES.

AUSTRALIAN VISITORS IN WELLINGTON. HABBOUII EXCURSION. INTEH-STATE PEOBLEMS DISCUSSED. The Australian Press delegates who have been, attending the conference at Auckland were entertained yesterday afternoon by the Wellington newspaper proprietors on a harbour excursion. After a cruise- round the harbour on the s.B. Awaroa the party disembarked at Day's Bay and the visitors were entertained at afternoon tea at Day's Bay House Amongst those present was the -ActingMayor of Wellington (Mr. J. Smith). In welcoming the delegates Mr. Smith said that the visitors had como to view the- attractions of the small Dominion of New Zealand. Still the Press disseminated the world's news and if. it were not for the Press they would not have been heard of that day. The delegates, he thought, would be pleased atwhat they had seen, and he thought also that their visit would be for the benefit of New Zealand. The City Council avouW be pleased to carry the delegates round the city in one of its cars and he did not think that iti was necessary to say much in the way of a welcome, if c was not a speechmaker — he was essentially a worker — but he gave the delegates a hearty welcome to the Empire city. % (Applause.) Mr. T. Mills (Feilding Star) briefly thanked the local newspaper proprietors for their hospitality and the kindly way in which the visiting delegates had been treated. Mr. Gresley Lukin, editor of the Evening Post, in acknowledging the hospitality of the Evening Post proprietary, epoke of the excellent work done at the Imperial Press Conference by Mr. Temperiey. He declared that he knew of no man who had done more for cable teform than Mr. TemperJey. (Hear, hear.) He knew what Mr. Temperley had to endure in the face of monopoly and he, above all others, was responsible for what they had secured in the 'way of cable- reforms at the conference in question. It had to be remembered that cable reform was at the back .if the highest national aspirations. Some of them were called democrats, some of them might' even be described as republicans, but they were, one and all, animated by one desire for the advancement and the solidarity of the Empire to which they all owed allegiance., He reminded the visitors that he was privileged to hear Lord Eosebery welcome the delegate* to the Empire Press Conference in a speech which would have stirred one to veneration- That speech was teported next morning in full in the London papers and with cable Teform that speech would have been reproduced ?j fl T in thb counti y- He was gratihed to be able to meet his Australian fellow countrymen, became, while they had not federated they were linked by common ties. There was a federal link there and now in the presence of their friends. They had been through Now Zealand and they had seen the wondrous effects of closer settlement. They would have realised that here the people were not greatly Vich— that the wealth of the country wa« distributed— that was the lesson that they would take back to Australia. Great estates were to be broken up and vast areas were to be peopled by men and women and not by •sheep and cattle. The delegates would be able to show" how these estates could be broken up without piling up the National Debt. He also spoke of the possibdity of reciprocity between Australia and New Zealand in the matter of defence- andtrade relations, and expressed the hope that the day would come when we here would not be altogether New Zealanders, but Australasians in the great broad sense of the nationhood of the Southern Hemisphere. (Applause.) Mr. G. Brookes (Brisbane) spoke briefly. He paid a tribute to Mr. Lukiu, and said that in Brisbane people dated events from the advent of Gresley Lukin In the political affairs of that State. ' Mr. Temperley also epoke, and addressed himself to the question of cable teform and reciprocity between Australia and New Zealand in the matter of defence. He did not suppose the two countries would ever federate now, .but they could do something in the direction he had indicated. Mr. Asher (Victoria) also epoke. Ihe Hon. Mr. Bennett (New Sputh Wales) said that the people in Australia should never rest till they got a better steam service between Australia and New Zealand. If the journey were shortened to two days, thousands and thousands of people from Australia would visit New Zealand. He alluded to the good work that -was being done in Australia by the establishment of agricultural colleges in all the large centres, and urged that reciprocal relations (should be established between New Zealand and Australia in the matter of defence, trade, and .patent laws. In Australia the public men were only too anxious to come to some understanding with Now Zealand in the matter of defence. He discovered in New Zealand a feeling of distrust against Australia, but Mr. Fisher had held out the olive branch. In New Zealand there was ample room for new settlers, but Australia was taking some of the New Zealand settlers. A voice : You are only borrowing them. Mr. Bennett said it was a fact, but he did not know' why the people he referred to were leaving New Zealand perhaps it was the 6wmg of the pendulum: Mr. Pinkstone (New South Wales) also spoke. Tlie visiting delegates passed a hearty vote of thanks to the focal newspaper proprietors for their hospitality, and this was responded to by Mesbg. G. Lukin (on behalf of the proprietors of The Evening Post), P. C. Freeth (N«w Zealand Times), and Blanton (Dominion).