POLITICAL OUTLOOK MR. MASSEY'S VISIT TO THE SOUTH ISLAND

Evening Post, Volume LXXXVII, Issue 78, 2 April 1914, Page 7

POLITICAL OUTLOOK MR. MASSEY'S VISIT TO THE SOUTH ISLAND

NAVAL DEFENCE. "I am quite satisfied that the Government has gained ground very considerably during the last eighteen months," said the Prime Minister (Right Hon. W. F. Massey) to # a Post reporter today. "In all- the districts I visited (Mr. Massey had only just returned from the South) I met with very good receptions, and I am confident that the result of the elections at the end of the year will be to prove that the opinion I have expressed is correct." Nowhere, he added, had people gone to so much trouble on his behalf as on the West Coast, and the reception at Greymouth was probably the best he had ever had anywhere. Westland needed a considerable amount of attention, apart altogether from politics. In many parts agriculture was taking the place of mining; there were many fertile valleys that were particularly suitable for dairying, and the hills, when cleared, would make very good pastoral country. Unfortunately, the land laws relating to that district were very complicated, and the mining and timber regulations interfered with land settlement very considerably. He thought it would be necessary to appoint a Commission to go into the whole question. As for Nelson, there was a regular rush for lands suitable for apple growing. Hundreds of acres were being planted with apple trees, and the growers were confident that they would find a remunerative market for their produce. Marlborough was also developing steadily, and was also giving special attention to fruit growing. * Speaking generally, he would say that the South Island was prosperous. In South Canterbury, as far as he could learn, the crops were coming up to expectations, and they would be at least a fair average — .perhaps a little above tire average, though the season had been wet, and the gr.ain was scarcely in proportion to the straw. As to the conference on naval defence which he had suggested should be held between the dominions, he did not say that it could be held this year, but he gathered from communications that had reached him that all the dominions, and the _ Imperial _ Government itself, were anxious that it should be held, so that they could go fully into the Question of the naval defence of the Pacific. He had very little doubt that some satisfactory would be made. He was glad to find that the public were taking an interest in the subject. He would sooner find that there was a difference of opinion than that the people were apathetic.