THE PREMIER AT WAIMATE.

Evening Star, Issue 11858, 11 April 1903, Page 3

THE PREMIER AT WAIMATE.

Speaking at Waimnte on Thursday night, Mr Seddou broke new ground, saying, in deference to

• THE PORIRUA TRUST CAKE

ftat an attempt had been made to show that the Government were despoilers—attempting to despoil the Church of England property that was given to it by the Maoris. But instead of the Government wing in that position their position was that they came into the matter at the revest of the Church itself. The Bishop of Wellington (Dr Wallis) found that the Maona cm the west coast of the North Island, principally in the Otaki district, Xnany years ago endowed the Church with ifwids for the purposes of a school and religions instruction. The Church, instead Bt giving that religious instruction and providing education for the Maoris, had practically done nothing, hut had let the lands Irotil no less a sum than £B.OOO had accumulated. and the bishop, fearing the Church was in a false position in having received Large sums of money and done nothing for the Maori children, applied to the Government for assistance, and in his application stated that the Church trustees were unable to fulfil the conditions of the trust. When the Government were drawn Into the matter they endeavored, as far as they could, to arrange that the original intentions of th® Maoris were maintained—that the Church should carry out. as far as practicable, the original intentions. The Church authorities then decided to establish a church at Pa pawn i. and in that connection he would like to slate the position : When the land was given by the Otaki and irther Maoris they were at enmity with the Papawai Maoris they would have eaten them—and it seemed to the Government that it would he wrong to give the benefits of the Otaki land to the Papawai people. The matt®'- was taken to the Appeal Court, and, later on. to the Privy Council, and. with all respect to the Privy Council, he would say tint they were entirely ignorant of the laws of the colony and of its conditions, and if they had known the true conditions lie believed they could not honestly have said whal they did about the Government and the Appeal Court of Hew Zealand.-—(Applause.) He considered it- ill-hecatne the highest court of the Empire to cast a rrthetion on the highest court in New Zealand. The bishop himself applied to the Government to step in to assist, the Church to rarry out something like the original inrent ions, and simply because the Government did so they were held up to the people as having tried to rob the Church. It was a very serious charge to make against the Government. Worse, an attempt had been made to show that the Executive had unduly influenced the Court. A uuu-e unfair and incorrect insertion was never made against any people or Government. All die Governmentwanted was ro sec that the poor Maori children got. ilie benefit of the lands their ancestors had given for the purposes of education and religious instruction.—(Applause.) There were thousands of acres of land held by the churches, not only by the Church of England. They bad obtained that land from the Maoris, and had given neither secular nor religious education for the land so donated. The matter was now serious. A commission reported on the position some years Igo, and the Press ought to read it to see the unjust action of churches preaching the Gospel of Christ, and. at the same time, not fulfilling their trust, but keeping both religious and secular instruction from those native children whose forefathers gave land with the view of endowing and erecting churches. In this matter Parliament would have its duty to perform, and what had occurred would probably so arouse public feeling that justice would be done to the native children. He favored the giving back of the land to the natives, because many of the sons and daughters of the chiefs who gave it had not now an acre to their name, and there wag this land lying waste.

GOVERNMENT INSURANCE DEPART MENT.

He bad in announce, in connection "with the Government Life Insurance Department, that the accounts for the past year bad been Midi ted. The bonus certificates amounted in the aggregate to £290,000, and the reversionary bonuses represented a cash divisible surplus of £167,900. At one time there was a doubt as to whether the Go veramenb should take up life insurance, hut the position of the department to-day showed that it was a step in the right direction, and that the people of the colony had benefited by what had been done. It was the same with the Accident Insurance Department. In spite of all that was said, good results had followed. Premiums had been brought down, and the department as a whole was working satisfactorily. After the outside companies had cut down the rates too low, thinking they were stronger than the Government and the people of New Zealand, they had come to the Government and asked them to increase the premiums (Laughter.) Next session the Government would also introduce a Government Fire Insurance Bill, and press it on the representatives of the people. Noting the high charges of private companies in different districts, it behoved Parliament to give relief, and this relief could be granted with safety to the public funds and with advantage to the people. The Government had succeeded with the Life and Accident Departments, and why should they not satisfactorily work a fire department? He had been thinking the matter over, and he had m idea of a new departure. In reading of file bonuses granted under the life insurmco scheme, he thought they might give bonuses to the fire insurers. Instead of the profits going to the Government, let them go to the insurers. The insurers would doubtless make even- effort to prevent fires, and by so doing they would earn a larger bonus. No doubt,' adverse criticism would be showered on his devoted head, because the insurance companies were powerful in the country and had powerful influence with the Press. He recognised, too. that he would not get the Bill through without a fight, but he loved a fight. He might have to stand adverse criticism, misrepresentation, and cruel words, but the victory was all the sweeter when, in liter years, it was admitted that the Government were right. At the last election Dot a single candidate advocated the repeal of any of the Government measures, and when their measures had worked so well they were, of course, encouraged to still go forward. Among the measures adversely criticised at one time was

THE ADVANCES TO SETTLERS’ ACT.

The number of applications received under that Act up to September 25, 1902, was 15,758, representing a sum of £5,500,000. The number of applications authorised was 12,000. The number of advances authorised which were declined by the applicants was 1,500. The amount of the applications granted came to £4.046,000, less £694,000, which was not taken up, leaving the amount authorised and accepted by applicants at £3,352,720. Up to the present no losses bad been made, and for the three millions authorised the Government held good real ■state security valued at over four and a-half millions. It was said by the Opposition that the Government would lend money io {heir friends, and that the taxpayers would have to make good large sums of money, but, strange to say. those who rushed the iepartment and asked for the largest sums were those who had actually feared the Government were going to give the money to their friends.—(Applause and laughter.) put that never troubled the Government, they wanted to bring down the rate of interest. and they had succeeded. Capital had not been driven from the country. It had been diverted to other channels, and Ibe industries of the colony had prospered, because the manufacturers had obtained money at a lower rate. The settlers had not suffered. The rate of interest fixed under the Advances to Settlers Act practically fixed the maximum rate of interest in the country. —(Applause.) Did any of them want to go back to the old days of 8 or 10 per cent., and in some cases 15 per cent.?—(A Voice: “Quite true”) —the days when out of every bucket of milk and •Tory pound of butter a quarter went to

the farmer and three-quarters to the money-lender?—(Applause and laughter.) The result in many cases was that the mortgagee got the farm and the settler got the. road. THE LAND FOR SETTLEMENTS' ACT

was also violently attacked. Had there been any violation of a constitutional principle when it was in the interests of the commonwealth to acquire laud for public purposes? No, there bad been no violation. A vast amount of land purchased in the colony was obtained when those conditions existed, inasmuch as the State had always said that for railways, roads, and public and other works land could be acquired compulsorily by the State. The commonwealth was entitled to the land so long as it did justice to the individual. The land was the heritage of the people, and the individual must give way for the good of the commonwealth. In some cases the land had been purchased in the early days,for from 10s to £2 an acre. In the North Island Maori lands were bought for 2s or 2s 6d. an acre, and large tracts lor blankets and other things he would not mention.—(Laughter.) That day he Lad been over the Waikakahi Settlement, and he must confess that he had never seen better land in his life. The settlers were cheerful and their surroundings bright, and that fact in itself more than repaid one for the (rouble of putting legislation on the Statute Book of the colony. If the late Sir John M'Kenzie h:id been spared to see the sight: his cup of joy would have been full, but as that could not be they must ever respect the memory of that good man. —(Applause.) There had been no losses in respect of the land settlement scheme. The Binds acquired up to the 30th September, 1905, were valued at £2,596,721. Canterbury’s share was £975,714. and, with some estates bought since and the purchase of the Levels (£242,000). the amount was brought up to a million and a-quarter. Canterbury had fared well, and rightly so. There wore few Crown lands in the province, and the large estates were drawing the sons and daughters of settlers to the. North Island or elsewhere. Auckland had 2.513.000 acres of Crown lauds. Hawke’s Bay 270.000 acres, Taranaki 567,000 acres, Wellington 754.000 acres, Nelson 5,351,000 acres. Marlborough 142,000 acres. Canterbury 4,876 acres, Westland 358,000 acres, Otago 1,725,000 acres, and Southland 1.911.000 acres. It could not be said, then, that Canterbury had had more than its share nf the public moneys, and the Government were not going to stop acquiring land for settlement in the province. When land was required, and could be secured at a fair price, the Government would purchase it. Land might still Tic bought in the Waimate district, and he was not sure hut that Sir William Steward had actually mentioned the fact to him that day. As to the manner in which some of the owners of the large estates had undervalued the land, ho would produce figures to prove his case. The Land Tax value of the Levels Estate was a litde ever £2 an acre, and yet the Government were paying £6 9s an acre for it. That meant that for taxation purposes, and for rating purposes in the district, the owne-s had not being paying their fa'r share. '! he small farmers’ values, strange to saj, were fairly up to the hilt. What was the reason of this? 'The fact was that the largo landowners were represented on chi local bodies, by whom the valuations were made, and he did not know but that they were represented there even to-day. The Valuation Department had done mm hj to bring the large estates up to their proper value, and he had wanted the department that it must bring up the 'and values of these large estates to a fair market value 'Hose were some of the lign .s at i regard to the value of estates in me co ony -o a t3 . *2 -2 5 -e a S ‘5 ctj p * go g t g 2 2 ~£ C £~ £ ~jt "if Auckland £2,911 00,120 51,013 28,702 8,£07 llawke’a

Bay ... 417,000 699,474 518.476 101,476 281,474 Taranaki... 29,494 53,000 46,000 16.507 23,507 Wellington 54,304 94,675 89,436 35,039 40,276 Canterbury 225,337 431,590 409,916 184,579 206,253 GENERAL.

After referring tu the value of grading produce of all kinds, the Premier said it might be advisable for the Government to erect grain stores in different parts of the country, iu which the settlers could store their grain. The question of Trusts would be dealt with next session. He was at present in communication with gentlemen in America on the subject. Fruit-grow-ing and fruit-preserving was an industry that might be carried on in the colony. In Cork he saw machinery for preserving, and it was intended to procure some cf it, as well as the services of experts. The boot manufacturing trade was at a low ebb, and some ‘of the finer leathers might be allowed to come in free to enable certain classes of boots to be made in the colony instead of importing them from America. Referring to the poultry industry, he said that five years ago the export was nil, and last year it was 77,000 birds. There was money in it. On the subject of THE VANCOUVER SERVICE,

he said that the connection was desirable for the reason that the more connection* the colony had with other countries the better it was for it. When he was at Home a proposal was made for a quicker service between Canada and Australia, and an effort had been made by the Government to bring New Zealand under the agreement, but sq far the result had not been satisfactory. It was almost impossible to keep to the desired time-table if Queensland were included, and he did not think there was much room to hope that Queensland would be left out. He noticed now that another company was stepping in and attempting to establish a service between New Zealand and Canada, and although he would prefer the present established service, he wished to say that, if it could be obtained on reasonable terms, this colony would have a connection with Canada. The other day he communicated with the manager of the Union Steam Ship Company, and asked him whether he could extend the NEW ZEALAND-TAHITI STEAM SERVICE

to the Cook Islands and Samoa, and as far as Noumea, on the subsidy of £2,400, and the manager replied that he would be quite prepared to moke the extension. Some lime ago the French Consul told him that he would recommend his Government to pay a portion of the subsidy. That connection, be thought, would be a valuable one for the colony. At present we were entirely shut out from it, and there was a large population to deal with. .The Messageries boats to and from Sydney railed at Noumea, and practically there was only a French-Australian connection, and if New Zealand stepped in it would mean trade with this colony, so that even if the Government paid the whole of the £2,400 it would be money well spent.

THU COMING SESSION would be one of the most important that has taken place in the history of the New Zealand Parliament. They would have the larger questions to deal with that were considered bv the Premiers’ Conference in London. 'fhere was the question of a preferential tariff. His own opinion was that they ought to take up the question of the primary education in the public schools, technical education, and manual instruction. He was not satisfied that the condition of things existing ‘ was satisfactory, He kenw that Government after Government and Parliament after Parliament was afraid to touch the education question. It was necessary, however, to act in the interests of the rising’generation, and he would ask if the syllabus now taining was satisfactory. Was it not a system of cram? Were subjects not taught that were not required in the after-] if c°of their sons and daughters 7—(Loud applause.) He believed that was the position, and at the present time there was no question cf greater importance to the country than that of education. It was a problem that would be looked into. Full inquiry would be made, and he believed it would result in the alteration of the syllabus. (Applause.) More attention should be given to imparting secondary education to the brighter boys and girls at the close of their primary education, and if the parents of such children could not afford to pay the fees and the board and lodging charges

then the expense should come out of the endowments set apart in the early days for schools. At present the benefits of these endowments went to the few, but the strong hand must come in—effect must be given to the will of the people—and education, above all else, must be placed within the reach of all. lApp'ause.) That brought him to the question of

THE COLONY'S INDUSTRIES. If the technical schools and the schools of manual instruction were perfect and the ssytetn complete they would turn out the best artisans. What caused the industrial success of Germany and America to-day? It was their perfect system of technical instruction. Britain was behind in that respect. Industrial decay had set in, but Britain ought to wake up and follow Germany’s example.

FISHING LICENSES. The Acclimatisation Societies deserved every credit for stocking the rivers with fish, and for placing deer on the mountains, but it had to be remembered that in doing so they had received assistance from the Government. Now. it was found that the license fees wore so high that only the well-to-do people could obtain them.—(Applause.) And when the rivers were teeming with fish, and when in the overstocking thousands occasionally died that would be good for human food, was it not almost a shame that their boys and youths should he denied the opportunity of enjoyed the sport of fishing? He would submit, proposals to Parliament under which a hoy could go to the post office, pay a shilling for a day’s license, and go and fish in the rivers.—(Applause.)

On the motion of the Rev. G. Barc'ay. seconded by Air Walker, a vote of thanks to the Premier for his address and of continued confidence in the. Government was carried unanimously.

The experiment of employing Jews for Sunday duty is about to be made in the London Post Office. In this way it is hoped that Sabbath-breaking among both Jews and Gentiles will be obviated. This idea was expounded by Samuel Gordon in his Jewish novel. ‘ Sons of the Covenant..’ published about two years ago.

How to patent an invention. Pec handbook on patents; obtainable free from Baldwin and Hayward, Joel a Buildings, Crawford street. —[Adrt.]