THE PRIME MINISTER AT WINTON.

Evening Star, Issue 13092, 27 October 1908, Page 3

THE PRIME MINISTER AT WINTON.

RECENT CRITICISMS ANSWERED. Mr D; Moore, Mayor of Winton, who, presided over the meeting of Sir Joseph Ward's constituents at Winton List night, described the Prime Minister as the ablest man in the Dominion. Sir Joseph Ward l»gan by talking about the progress of Southland, which, he said, -was always moving ahead. In the short space of five years its population had increased by 5,556, . and valuation had increased £2,'oCO,GOO. He gave details of various increases m population, improvements, etc., showing the progress of the district. It was to him .1 source of supreme satisfaction to indicate the process of Southland (in winch all the provinces did not share), but all over the Dominion there were indications of progress that were most gratifying. He gave details of increases in "wool, meat, tallow, sheepskins, and other produce, showing remarkable general prosperity. Every single article of produce had increased enormously during the p;:st ten years. Next he referred to the great increase in the number of people on the land, consequently there was nothing s-o very wonderful in the advances in produce. From " 1891 to 1908 the private wealth of the colonv had increased from £141,000,000 to £304.000,000, and the Income Tax from £138.000 to £354.000. The increase in trade also spelt progress in every direction that could be named. —The Member for Bruce.— Before going on to deal with the criticisms of Mr James Allen. Sir Joseph stated that the expenditure of a country must he judged not by itu amount but by its object. He asked his critics what items in the public expenditure ihev would cut down, and what items thev would ciop borrowing for? The Opposition criticism lost its force by wild exaggeration. The Opposition had' no definite pclicy. and would never reach power by a bundle of negatives. The Opposition had no monopoly of the wisdom of the country. He had never claimed political perfection, and what the Government were aiming at was to give all classes an opportunity of improving themselves from the humblest beginnings to the highest posit-on in the land. Next he dealt with Mr Allen's criticisms of his Palmerston North •veech—first of all hits statement that though he would rather stop the " plund'T," ntill as it was there he fell that in the interests of his electorate he ought to dip bis hand into the Treasury chest. Thai admission Sir Jo eph dealt with vigorously, charging Mr Allen with being an agitator I'm- larger expenditure than the money which the Government had borrower!. Politically he was not honest to the people of the conn- j try.—(Applause.) He dir.-eeud Mr Allen's references to the Otiva- tunnel contract so as to show that that gentleman's criticism was misleading. As to the Lands Settlement Finance Bill, Mr Allen had said that the Hon. Mr Millar stated that there was great diversity of opinion in the Cabinet as to this Bill. He asked Mr Allen to i-av from whom he had heard that ; indeed, lie challenged Mr Allen publicly to name anv person from whom he had" heard even a rumor. The Lands Settlement Finance Bill was unanimously approved by the whole of his colleagues, and not one had taken any exception to it. Mr Allen's- suggestion about diversity of opinion wa« an emanation of his own flexible intellect. Mr Alien had also said that the Advances to Settlers Department hud been forced to break faith with the people to whom it had promised assistance." The department had advanced nearly £0,000.000 to the farmers throughout "the colony, and had never lost a shilling on any of its transactions. It had also done a great amount to keep down the rate of interest to men desiring to borrow money. He'dealt with tlie rebuilding of Parliament and Government House?-, arguing that the Government were misrepresented in this matter, and consequently might expect to bo misrepresented in other matters al-o. Turning to —The Public Works Expenditure.— Sir Joseph touched certain new points. He felt that it was necessary to i-ay something in connection with this matter in order to enable the people to knew what hid taken plaee since 1891. The total Public Works expenditure to 31st March last amounted to £4,670,278. and of that no lees than. £1,983,942 had been spent since the Liberal partv came into power in 1891. Of the details of expenditure he quoted the following :—Railways £10.259,000; reads. £4.285.000; public buildings, £2,028.000. They hail spent, therefore, in round figure* £20,000,000 in public works. When the Liberal Administration took office the length of railways open for traffic was 1,842 miles. On 3l"st March last the total was 2.471, an increase oi 639 miles. Not only bar! the mileage increased, but the character and equipment of the lines had been greatly improved, and many miles of open lines had been duplicated or were in couro of duplication. Also there had been installed heavier rails, replacements, etc. A number of new stations had been erected and others improved. Further, the rolling stock had been increased. He gave <]<?- tails of the increases under the different heads, and went on to eay that in 1901 the gross revenue from this source was £1.121.000. a profit on working expenses of £420.898, being £2 18s lid per cent. The gross Tevenue in 1908 was £2.761,000, a profit of £812.179. In the same time there had been spent on public building £2.028,000. There had been 131 new post offices opened; an school buildings had been spent £734.932; and, in addition, £663,000 had been paid out of ordinary revenue for the maintenance of school buildings during the period under review. He asked these criticising the expenditure on public buildings whether they had been erected in places-'where they we're not needed, and they answered certainly not. The gross total expenditure on roads since the Government came into power was more by £709,860 than was spent by any previous Government sine© the initiation of | the Public Works policy. He gave details of the roading grants. The Government's opponents kept going about the country talking about the Dunedin railway station, and nearly every time they doubled the cost by including the cost of reorganisation of the yards. Speaking of Public Works generally and of railway buildings in particular, he claimed that the policy of the Government was to build with a view to the requirements of the future. It was better to spend moro at a time than to have buildings pulled down in a few years' time. The Minister claimed that in criticisms of the financial position of the : country as compared with the financial position of other countries it was only fair to remember the object money was borrowed for and the asset behind the borrowed money. Replying to critics who alleged that there was —An Increase in the Taxation—of the country, he stated that the only tax which had been increased was the Graduated Land Tax over £40.000. There were 128,000 land owners in the country, of whom under 27,000 paid Land Tax, and under 3,000 paid Graduated Land Tax. There had been no increase in the Income Tax since the Liberal Government < ame into power. Statistics were quoted showing the —Prosperity of the Dominion—during the last ten year:;, as follows : Population had increased 27 per cent. • imports, 105 per cent.; exports, 106 percent. The values of the principal exports increased as follows : —Wool, 72 per cent. • frozen meat, 118 per cent. ; tallow, 115 per cent. ; sheepskins, 523 per cent. • I butter, 301 per cent.; cheese, 340 per cent • I gum, 45 per cent.; gold, 106 per cent! • coal, 117 per cent. Customs revenue had increased 61 per cent.; excise duties, 58 per cent.; occupied holdings, 20 per cent. ; land in cultivation, 30 per cent. ; horses, 39 per cent. ; cattle, 50 per cent.; sheep, 6 per cent • I pigs, 29 per cent. ; inward shipping' 82 per cent.; railway receipts, 100 per cent.; telegraph messages, 161 per cent.; bank deposits, 64 per cent. ; savings bank credits, 132 per cent; unimproved value of land, 112 per cent.; value of improvements, 98 per cent.; land with improvements, 107 per cent. Next he defended tbo ;

— Government's Financial Operations.-r ' They hail converted, roughly'"speaking, about six or seven millions of money—in 1906, £2.168,000; in 1907, £2,092,000; and in 1908, £3,133,000. They had also .paid; off over £900,000, which meant -a considerable saving in interest. They had had no difficulty in ciirrying but any of ' the operations. They had done it all in a 1 quiet, business-like wav, and not a soul had heard anything about it. He went j on to'refer to the Opposition's financial I criticism that had been made both in New I Zealand and in the English newspapers; i and with some pride stated that these > things could do no harm, because the Go- . verament had made arrangements for two years ahead. The whole of the money for i the Manawatu Railway purchase had been ', found without any trouble or fuss. Ho i believed that a Government should do ■ these things just as a wise man would do II in his own private business. He added I that all arrangements were made for prii' vate requirements for a considerable i period ahead, and none of this had been , done by utilising money in New Zealand. , He' had no hesitation in saying that all this had been done well and in the best ■ interests of the people of the colony. The t Prime Minister then proceeded to deal with the Post and Telegraph returns, sub- > stantially on the lines of previous speeches. • —lncreased Bank Kates and Their ; Effect.— [ As to the reduction in Savings Bank deposits, he expresesd the opinion that , banks had made a mistake in increasing J rates. By so doing they created the impression that money was tight, and he had not expected anything else than that there would be withdrawals from the banks, be- - cause people though they could do better i outside with their money. Money was a - very difficult thing to handle, and very r sensitive. The moment one touched it and started putting rates up, one produced [ widespread effects that, like the boomeri ang. came back sometimes and hit the i people who caused them. In his ■. —Peroration—- . Sir Joseph Ward covered a good deal of ground. Generally, he expressed confi- [ donee in the progress of the country. The i Government, he said, wanted to see a vigorous and prudent system of Public ' Works policy, such as was now- being carried on. For four years it was proposed | to expend a million of money in the back--1 blocks, and he was certain it would produre excellent results. They also wanted ' a vigorous Land Settlement policy, such as | they had been following, and to give fur- > ther opportunity for the extension of in- ! dustries, with further avenues of employJ ment and expansion of markets. In this regard the Government were trying all the time to find new outlets. They were anxious to open up trade with Canada; they wanted also to see a strong financial ' position, irrespective of criticisms. If there were dislocation in the great financial ; wheel it would cause dislocation also in 1 the smaller ones of private life. Further, the Government desired industrial peace. They intended to go on helping the farmers to obtain cheap money, and the workers to obtain homes, and they were going, too, to further assist the mining population. Besides these things, it was their intention to develop a vigorous system of afforestation in the country; and they must have further classification of criminals, so as to prevent those whose offences had been slight being contaminated by association with hardened criminals. Finally, he put in a plea for a better national spirit, so that there might be cultivated in the rising generation that deep attachment for their country that the earlier settlers so noticeably retained for the Old Land. One or two belated questions were put in a casual sort of way, but the only answer worthy of note w'as the statement that the Prime Minister was not in favor of National Prohibition without Local Option. A vote of thinks and continued confidence was carried without dissent.