AFTER THIRTY YEARS

Evening Star, Issue 19199, 16 March 1926, Page 4

AFTER THIRTY YEARS

IMPRESSIONS OF DOMINION MR PEMBER REEVES SPEAKS [Pia Uniteu Peess Association] WFLLINCTON, March 16. Mr W. Dumber Reeves, speaking at a luncheon given by the Chamber ol Commerce, said that alter travelling 4,000 miles—from tho Bluff to Dargavillo and Wiiaugarci—ho has concluded that there, was no need for scaremongering. After thirty years’ absence his opinion was that Now Zealand was not so rnmdi changed as IransCormed. Tho Now Zealander himself was a different man—taller and better, more intelligent, and more uselul. Them were, of course, some weak points, said Mr Reeves. There was too much dependence on loans and advances, and more production was needed. The Government would have to scale down its expenditure, and municipal bodies would have-to moderate their demands. The land could bo made much more productive than it was now. He gave as instances the Middle Waikato and Upper Thames and the country around Waitara and near Wellington. Mr Reeves said it had been said that the banks had not treated the farmers liberally enough. But could the banks remedy tho position if they tried? He bad gone carefully into tho matter, and had found that farmers, graziers, etc., owed ten times as much to outsiders as to the banks, and no action by the banks would vitally affect their position. He had seen farm after iarm which was too big, and the owner could not afford to employ sufficient labor, so that his property was standing still or actually going back. Noxious weeds were getting a hold and becoming a danger. The electrical schemes, said Mr Reeves in conclusion, gave great promise, and the development of irrigation, especially in Central Otago, was wonderful.