MR MASSEY'S TOUR.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXIV, Issue 16192, 19 March 1913, Page 10

MR MASSEY'S TOUR.

TEMUKA AND TIMARU TO WAIMATE.

A HUNDRED MILES TRIP.

A POLITICAL ADDRESS. [From Otjr Correspondent.] WAIMATE, March 18.

The Prime Minister (Mr Massoy) continued . his motor-car tour of Canterbury to-day. Mr Massey, accompanied by Messrs W. Nosworthy and F. H. Smith and Colonel Hayhurst, left Temuka at 7.30 a.m. direct for Timaru, where Mr J. Craigie, member for tho district; tho Hon J. Anstey, Mr J. Black, the Mayor of Waimate, Mr R. H. Rhodes and others joined tho party on a hundred and thirty-mile trip across country with Waimate as the objective. A course was set for the Timaringa Valley, up which it was suggested a railway line should be laid for about fourteen miles from the Lower Pareora to Tap, a large area of Crown land, of which several thousand acres were lying idle. A number of settlers who asked for a reduction .of rent were advised to apply to the Land, Board. From Timaringa, the cars went on to Makikihi,* where refreshments were served by Mr James Meehan, who in welcoming the Prime Minister asked for a verandah for the railway station. Mr Massey promised to refer the request to tho right quarter. After a short stop at Morven, the party went on to the Redcliff schoolroom, where the ladies of the district served luncheon. After the welcoming formalities, Mr H. Ruddenklau put forward a request for the diversion of Elephant Hill Creek into the Waitaki. Mr Massey said that he had seen the country on the way up. and realised that the creek in flood would be a menace to many settlers, and proper steps should be taken to keep the Creek to its natural outlet. He advised the formation of a River Board and an application for a loan. At Waihaorunga, the Settlers' League had assembled at Mr T. Kelchers house, where afternoon tea was served. Here Mr R. Meredith, a former member of the .House, made a warmhearted appeal to the Prime Minister for an extension of the railway from Waihao Forks, four and a half miles,, to Kelcher's crossing. He said that Mr Massey's Christchurch speech was one of the most masterly utterances delivered by a New Zealand statesman, and in further rhetorical flights he likened the Hon Thomas Mackenzie to a modern John the Baptist making straight the way for the Hon James Allen in the money market of the world'. Mr Massey replied that he had reinstated the vote or £SOOO given by Sir Joseph Ward for the railway, hut in the present difficult state of finance he could not give a definite promise about the line. His Government had a very friendly feeling towards it, and realised that if tho farmer of Canterbury was to continue the business of gfain growing more railway facilities would have to bo provided. • Cheers sped Mr Massoy on his way, and, in company with Mr J. D. Ritchie (chairman of the Land Purchase Board) he made a circuit of the Tara Tara estate, under offer to the Government by Mr R. Meredith.

The party then made a run In to Waimate, where the Mayor welcomed the Prime Minister in Seddon Square. A dinner was tendered to Mr Massey by the Waimate Borough and County Councils. The toast of the Prime Minister was proposed by the Mayor, the toast of Parliament by Mr R. H. Rhodes (chairman of the County Council), and that of the Mayor by Mr Massoy. A POLITICAL ADDRESS. LARGE GATHERING AT WAIMATE. MORE POLICE PROTECTION. At the Olympia Hall after the dinner, Mr Massey delivered a political address beforo an audience of about six hundred. The Mayor presided, and among those on the platform were Messrs Noswoi;thy, Lee, and Smith, members of Parliament. Mr Massoy was received with hearty applause and some booing. He dealt at length with the freehold, remarking that the Government had adopted the policy ,moro in tho interests of the State than of tho settler. There wero a number of anomalies in the land laws. The clause under which Crown lands taken up on renewablo lease automatically became national endowments was a mere trick, and those who had passed it into law wore thinking, not of national endowments, but of how to prevent the extension of tho freehold system. He had not intended to alter the law, -but every' selector would be given notice of what the tenure meant.

" Give us something of what you are going to do," said a man in the audience after Mr Massey had dealt at length with the Southland land deal.

The interjection was the signal for the concentration of two constables and a sergeant at the spot, and the sergeant rebuked the interruptor. , Meanwhile, Mr Massey had replied that he intended to do what he thought was in the interest of the country. Continuing in reference to the Southland land deal, ho announced, and asked the reporters to take a full note of it, for which he said he would be responsible, that the speech in which Mr J. A. Hanan was said, to have warned him of the effect of the controversial clause was not delivered in the form in which it appeared in " Hansard," and was quoted by the Opposition, newspapers. Dealing with nuance,- Mr Massey said that in the nineteen years from 1893 to the people of' New Zealand had pard in discounts, commissions, costs and charges connected with the raising of loans no loss a sum than £733,396, for which not a penny off benefit had been received apart from the raising of the loans. Ho added that he hold in his hand a certificate from the Secretary to the Treasury that the five million loan of 191 Q had CQSt £4 12s Bid, the four arid a half million loan of 1911 £5 2s 9d, and Mr Allen's three million loan £4 5s 6d. The Government had lent from April 1 to February 28 £805,000 in advances to settlers, £434,000 in advances to workers, and £480,000 in loans to local bodies, a total of £1,720,565, irrespective of £50,000 spent in the erection of workers' dwellings. So far from experiencing the bad times predicted when the Massey crowd took office, New Zealand had never had a better ye.ir, and no wages had been reduced in any State Department. Mr Massey announced his determination to make the LeEislative Council elective, and if members attempted to stop it they must take the consequences. Speaking of compulsory training, Mr Massey forecasted the possibility of a hostile Asiatic fleet anchoring in a New Zealand harbour, remarking that he wished to say a solemn word of warning to the women of the country that they were far more interested in the Defence Act than the men. The Act was defective, Lat the principle was sound

An intorjection, " Tommy rot," to Mr Massey's statement that compulsory training was not conscription, caused another movement in the ranks of the police, but the interrupter was not detected.

Mr Massey appealed to so-called antimilitarists to do their part. He urged that New Zealand ports, coast and trade routes wero not sufficiently protected, and said that on these points Mr James Allen was conferring with the Imperial authorities, but no chance

would be made before Parliament was consulted. Mr Massey concluded by repeating his i reference to tho inclusion of Mr Allen's name in tho Speech from the Throne, and announced that the Government was carrying on the business of tho country on straight, clean, democratic lines. (Continued applause.) Mr E. J. Atwill moved a motion of thanks, and it was carried unanimously with cheers.