TEE GOVERNMENT AND THE FARMERS UNION.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXIX, Issue 11855, 6 January 1902, Page 6

TEE GOVERNMENT AND THE FARMERS UNION.

SPEECHES BY SIR J. WARD AND THE . HON. W. C. WALKER. [BT telegraph.—PßESS association.] ■ Otautau, Saturday. At the invitation of the Farmers' Union, Sir Jos. Ward addressed a public'meeting at' Otautau on Saturday evening. The Town Hall was packed to the doors, and Sir Joseph was received with loud cheering. Mr. Cupples, ' chairman of the local branch of the union, presided, and the Hon. W. C. Walker, Minister for Education, Mr. H. Feldwick, and Mr. Gilfedder, M.H.R. for Wallace, were also on the platform. . ' r . - -

Mr. Cupples in introducing Sir Joseph, said the union did not wish to oust the Government, but wished fair play. He hoped the time was at hand when the Government would retrieve a little of what had been done which was oppressive to farmers. (Applause.) The price of wool had fallen, and foreign competition was severe, so that Government should keep down expenditure and assist the farmers and create new markets in other parts of the world. Sir Joseph then proceeded to show what had been done by the present Administration for farmers, and said no former Government had done so much in this direction as the present. With regard to expenditure, he pointed out that the ten millions borrowed since the present Government came into power had, been expended wisely and for the benefit of the colony, and in such a way as not to increase taxation. . The clamour for expenditure was general. . . All over the colony increased facilities and improvements were asked for in every district, .and nothing could be done without money. The money borrowed under the Advances to Settlers Act was for the use of farmers, and not one would like to see that done away with. (Applause.) Before this policy was introduced they had to pay from six to 10' per teent. for their loans, arid :'it was those interested in lending concerns who most bitterly opposed the system. The money borrowed and lent to ..public bodies did not increase taxation on the people, because it was paid for by the ratepayers who got it. No country which had done anything at all for its people had been able to work upon the amount raised by taxation from the people, and for every penny spent in public works in the colony they had splendid assets, and everyone had been benefited by the increased facilities in every walk of life. Sir Joseph referred to the letter written to Lord Wemyss by someone in the colony, stating that we were on the high road to bankruptcy. It was infamous and erroneous. The "Agent-General had properly challenged the statement, and Lord Wemyss had shielded the writer, and refused to give up his name. Some people bemoaned the enormity of the burden of the debt carried by the colony, and when they considered that a Canadian company had as much on one line alone as the whole of the public indebtedness of this colony, and wren they took a comparison, 1 were they prepared to say that our burden was heavy, or that we could not pay our way ? This country was capable of carrying 40 or 50 millions of people, and we had to lay the foundation on which the whole structure was to be raised. In the South they had a trunk railway, but there was the country between Auckland and Wellington, and had the people there not the right to expect the same advantages as those in the South ? Anything which benefited the people in the North, and tended to the increase or its productiveness- and prosperity, benefited the whole colony. There was no such thing as a division of interests because a few miles of water separated the two islands. There was a cry to stop borrowing, and every member of the Administration would like to do that if it were legitimately possible. It was necessary to carry out the requirements of ourselves and those who would follow us. It was clear that any Administration.for some years to come, if it. met the proper requirements of the colony, would have to borrow wisely in proportion to the development of the colony. Sir ' Joseph then referred to the decrease in the rate of interest within the last five years of '4s 9d per head, the increase in the value of land, and the Savings Banks deposits on the same lines as in his recent speech. The reductions and concessions to farmers alone amounted to £248,000 per year. They also had the benefits from reduced railway fares, penny postage, the services of Government graders and veterinary surgeons. lie welcomed the formation of the Farmers' Union, and said they had a. perfect right to combine to protest their interests, and have their legitimate requirements attended to. The union could do much good, and he refused to believe that any man by joining the union would sacrifice his own political beliefs. Referring to the fall in wool, he said that if he was a wool-grower lie would hold on to it. and, the market -would soon right itself. He attributed the slump to the production and use of shoddy articles, the speculations of French and German buyers, and the introduction of machinery into America to use up old clothes, and reproduce them in the shape of cheap clothing. If they held on to their wool buyers would soon come for it. Every effort was being made to obtain fresh markets, and large sums had been set aside to foster trade with South Africa. The Federal tariff affected them to some extent, but they would easily find an outlet for the produce which formerly went there, and in any case they were in a far better position than if they had sacrificed their independence by pursuing somewhat visionary advantages to be- gained by joining the Commonwealth. He encouraged them to face the reverse hopefully, and the same indomitable spirit which had characterised the people in the past would enable them to surmount the present difficulty, and other prospects for their future were even more bright than in the past. Referring to the Workers' Compensation Act, Sir Joseph said that no Act which the Government had passed had been more misrepresented than this, and yet there was no Act which should commend itself more to farmers. The Act was the English Act introduced by the Salisbury Government, which certainly could not be accused of any Radical tendencies. The position was quite clear. Under common law the farmer was liable to be sued for compensation for injuries for any amount up to £500. Now, by paying 5s per year on every hundred pounds of wages paid, he could cover his risk from any source whatever. He was under no compulsion to insure under the Workers' Compensation Act, but surely it was better to pay a nominal premium of 5s per £100 than to run the risk of being sued for a very large amount for compensation for any accident which might happen. If there were no Acts at all, and the farmer was entirely clear from any liability whatever, there was not a man among them, who, if an employee w.ere injured, would not put . his hand in his pocket to alleviate the unhappy circumstances under which the injured man and his family must labour. (Applause.) In conclusion, it must not be supposed that the members of the Government set themselves up as infallible. They were always ready to listen to suggestions, and as far as possible to meet the requirements of the people. As to" the , oft-repeated calumnies of the Government's enemies he asked them to carefully examine all these statements. Could they look around them and fail to recognise the reality and solidarity of the progress everywhere ' so apparent throughout Southland ? The wilderness was now a paradise, and if the pluck and energy which had carried them so far continued, if they continued to believe in themselves, , in the possibilities of this- glorious country, the present difficulties would pass away like the baseless fabric - of a vision/ and New Zealand in time, not far distant, would support in comfort a large - population, prosperous and happy.'' . _ Sir Joseph resumed his seat amid cheers, but immediately arose to announce the receipt of a telegram from Mr. McNab, M.H.R. for Mataura, apologising for his unavoidable absence, and to introduce his colleague, the Hon. W. C. Walker. Mr. Walker said he was pleased to be present, and to have an opportunity of showing his sympathy with the union in their, efforts to secure the advantage of cooperation, With regard to the question of further -borrowing the test was the intended expenditure necessary," and was it likely to be justified by results. The people of this colony were determined ' that their children should have the advantages of education, and every year the .requirements of the Boards were increasing, and it was only.with

the greatest difficulty that demands under the present provisions could be met, and there was ■■ a continual desire to give: the children further advantages. ■ ; As settlement progressed, there was a demand ' for additional schools, and these could not be ■provided without ; money, and that money should be found even if it had to be borrowed. The Chairman (Mr. C'upples) said he had listened to both speakers with pleasure. With some of what Sir Joseph said he agreed, with some he did not; but he, and he was sure everyone else, agreed that he was a very clever man, and he- would be •pleased if someone would move a 1 vote of thanks to him. . Mr. N. A. McLaren moved a vote of thanks, but Mr. R. Heritt moved, as an amendment that a vote of confidence be added, and the amendment was carried. A vote of thanks to the chairman closed the proceedings.