PUBLIC WORKS EXPENDITURE

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 13354, 7 December 1906, Page 4

PUBLIC WORKS EXPENDITURE

THE GOVERNMENT AND THE FARMERS. [BY tkjvkgraph.—PJUSSS association.] \V KlXi XG TO , Thursday. Speaking .ii lb*' opening of 'the Awahott bridge, the Premier said that pioneers who were going out into the back blocks d*< served every consideration at the hands ol the Government, but he pointed oat thai the Government was now spending at lb-. rate of two millions grid a-half a year on public works, such as roads, railways, and public building;--, and wa* borrowing at. the rate of a million a year for public worfc«. If asked for more they might make th* position of the. colony financially anything but pleasant to the. people, therefore th« people should take a bioad view of thmatter. He and his colleagues and every member of Parliament were anxious to assist settlers, and he advised them, if anyone should say the Government was not anxious to help farmers, or would do anything to hurt farmers, or that its policy was inimical to the best interests of fanners,. to accept his statement that this was entirely contrary to the wishes and aspirations of the members of the Ministry. He for one would not be a party to anything of the. kind. .Sir Joseph Ward paid a tribute, to the late Hon. A. Pitt, and said his successor would be a great accession to the public life of the country.