THE PREMIER.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIV, Issue 13391, 21 January 1907, Page 6

THE PREMIER.

SPEECH AT THE DUNEDIN

RECEPTION

THE IMPERIAL CONFERENCE

I NECESSITY FOR ALIEN IMMIGRATION RESTRICTIONS. [BT TELKURArif. — I'P.KSS ASSOCIATION".] DiN'EDix, Saturday, ! In the course of his reply to the speech of j welcome by the Mayor of Dunedin (Mr. i Geo. Lawrence!, at- the reception tendered ! to him lav: night by the citizens of DimI edin. at the Garrison Hall, the Premier j (.Sir JWpii Ward) H'l'erred to the legretj table death of Sir James Fergussou and to I the disaster in Jamaica. .Sir Joseph then I wen; "ii to say thai at the Imperial L'onI feterice most important subjects wtre to be ! dealt with. There was a consensus of j opinion steadily being formed that the great i interests of the Empire willed for some j concrete, authoritative body, capable of I conveying the decisions of the governj meats of the ie.-pcctive countries to the ! great lmpeiial Government, in whose in- ' terests. and by whose actions, the material ! affairs of the outlying poitioas or the Em- | piie were so frequently likely to lie Con- : ct'nipd, and. in some instances, invoked.

'The expansion that had gone on in recent ; veiuis had been so swift and so great that : what was all right a lew years ago was ijiiite inadequate and unsatisfactoiy in helpI in,' 11n count; it's now. i IXTPODIYTIOX (')!•' i OLOI'REH i RACKS. I I Ax an illustration of what value siich a I council would be to a fount iy such as this, : they might Lako the question of the introI duct ion nt coloured race-. I; would be I conceded that the people .11 our own counI tiy must have a better knowledge of what 1 was good tor tiietii. and of what they were ! pared to allow, than other people, who. i however capable they niiubi lie. lacked local ! knowledge and the local inspiration* of our ! people. Many matters, among other- that ; dealing with the question of the coloured ; laces, could be more effectively handled and |ioiitiol!ed by .1 tin-ted lepieseiitutive 01 '..!• people upon .hi Impeiial council, relit vi ii.g those win, v.eic 1. sponsible for the i govern of (Iteat Hi stain itself— to say I nothing of India and other poi lions of its ! possession' —and he felt peisuadrd thai the

j authorities iii the (1.-! World would herald [ilif crei'io!) of .111 luipeiial Council, oh a ; proper li.i.siv. in the light of iiietnheis of a : distant family coming together in the old ! home to assist in the i'n-i vat ion and j tin' stiengihriung hi tin' lie that hinds 1 them togetln r. (Applause.' i LIMITING 1.1 UN IMMIGRATION. I The motion of which In had giv«-n notice ; was: "'I hal in all inline i--.itir.-v with t> 11 ••iiT 11 nations the Imperial Government will mak<- such lteaties subject to the tight lot all its self-governing colonies to pass ' «uch laws a-- they think lit to limit to the . fullest degree short of absolute exclusion the immigration info those colonics of i aliens." Jhe motion embodied the 1111- ! doubttd right of the British people of New • Zetland to frame their own legislation ' governing aliens, and they were purely ! justified 111 asking ttie MotJier Country, in j any tieaties that it may requite for otfen- : si\e or defensive purposes to enter into, to ! preserve this right for ha self-governing ! colonies to exercise. (.Applause.) They j could not ask to be allowed to legislate j :'n>- absolute* exclusion, as that would neces- ■ sariiv be denied, and it would be uir.air to .ok it, but they eould ask for the pie.<crva- : tion. of the light to legislate fot the. limitation to the fullest degree of the iuttouuelion of coloured or alien races to the I country. hi; EMPIRE'S trade. With reiertme to the quesiion of the , improvement of trade between the (>*<•! i Country and its outlying possesions, the j Premier said the present w,i-> mi age of : active competitive rivalry, i; resolved i it.-. !l into lie- sunival o; the lit test in coinj liietvial development and expansion. It was j the plain duly of the (Id Land, as well as ' the new::' ones attached to it. to zealously I guard against the encroachment that others j were endeavouring to make upon it in th" I commercial world. What- they wanted to ! aim at was a fair Held under equal eon- ! ditions, ami with such the British manufac- ! Hirers, like the British artisans, could hold | their own against any other country. This j all-impoi taut finest ionintricate, difficult. and tat -reaching— whs one which could with advantage have been investigated by a council, and in that investigation it wis j but tight that, a country such as Now Zealand should have its own representative, ! well posted, well informed, and well diI rected by the Government of the country ! assisting to formulate- such a system as would, after careful consideiation, be best calculated to achieve the laudable ends which all classes in this country Iwd in view. RECIPROCITY WITH CANADA. And so with regard to reciprocal treaties. There was no reason whatever why we should not have a reciprocal tiealy with Cauda. This was essentially a matter at present foi the Governments of Canada ami New Zealand to go into, and he had already taken the necessary steps to be in a position to discuss the wlimlo matter on a practical ba.»is with Sir Wilfrid Luirier, the I'rime Minibter ol Canada, in London. 'They wore ready to consider a reciprocal I treaty with Australia—(applause)but a treaty to be of service to both countries j must be mutually fair. ! DEVELOPMENT OF NORTH ISLAND. That the North island was developing very rapibly at. present was well known : it war- a happy cireuinMaiice ..id augur.d j well for th'Mutiue ot the colony. Though ! some people might feel concerned at the ! increase of population, the North as ajainst the South, he was not one who shared the feeling. No pott ion of tie: colony could go on developing without Uneiiting more or less every portion of it. The insular feeling ought not to lx> encouraged, and should not. he a factor in considering what was right in the interests of either island.