THE NEW ZEALAND DINNER

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIV, Issue 13490, 17 May 1907, Page 5

THE NEW ZEALAND DINNER

SPEECH BY MR. REEVES.

THE COLONY'S ONLY DIS- _; . '~' ADVANTAGE.

By Tekgtaph.—Press Association.— deceived May 16, 19.44 p.m.) '

London, May 16. The New Zealand dinner was held at the Hotel Cecil yesterday.

Among those present were Lord Ranfurly, Sir Gerard Smith, Dr. Fitchett, Mr. G. G. Stead, Mr. John Duthie, Mr. James Mills, and Mr. Beetham. There were 200 guests. The High Commissioner '(Mr. Reeves), who presided, said that New Zealand had a dozen commercial trading strings to her bow, all tending to her i; prosperity, and her only disadvantage was distance. Sir Joseph - Ward had : voiced the policy of ,the Empire of the future when he appealed to the Conference to put the shoulder to the wheel for the quickening and cheapening of communication. Extreme individualistic or protectionist doctrinaires might object to co-operating, but the Empire had been built by practical men. ' : '"' . THE PREMIER'S SPEECH. | Sir Joseph Ward sympathetically referred to the illness of Mr. HallJones. It had been impossible, he* said, for himself to subscribe to the principle of devolution of naval defence, owing to the great liabilities the colony would incur under the scheme. h ~.■-" _ The Premiers did not expect their views on. preference to' be accepted. They were content to lay the principle before the Motherland,* and were not egotistical enough to say, "You must follow." The reduction of the distance between England and New Zealand to three weeks was no dream, and it would -pay New Zealand over and' over again to subsidise to the extent of £100,000 a year to secure such an Australasian-Van-couver line. If Great Britain assisted in giving a fast Atlantic line, thereby cheapening food by bringing producers in Canada closer to the market, the other colonies would do their part. . _ , Sir Westby Perceval, Mr. J. G. Jenkins, and Sir Montague Nelson also spoke. V •