STATE DEPENDENTS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LI, Issue 15554, 11 March 1914, Page 9

STATE DEPENDENTS.

A NATIONAL DANGER.

ONE IN EVERY EIGHT. EARL GREYS WARNING. [BT T£[i.<;lUPH —OWN CORRESPONDENT-] Wellington, Tuesday. Thk danger of ti'o great dependence on the State which he :-a\v, at least in an ii]i.tpoi.' form, in New Zealand, was condemned in no measured terms by Earl (Jre.v, in a speech delivered by him today, at a luncheon tendered to him by the Nf\v Zealand Club and the Wellington branch ut the Royal Colonial Institute F.ari firry had been saying a great it;.iiiy things laudatory of New Zealand .in ! tj. p". pie. but the concluding senl.'iicen "1 his speech were in the nature ( .f a v-,rning. " Having, I hope, proved ti. you that I have a gieat affection for New Z-atand and a great belief in its future. ' lie said, "may 1 go on to tay one iv-Til of pc*sihle warning. There, is ino fa '• in your national life which I Live only just discovered, ard it has caused ine to experience a positive shiver o! a] pit la iision, and it is that one-eighth c.i •.■..: papulation are directly dependent i;,. ,i the Stale. "In Ireland, twelfth of the popular!) :• directly dependent on the State, arid v. e in the United Kingdom consider that in be a very dangerous proportion. M.-.y 1. with the greatest respect, say t':..,t I d" 1 not believe it is possible for an. r...:.ir. which encourages its people to liVi„ v.]- n, the State to win either great i.ess <•: prosperity. (Applause.) I hope you have not got to that state in New Zealand, but you are in a dangerous position, or you may be soon, if you do not take .are. Wherever you find the people lying down on the State you will find an all pervading influence which is perious'.y detrimental to the national character. You will find a poison which saps the energy, impairs the efficiency, and impoverishes and pauperises and degrades the character of the people. " Take care, I would add, that you do not make the dependents of the State tho nustirs id the State. High wages, I admit, may be stimulated for a time by borrow money, but there is only one ' sourc iiid one source only, from which can be permanently derived the greatness ami prosperity ot tie State, and that is the high average output of the individual workers and the wealth developed by the . primary producers. (Applaiue.)