THE ROYAL VISIT.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1515, 14 March 1901, Page 36

THE ROYAL VISIT.

PREMIER AND CITIZENS IN CONFERENCE. A meeting; of tlie representatives of the Citizens’ Committee and a. number of representatives cf the City. Co on on, presided over by the Mayor, was held on the 12-th for the- .purpose- of discussing details in connection with the approaching visit or the Duke am. Duchess of Cornwall. The chairman said he had had a conference with the Premier that morning, and had represented to the latter that, seeing the calls which during the last twelve months had been made upon the contributing public of Wellington- ror those who had responded had always responded, and those who had never responded never responded—(laugh te r)lie was hot prepared, as Mayor of the city, to call upon the citizens for further contributions to. meet tile expenses in. connection with the impending visit. He had suggested to Mi Seddon, therefore, that Parliament should be asked to make special provision to enable the vote of £250 which the. Council was by law enabled to spend for general purposes each 5 ear, to be increased so as to enable these expenses to be met. The Premier responded at once, and intimated his intention to do what was necessary in the way of advancing a Bill for that purpose. Mr Seddon had also expressed a desire to be at their meeting that afternoon, and lie (Mr Aitken) had assumed him they would he glad to see him. It. remained for that meeting to eay wha l was to be done, and what money was to be spent. It was decided to appoint Mr F Shaw secretary to the Joint Committee, on the understanding that he was to devote the best part of Ms time- in carrying.'out the duties of bis office. The Premier having put in an appearance, and having been welcomed by the committee, said he considered the opportunity which we were to be afforded of having our future King amongst us was one which should be embraced for the purpose of ■exhibiting to our Royal guests the special regard in which tipsy were held by the people of this part of the colony. As New Zealanders, we had a dirty to ourselves and our colony to perform, and that was to send our Royal guests away with as good an impression as possible of New Zealand and its people. A/high standard in the way of display would be sot by Sydney and ■Melbourne. The former city had its arches and decorations left over from the Commonwealth celebrations, and the latter was determined to outdo everything that had gone before —its ‘ evidenced by the modest request of the Conimonwealth Premier for a contingent of 100 0. men from New : 'Zealand., ,We had all ’that to.: consider; and while he did not for a moment propose to encourage extravagance, he was desirous that we should not fall behind. Therefore, as tins was a -contingency which the Legislature had not, and could not have, contemplated, and as ijiere was bound to be an expenditure over and above the amount allowed by law, he considered it would, be the duty of Parliament to take the necessary steps to legalise any'expenditure which might foe so incurred. It might happen that the Audit Department would be inclined to pass much of the expenditure _ incurred, but it would not be fair, if a strict interpretation, of the Mv were insisted upon, that any naan sitting on a local body should be surcharged,for any reasonable amount expended, aild his Government had decided that they would not put the local bodies in this position. If that contingency arose, they would submit to Parliament an Empowering Bill, and they would do their best" to get it passed by Parliament, and if lie knew the legislators of this colony, they would not object to passing.. legislation for such an emergency. He had wished to consult with that committee because this was a matter in which the Government and the municipal authorities could -work harmoniously together. He hoped the result would be that their Royal guests would be accorded a reception worthy of our colony. In regard to the arrangements, there would no doubt foe some, little delay after the arrival of the Ophir to enable the horses and carriages of their Royal Highnesses, to he got, ashore;:' When this, had been accomplished, there wqiiid no 'doubt be : the presentation of an address, of . welpoipe foy the Mayor Upon 'the wharL;\-Np- otheraddresses cbuld ; . be personayy presented ; '' they'', .-'would; " r ..have., tp be sent on ”7 to".’/ the ." Governor, .'/and;, in ' due course replies' ivbuld .foe received to them. A copy, of - the address to be presented by . the., Mayor., would have to be forwarded on in advance to tiieir Royal ..Highnesses, in jpiy.. der that an .-appropriate answer could be prepared. As regards , the .question of the 'route of the procession, they must, not make - it too long. ; If' should .foe through the most presentable streets in. the cityj/'and he suggested that the. route should foe from the wharf and via Cuba street. Manners street and La.mbtpn 1 quay to Government’/.Beating that question, they came id the.,, subject of decorations, r A verv 'pretty effect had been created in .Sydney by attaching; coloured streamers to poles from/.one -side of thcr street,to the other. He respectfully .suggested, also, that they should erect arches -- representing the various products of the colony. They might' -have. a ton arch (which woOM’be qihiqiiue) 1 , a f im-

her arch, a tinned meat arch, an arch of quartz and one or cereals. Then the foreign consuls might combine to build an arch as had been dene in Sycmey; and some of the local merchants and representatives of industries might follow the example of their Sydney confreres. As it was customary to utilise fireworks for displays of this kind, bonfires might be lit and fireworks exploded, and the spectacle could be witnessed by then Royal Highnesses from the vantage eff Parliament House. The principal centres might be inclined to join together in procuring supplies of fireworks, or the Government would obtain a supply for distribution. . ■■ The Mayor said the Council __ had. already communicated with the other centres as to getting a joint supply of fireworks, and an expert to deal with them. The Auckland authorities had responded that they scarcely thought they. would need any. Christchurch people said they had fireworks makers of their own, and Dunedin had replied thot they had already procured fireworks, and did not want- an expert. So his Council had decided to call tenders for a supply of their own. His Worship went on to in regard to the remarks of the Premier in reference to the procession, that it would be a pity tc circumscribe the route so that the whole populace would not have an opportunity of seeing their Roval Highnesses. He contended that the Duke and Duchess were here part Ivon exhibition, as it were, and if, as reported, 8000 troops were to take pars, and a short route were chosen, a portion of them would be at Government House before the others had left the wharf. The Premier said the 8000 troops would not take part in the procession A section of the mounted troops would probably act as a body guard to their Royal Highnesses, but the infantry would line the streets along the,route. Mr Ferguson: Then the procession will consist onfy of their Royal Highnesses, representatives of the Government, .and the city officials? The Premier replied that this was a matter of detail/ which could be arranged later on. Mr T. K. Macdonald said the people from the country would naturally crowd into, the city to welcome the Duke and Duchess, and be suggested that this being the ease, it would be unfair to put the whole cost rof the reception upon the Wellington .City Corporation, He thought the Government might fairly subsidise the amounts raised by the municipalities by a. subsidy of £1 for £l. If the finances were assured in this way a better and a bigger display could be arranged for than if the municipality alone were- responsible for the expenditure . The Premier said this matter had not escaped the attention of the Government, and Cabinet was prepared to find the money and recover it afterwards from tire municipalities. Was that what Mr Macdonald meant? (Smiles.) Mr Macdonald repeated his proposition. The Premier said he thoroughly understood what was meant, but let him transpose it, and ask: Were the local bodies prepared to pool the total expenditure cf the local bodies and the . State, and pay half if the Government, paid half? The Mayor said the position was a. bit different from. that. Whatever was spent at the various centres came out of the pockets of the people of those four places,. But whatever the Government spent was partly borne by the four centres and' partly by the rest of the colony. So they were not, in asking for £1 for £l, exactly asking that the country should pay half the expense—only that it should; pay a certain proportion. The Premier replied that, knowing what it was going -to cost the Government before it was' over, he had to be careful, because when the bill came to be- paid they had to reckon with Parliament. Mr T. K. Macdonald interjected:' That is not much of a trouble. The Premier has ’ the confidence of the country? The Premier-:/? Yes, but I am very. -Sensitive as regards the pocket. . Mr A. R. Atkinson wanted to know if the Premier was going to ask Parliament in his Empowering Bill to give an open -order to local bodies to indemniv fy themselves for any expenditure they ■might incur? Did the Premier’s promise .'mean that the? amount to be expended n ;was to .be; left to: the-- discretion of local ’foodies,. bx was.there to be any check on * the. expenditure?:He could not .see; why, rr-if the Government - could trust the local 'bodies with an open orderf of this kind, r - it was not prepared to r agree \ with the -proposal to contribute £1 for £l. u The Premier said all these tilings had •been considered by the Government. The Avery -.question of what would-be a rean v somjable' amount to fix as a maximum had come before them'that morning. It was : suggested * ~ By 1 one of his colleagues -that - £2OOO should foe the maximum., but this was vetoed because it.was felt that if £2OOO was fixed there would be a ten--deucy to work up to that amount. So G-they -had home to the conclusion that : ’they mustl trust the ideal bodies* as represehtatives of the ratepayers not-to Tusk into lavish expendituresßut, apparently, if there'-was ahy r: mistake made at all/'A if •; ’Would ■ parsimonious side ; at any? rate, 48/ far as Aucfdand wa® concerned 1 IHe (Mr.^ed- ■ . don), wanted to : do tdn>th&','Pql-y-Ony. To say that there were .totb'eHio

fireworks was ridiculous. The youngsters looked for fireworks on .an occasion of the sort, and in a case like that of Auckland. /the Government would have to do its best in promoting a pyrotechnic display. He had no hesitation, as head of the- colony, in saying that if any local body would not do justice to the occasion, the best thing the Government- could do would be- to sweep it on one side and do the thing themselves. _ 1 Councillor Evans asked if the Government was prepared to subsidise local bodies, up to £2OOO ? The Premier : The acoustic properties of this building must be very _ bad. (Laughter.) My answer was, “No.” I don’t intend to give subsidies. Councillor Anderson and Mr Allan urged the claims of the children to special consideration on an occasion of this kind. The. Mayor §aid the City Council nad intended to suggest that- a silver medal should he struck off for presentation to the children of the primary schools in commemoration of the occasion. Mr Macdonald, thought he was expressing the views of those present when’ he- said the citizens would co-operate •with the Government in working out the details so that the visitors would have a right roval reception. The Mayor complained that a citizens reception was not on the official programme for Wellington a.s it was at tne other centres. The Premier replied that levees had also been barred, but cm observing that » levee was being provided for at Sydney he had communicated with the Governor with a view of having a similar function here. The Government was earnestly desirous that everybody possible should have an opportunity of ‘meeting their Royal Highnesses. In the matter of finance, the Government had to be careful, as it would cost a large sum. He had said once that “ Money was no object,” but he would never say it again—even though it was a joke. "He was at one with those who wished to make the children a prominent feature of the reception. He knew he would get. into trouble with his colleague the Minister for Railways, but- he would Lave children’s trains .run to bring children from all the. provincial districts to see their Royal Highnesses. The Government would also pay half the cost of providing silver medals for the children. Mr Atkinson: He won’t pay us £1 for £l, but he will pay the lot if we don’t do if properly! The Premier :• The colony of New Zealand is in the van, and shall not lose ■ ground a,3 far as the Government is concerned. The meeting adjourned till 3 o’clock on Thursday.