THE MINISTER TOR LANDS AT THE GARRISON HALL.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 10289, 21 February 1895, Page 7

THE MINISTER TOR LANDS AT THE GARRISON HALL.

The Hou. J. M'Kauzio (Minister for Lands) addressed a political meoting at the Garrison Hall last night. His Worship the Mayor (Mill. S. Rah) occupied the chair, and there was a, very larae atteudance, the hall being crowded. Among those present were — the Hons. J,

MscGregor, W. Downie Stewart, W. M. Bolt, M.L.C.'s, the Hon. \V. J. Stoward, the Hon. W. J. M. Larnach, Messrs J. Stevens, J. M'Bowan, R. M'Nub, T. Y. Duncan, T. Pratt, \f. W. Tanner, W. Hutchison, D. Piukeiton; J. A. Millar, A. Morrison, W. Ctirncrons, and ,1. Mackintosh, M.H.R.'s. Messro J. Kyley, D. D. M&odou&ld, W. Dawsou, J. J. rUms&y, W. T Dow, A. H. Burton, A. Judge, O. S. Beeves, K. Wilson, G. Calder, H. Mackenzie, C. Coleloueh, W. Dickson. W. U. Jenkins, J. Carroll, J. F. M. Fraaer, E.T. Comitll, S. Gillies, J. Ohetwin, J. Timlin, R. Sinter, D. Thomson, John Don (West Taieri), J. Watson (Port Chalmers), J. A. Chapmau, J. P. Armstrong, O. J. Hodge, H. Rodda, J. Noil, J. N. Merry, S. J. Lyon, R. Ferguson, Ji. Briusley, J. S. White, 8. M'Donald, J. B'-nnelt, J. N. Ravn, I. Selby, A. G Christopher, D. M&theson, aad Cftptain Cameron.

The Chairman, in introducing the Hon. Mr M'Kenzie, naiil : Ladins and gentlemeD,—We are met together to listen to an addre33 from Mr M'Kenzie, the Minister for Lauds. The Minister having requested me to take the chair as Mayor of Duuedin, I need not tell you I very gladly complied with the request.— (Applause.) It is a matter of civic duty for me to do so, and my appearance here to-night in the capacity of chairman has nothing whatever political about it. Mr M'Kenzie does you the honour of addressing you to-night, and the honour is equally done to him by your listening to what he has to cay. lam quite sure that I need not appeal to this intelligent audience to give the Minister careful, quiet, and patient stteutiou in his address. —(Applause.) I have received two apologifis. The Mayor of West Harbour (Mr D. H. Hastings) expresses great regret at not being able to be present, more particularly on account of the kindness which the Minister has shown that locality. I have also an apology from Mr Aitken, Mayor of Maori Hill. I have now to introduce to you the Hon. Mr M'Kenzie.—(Applause.) The Hon. J. M'Kenzie, who was received with applause, said: Before proceeding to address his audience that night ou the political questions of the day he would ask to be allowed an opportunity of thanking their mayor, Mr Fish, for taking the chair for him at that meeting. Mr Fish had very kindly volunteered to do so when he heard that he (Mr M'Kenzie) intended to address a Dunedin audience. He had therefore to thank him for doing so, and for introducing him to the people of Dunedin that night.—(Applause.) He came there that night to address them for three reasons. Firstly, he had been asked by political friends, and even by political opponents, not only in Dnnedin itself but also in the southern part of the provincial district of Otago, to address an audience in Dunedin, and as a Minister of the Crown he did not think it out of place for him to comply with that request, as to a certain extent ho was responsible for his actions, not only to the constituency that sent him to Parliament but also to the people of New Zealand as a whole and to the province of Otago in particular.— (Applause.) His second reason for coming there was one of considerable importance. He proposed to reply briefly before a Danedin audience to the slanders, misrepresentations, and abuse that had been heaped upon the Government of which he was a member, and upon himself in particular, by the Conservative press of the colony, and more especially by the Conservative press of Otago. In the third place he wished to refer generally to the legislative and administrative acts of the Government for the last four years. He hoped in doing bo they would not be disappointed at the manner in which he dealt with those matters. Ho had no pretensions whatever to be able to indulge in any high flights of oratory, nor did he pretend to be an orator at all. What he had to lay before his audience that night was a plain, unvarnished statement of facts, andi'he would endeavour so far as he possibly could to make his remarks in such a manner that they would be understood at least by thosa present. THE DEPRESSION. • He regretted very much that hia first address to a Ducedin audience should be delivered at a time when there was so great a depression over tha v?bole colony. At no time in the history of ica-j Lad ihore ever been so great a depression, extending over the whole world, as there was at the present time, nor was there aDy record of the products of mother earth throughout the universe having ever been so low in value takiug tlieai all round, or so little remunerative to the producers and those who tilled the soil, from which after all all wealth must come. Although they had this depression upon them, it was.their duty to do what they could to meet their altered circumstances and make the best they could of their position.—(Applause.) They must not forget the fact that so long aa there were no many millions of human beings on the face of the earth who had to be fed and clothed and housed, and for whom, the necessaries of life bad to be provided, there must be a demand for the products of this colony in the markets of the world. To meet their altered circumstances, therefore, New Zealand must endeavour .to place her products on the markets of the world in such a manner as would secure for them the best value. They must also endeavour to increase their productiveness to enable them to make up the deficiency in value. That was the only chance of combating the depression, and if they did this and a change took place in the value of products, which it must sooner or later, this colony would reap all the benefits of such a change. If they did their best now to meet their altered circumstances they might depend upon it better times were in store for them.—(Applause.) His first reason for addressing a Dnnedin audience —viz., that he bad been requested to do so by a large number of people, required no further explanation from him. ALLEGED SLANDERS. But to fulfil bis second object—thafc was, to defend himself and the Government against the slanders, libels, misrepresentations, and abuse heapad upon them, would take some eoneiderable time. Now, taking iato consideration the fact that the Conservative press had been . at tbis game, morniiig, noon, snd night, for the last four years, they coild not expect him, in the short time at his disposal that night, to be able to reply to one hundredth part of the accusations made against the Government and himself. He must, therefore, confine himself to the latesc inventions of the enemy, and he would refer to them simply to show how unfair in many cases were the criticisms of the press towards himself and his colleagues. — (Applause.) The misrepresentations of ths Tory press had been shown up from time to time by himself and his colleagues whenever they had . bad an opportunity of doirig so on the public platform. He thought it would be admitted that he (Mr M'Kenzie) had received a fair share of attention in that direction. The Otago Daily Times had made him a special target for slander, and he had been advised during the last sitting of Parliament by three eminent lawyers that he hud a good cause of action for libel again3t the Otago Daily Times. At the same time hs was advised not to take action, ru it would be very difficult to get any witness to swear that he believed what the Daily Times Eaid—(laughter and applause)—and even if hs did gtt a verdict it would be very expensive. He also thought that as the paper had slandered him co often, an extra time or two wonld make little difference, as no one would believe it. He would give them a few specimens of the slanders contained in the Otago Daily Times and of the manner of man wl'o conducted it. He was sorry he could not refer to him as a gentleman, and he would ask the ladies of Dunedin to judge whether he was right or not. About four years sgo this man had published in the Times a slanderous statement concerning his daughter, with a view of gatting at her father. The statement was to the effect that she was to be married to an officer whom he had apoointed to the civil service at a salary of £500 a year, and the insinuation was that the apv>iutment was made for that reason. There was not a word of truth in that statement, and the editor of the paper w^s informed of the fact at the tira«, and subsequent events had proved the statement to have been false. Under such circumstances would not any man who had the spark of a gentleman about him have apologised ? But to this day no apology had been made by the editor to his daughter for that slanderous statement. Another specimen was » statement published by the editor of the Otago Daily Times insinuating that he (Mr M'Keuzie) was reesiving somewhere about £3000 of publio money per annum. Now a little inquiry would have satisfied the editor that it was impossible for him to receive as much money as was there stated, and that hie salary as a Minister was £800 per annum with house allowance £200 and travelling expenses, which did not exceed 30s per day when travelling. Thai statement was contradicted at the time, but no apology came from the editor. THE CHAKGE OP '"SPOILS TO THE VICTORS."

He would now come to that celebrated liat published in the columns of the same paper, afterwards copied by other Tory papers and supplemented by seme of them, which supplement wss afterwards referred to by the Daily Times. Notwithstanding the fact that he had been 25 years engaged in politics in New Zealand he bad not one single relation in the civil service of New Zealand. He might explain that the public service consisted of two branches —viz., the civil servants who had certain privileges under the Civil Service Act, and who when appointed received a permanent position. The other branch consisted of the temporary or casual hands. Out of the whole of the list published by the Daily Times and other Tory papers only seven personßhad had appointments in the civil service, and none of them were relations of his own. Four of tbem had been apjiointed as cadets in accordance with the law, fcjui the other three were appointed as experts

—viz., Mr Ritchie (the chief inspector of stock for the colony), Mr Frusd1 (fhe Grown lauds ranger for (Hugo), and Mr Duncan Campboll (the Crown lands ranger for Southland). Iv the tumporary or casual service ho hud one nephew in the Lands di-ptirtmont, and one nephew in the Stock depitrtmiMit. Being o&suul hands they were of combo liable to be dispensed with at a moment's notice. These were all the relations placed iv the service by him, with the exception of his son, who soted as his private secretary.— (Applause.) One of the privileges of h Miuinter was that of choosing his own private socrefcary from within or without the civil service, and he had choßen his own gon because ho knew ha might rely on him and takn him into his confidence iv many matters, which saved him considerable time and trouble. Hu was not going to accusu the Otago Daily Times of having prepared or invented that list, for he beliuvpd from evidence in his possession that the list was supplied by a gentleman who at one time was a great political friend of his own, but who now— for reasons best known to himself—waa a strong political opponent. What he did blame tho Times for—or any other paper that proteinded to publish true statements and to lead public opinion—was that they did not make Rome inquiry before publishing. The statement in <]ue-tion bristled with errors. They had even gone to the grava to find the name of oao man who was at onetime in the service, bat not appointed by him.—(Laughter.) There were a number of others given iv the list who had beeu in the civil service 12 months before he took ii/lice. A whole batch of young men had been delected by Mr Russell, the late ttationmaater at Palmerston South, from the Shag Valley to fill the places of men who had struck at Lytteltou, 12 months before he {Mr M'Kenzie) took office were accredited to him. A little inquiry on the part of an editor would have gained for him that information, but as usual this list was caught on to by the Tory papers for the purposa of damaging him and his reputation as a public man. One would imagine from tho articles and letters published by the Tory papers and their supporters that for the first time in the history of the oolony a large number of people were being put in the civil service in an illegal manner. With regard to the casual or temporary branch of the service already mentioned by him, it waa no new thing. It had been in existence for the laßt quarter of a century. Some of the casual hands in his own department had been there now about 20 years. When he took office as Minister for Lands tha number of permanent hands in the Survey department was 220 and the number now was 229, being an increase of nine since he took i ffice. During his term of office he had appointed 27 cadets to take the place of men who had died or left the service! His predeceßSor when in office had appointed eight. The number of cssual hands in the departmant when he (Mr M'Kenzie) tookoffice was 122, but there werenow considerably overthat number. The fact thatthe number of field surveyors, had been increased from 18 to 43, and the number of road engineers, road overseers, and road inspectors had been increased from 20 to 62, necessiated an increased clerical staff, as a great amount of extra work was now being performed by the department, and seeing that only eight cadets had been appointed during the three previous year 3, how was he to get the work done ? They could not make a cadet do a surveyor's work in the field, nor could they get cadets to do road overseers', engineers', or draughtsmen's work; consequently the positions had to be filled up in some other way. He might be asked why it should be necessary to increase the temporary staff in this vay. His answer to that was, that owing to the Government having to carry on the whole of the road works of the colony under the cooperative system, the Government had now to do work which was at one time performed by the contractors, and the expenditure was very largely increased, because the Government had opened up a larger area of Crpwn lands for settlement and had to road theße lands in many ca«es for the oettlers. When he tqok. office in 1891 the expenditure per month for the whole of the Survey department was a); the,rate of £14,501). The expenditure per month now was £30,060, or double the amount expended at ths time he took office. On road works alpne the expenditure when he took office was £6000 per month. It was now £15,000 per month. 11l addition to this.the amount of correspondence had considerably increased. For the year 1891 the correspondence inwards and outwards amounted to 106,934 for the Lands and Survey department. The correspondence for this year was 189,525, making an increase of 82,591. Then again in 1891 they had 11,124 Crown tenants whose accounts had to be kept; they had now 15,584 Crown tenants, being an increase of 4456. He might go on giving further details, but he did not wish to occupy their time too long on this subject. He thought, however, he had said sufficient to show that the work of the Lands department, owing to the greater efforts put forth to carry on settlement throughout the colony, had during the.last four years increased to such a degree that it necessitated an increase in the number of casual or temporary hands employed by the Government. As he bad stated before, theße temporary officers could be dispensed with at any time their services might not be required. There were names in that list which did not exist in the service at all. As he had already said, ou<- of this list there were oaly seven actual appointments to the civil service—four of them asi cadets under the act and three as experts, and he challenged anyone to say that these experts were not doing good work for the colony. He referred to Mr Ritchie, head of the Agricultural and Stock department; Mr Fraser, an danger in the Otsgo. diutrict, whose work would convince anyone tbat he was doing good service ; and Mr Campbell, the Crown lands ranßir of Invercargill, of whom the public of New-Zealand h«.d heard something before. The last-named officer had done excellent work sinoe his appointment. In fact, he had saved his own salary several times over iv detecting and preventing infringement* of the State Forests Act. He had a statement in his possession which he was prepared to lay on ths table of the Houfo next session which would show that large sums of money had been recovered through Mr Campbell's exertions, and he ventured to say that so long as they had sawmillers and timber companies that would infringe the State forest regulations it would be necessary to have experts on whom the colony could thoroughly rely. The Otngo Daily Times and the Tory press might just an well publish the whole list of the co-operative workmen in the colony and put them down as appointments made by himself as some of those they had been good enough to publish in that list. Suppose he himself followed the same line of action as the Tory press and published a list of applicants for billets who had been refused, he could assure them the list would be a most formidable one ; and if it were published, accompanied by the letters written by tha friends of applicants, it would fill the whole of the Otago Daily Times from the top of the first page to the bottom of the last.— (Laughter and applause.) He was not, however, going to follow the bad example of the Conservative press, but if he did so it is juet possible that one name might appear on that list closely connected with the Ofcago Daily 'limes.

THE HOROWHSNUA BLOCK.

The next question upon which he was callod upon to defend himself wai that relating to the Horowhenua block. Since a certain judgment had been given by the Supreme Court in Wellington in connection with a portion of the Horowhenua block the Tory press had been jnbilant, as they thought they had unearthed s. Native land job at last to bring it against the present Government. They were jubilant because they thought they had now got a Set-off against the various jobs perpetrated by their own friends during their term of office.— (Applause.) The New Zealand Times, in Wellington, reviewed that judgment, and if he was at liberty to say who wrote that review it would greatly discount the remarks oF the writer. The Wellington Post followed suit and said the case was very black, and the Otago Daily Times took up the question and called the affair terribly black. At tbe time that article appeared in the Otago Daily Times he happened to be in Dunedin, and he gave some of the facts connected with the matter to a reporter of the Times. For daring to do so, hs was taken to task by a number of peipis, »nd the result had been letters, articles, and paragraphs in connection with the Horowhenua block in the papers throughout the length and breadth of New Zealand. There were two reasons which prevented him from referring to the whole of the transactions in connection with this block that evening, at any rate to the extent he should desire. Firstly, the judgment of the court had been appealed against, and the matter had now to be decided by the Court of Appeal; consequently it would be unbecoming in him as a Minister of the Crown to refer to facts in connection with a judgment until they were disposed of by the Supreme Court. The second reason waß that the Government had just set up a Royal Commission to inquire into the whole history of the Horowhenua block for the last 22 years, and seeing that the commission was to make full inquiry into the whole case, he thought it would be improper for him to refer to the question which that commission was to inquire into. This, however, did not prevent his defending his own action in the matter. The Horowhenua block originally comprised 52,000 acres, and the area purchased by him for a State farm and for village settlement was only 1500 aores. This left 50,500 acres, which would foim the subject of inquiry by the Royal Commission. The history of the 1500 acres purchased by him on behalf of the colony wao all he had to do with personally. The negotiations for the purchase of this piece of land were begun in Mr Balance's tine, ac least one year before he (Mr M'Kenzie) took charge of the Native Land Purchase department. The chief Warena Huuin. held an aroa of 6723 acres of land, called the Horowhenus No. 118 block, under land transfer title. Hunia offered the Government 1500 acres of this land for £6 an acre, reserving for himeelf and tribe 5200 acres. He (Mr M'Kenzie) refused to give that amount of money for the land, In 1893 he was pressed

hard by a number of people in that district to purchase a piece of this land for settlement purposes. Out) of thooo who no pressed him was the member for tho district, Mr J. (J. Wilson, who wan not a supporter of the present Government. He therefore decided to visit the district himself uud satisfy himself us to the value of the land ; the result wan on his return to Wellington he directed the Native land purchase officer to oiler to \VWona Huuin £4- an acre for thn 1530 ucre«. Mr Donald Friwer, who was acting for Hunia an agent, called upon the land purchase oilicor—not upon him (Mr M'Kenzie)—and agreed to aocept £i an acre on behalf of Huuiiv, the purchase money to be paid in £6000 worth of debentures. The land purchase officer, however, refused to reoognisa Mr Fraaer in tho matter at all, either as agent or attorney, although Mr Fraser hold a power of attorney in connection with the matter. Tho result was that Warena Hunia himnelf appeared on the scene and agreed to accept £4- an acre for the laud and to take the debentures in payment, and a conveyance to that effect was prepared and agreed to by Hunia. It to;)k several days to fulfil thn requirements of the Treasury and Audit departments in respect to the issue of the debentures. Meanwhile the conveyance signed by Huuia was sent to the district land registrar for registration, and a caveat was lodged to prevent its being registered by Warena Hunia's Native opponsnts. Ho (Mr M'Kunzie) then gave instructions to the Native land purchaser not to part with the debentures until nnch time as the caveat was removed, and in this position the matter stood until the 20th August 1894-, when it was represented to tho Government that Hunia was about to become a bankrupt, and if forced into the Bankruptcy Court his interest in tho Horowhenua block would pass into the hands of the official assignee, who could sell it to the highest bidder. The matter was then referred to the Cabinet, when ib was decided, in order to save tho estate and prevent its falling into the hands of speculators, to advance £2000 to Hunia and to retain £4000 of the purchase money until such time as it wan decided what the claims of other applicants were. The Conservative press at first stated that the purchase by the Government wan illegal, but after it wm known that the land was registered undor the Laud Transfer Act in the name of Warena Hunia they climbed down, and said although the purchase might be legal it was morally wrong. Ho would now refer to the morality of the cass. He found Hunia the registered owner of this land, and at the time he made the purchase for the Crown Hunia could have dinposed of it to any other person; and it was a well-known fact that some Maori land speculators wore very anxious to get a block for the purpose of making profit out of it by reselling to Hie Government in much the same way as the Polhill Gnlly affair was carried out during the administration of the late Government. However, he prevented that, and purchased the land from Waren* Hunia, who still bar! 5200 acres of land left for himself and triba. He was paid full value—£4- an acre for it The land was not made use of by the native' for cultivation or for settlement purposes in any way. Tfc whs a piece of land lying idle, unimproved, and not yielding anything to anyone. He (Mr M'Kenzie) had set aside 800 acres of it for a State farm, upon which there was now a population of 107; and 700 acres of it were disposed of to 55 settlers, 10 sections being sold for cash and 4-5 sections on lease in perpetuity, yielding a rent of over 5 per cent. Every action he bad taken in this matter he was preoared to submit to the closest scrutiny by any committee of investigation that might ba set up on the subject, when it would be seen that uothiug had been done but what was legitimate and proper.— (Applause.) In addition to this, he might say the Government had tried to have the matter rectified last session by introducing a bill intituled the Horowhenua Block Bill. He would read the preamble of the bill to show that the Government had every desire to act in a straightforward manner. The preamble was as follows :— " Whereas sundry disputes had arisen from time to time as to the rights of ownership, and otherwise, connected with certain lands known as the Horowhenua Block, comprising about 50,000 acres: and whereas Wsrena Te Hakeke and Te Keepa Te Rangihiwinui have at divers times sold and otherwise disposed of portions of the said block: and whereas petitions have been presented to Parliament, praying that investigation should be made into the various matters connected with the ownership of the said lands, and the sale and disposal thereof: and whereas it is expedient that, pending such investigation and settlement of such disputes, provision should be made to protect the rights of all parties concerned. Be it therefore enacted," &c., &c. The bill passed the Lower Houso, but it was so altered in the Legislative Council that the Government could cot accept the amendment-*, the amendments having been made mostly by the friends of the Native land speculators. The consequence was the bill fell through, and did not pass into law. The Government was quite prepared to have the whola matter sifted to the bottom, and when the House met next session they would have before them the report of the Royal Commission now appointed to inquire into the matter. The House conld then deal with it. It would then be found, at anyrate, that he did not purchase the land in question for his own private use or benefit, and he ventured to predict that the Royal Commission would not be able to s»y the same of some of those who made so much noise over this Horowhenua business.—(Applause.)

" WHITE ELEPHANTS." Now he came to a question of very great importance —viz., the purchase of land for small settlement purposes under the Land for Settlements Act. The Tory Press had referred to these purchases as " white elephants."—(Laughter.) They said the same of each purchase as it was made—that it was bound to become a " white elephant." First it was the Cheviot, then the Teaneraki, and finally the whole of the Conservative Press directed their attentions to the Pomahfika estate as being the champion " white elephant." He was goiug to refer briefly to the results of settlement upon each block of land purchased by the Government so far as they had j;oue. I?ir3t he would deal with the Cheviot, which was taken over under the Laad and Income Assessment Act. "It was a downright bad purchase," the Daily Times said ; they had it on the best authority. It was not his intention to go into every detail of the various ateps taken in disposing of that estate; but the first portion of Cheviot was disposed of for permauent settlement in the latter end of November 1883. and it might be interesting to those present to know tha result of the first year's settlement on Cheviot. He had directed that an official report should be prepared by the ranger in charge of the estate in the month of December last, that was 12 months after the first portion of the land had been disposed of for permanent settlement. The result of the census taken by the ranger and the official report of the. department would show that out of 218 nattier* who had taken up land at Cheviot there were at that time 193 settlers in occupation and who were fencing and improving their allotments. The total value of the fencing done by the settlers at that date was £11,038, the total value ofthe buildings being £10,857, and the cultivations £1387, making a total value of improvements within 12 months on theestate of over, £23,283,— (Applause.) There were 2671 acres in cultivation, while the populatioa on the estate on that date was 932, and out of that number fully 800 might be termed permanent population. The numbar of live stock owned by the settlers on the estate on the parne date wan 86.381 sheep, 144-7 head of cattle, 484 bornes, and 105 pigs. Thus the population on Coeviot had b»eu increased from somewhere ab jur 80Jto 800. who owned stock at least to the value of £50,000. The total cost to the colony at the present time, after deducting the ameimt received from cash sales was in round numbers £290.000, and the annual revenue derived from rents from the laud w&h £14,500, equal to 5 per cent, on the total expenditure. Included within that expenditure was the survey of the estate and the construction of 112 miles of roaris, including a Hrgi: number of bridxes oa various portions of the property. It would be seen from this return that the Government were fully justified in taking over the Ctieviob eatate, which was yielding a fair revenue ro the colony on its outlay, and that the seftlers themselves had expended large sums of money in improving and stocking their farms, proving that they were sincere in their efforts to make the be»t possible use of the country.—(Applause.) These were facts which could not be denied, and it would probably be a good thins f°r the colony if they had a few more white elephants of the Cheviot stamp. — (Applause.) The Teaueraki property, near Oamaru, purchased by the Government was also crie;s down by the Conservative press as a white elephant. (Laufthter.) The whole of that property had been disposed of to 22 settlers, who paid rent to the extent of £281, or equal to 5 per cent, on the purchase and outlay The Pareora, another small property, containiner 612 acres odd, yielded an annual rental of £396—equal to 5^ per cent, on the purchase money and outlay. It now carried 29 ueitlcrs. Then there were thfi Kapna property, with 12 settlers (area, 572 acres), yielding £268, or equal to 5£ per cent., and the Studholme property, comprising 104- acres, carrying four settlers, and yielding also 5£ per cent Then there was the celebrated Pomahaka estate, containing 5391 acres, which was disposed of to 21 settlers, yielding £897, or 4-| per cent, on the outlay. This was the smallest return, no doubt, but they had to remember that the whole of the land had not yet beau disposed of. But notwithstanding that the land had been run down, there was a man who had the hardihood the other day to go and take up a section. That was a man, however, who minded his own business and cared not for what the Times and tbe other Tory papers said —(Applause.) The fact was that the sebtlen had not had time yet to see how the land would pay ; they had not yet got a year's crop off it. Yet it had been said i,h.«y would not pay their second rent, and that they had decided so at a rsccnt meeting. He had a report in his possession, however, from a Crown Ltmds ranger, and in that report it was stated that the peo»!o v/ere iadignanb at baiag accused

of such a thing. They novor had micb a meeting, they novci- puss d mich a resolution, and ; they intended t-o carry out their »gr«"i'neut. — (Applause. A Vaw.n: " Who is the officer '( ") Th« officer who ui.ulf tho report wh.ii a competent olfiiierof th* department—Mr Tlughan ;—a Tory capable officer, and a gentleman \vlio«e reports could be taken aacorrect.—(Applause.)— An he said, then, even the I Joinnhalra, which was so run down and uo doubt injured in itn prospects by tho Conservative pruss, still yielded in rent 4-^ pur cunt, peir annum. Tho five small estate he had mentioned, containing nn area of 7023 acres, had boon disposed of to 88 settlers. Now, in the estimation of a great ninny of the opponents of the Government 7000 acrea was an area suitable for one man, whereas tho Government had put 88 settlers on th*t area, and if the wives and families of these settlers were counted, he hud uo doubt the population would be seen to bu considerable. . And this had been done without calling upon tha taxpayers of tho colony to pay anything towards meeting engagements in connection with thsge estates.—(Applause ) Of course it could not be expected that every one of these settlers could be successful, for in no settlement that ever was created had ouch a thing happened ; but there could be no reason why a larga proportion of those settlers should not be a success. Even if a few of them did fall out others would be found ready to (ill their places. Ho hoped that the few figures he had given in connection with the purchases of land already made by the Government would convince his hearers that they must in the future receive with groat caution statements made by the Conservative press, which was so ready to term every estate bought by the Government a white elephant.—(Applause.) He felt Bure it would be admitted that a great deal more of that sort of thing must ba dime if the colony was to prosper.—(Hear, hear.) They should take into consideration the fact thit the population of the colony was at the present time close on 700,000, und yet they found 2628 persons owning laud to the value of £32,4-06.851 or an average amount of £16,000 each.—("Shame.") One company in the colony drew as much as £85.000 per annum in tho shape ef income from land alone. There was one property in the colony containing 180,185 acres of good land upon which there was only a population of 110 souls. He would like to make a " white elephant" of that one.— (Applause and laughter.) He was quoting these figures to show that it would be impossible for New Zealand to become the home of a large population unless these estates were broken up for small settlement purposes. Later on he would refer to the legislation that had beeu passed in connection with this subject, and what the future aims of the Government were. THE ALLEGED BOBBOWINS. As to the policy of the Government, their opponents were endeavouring by every means in their power to prove that the Government had departed from the policy of the late Mr Bailance, their old chief — that they bad departed from the main planks of what was known as the Bailance Government policy. They were accused of having gone in for a policy of borrowing, and the measures passed during the last session of Parliament dealing with finance were so distorted as to make it appear to the puople that the Government had borrowed millions of money. Their opponents trotted out these measures : — The Bank Guarantee Act, the Advances to Settlers Act, che Consols Act, the Laud for Settlements Act, and the Lands Improvement trad Native Land Acquisition Act. The total amounts authorised to be raised for these various purposes were totted up, and the result was termed a huge borrowing policy. It was his intention to refer to those measures separately to show that they could not in any tense be regarded as embodying a borrowing policy such as the colony hud resorted to in the past.—(Hear, hear.) When their predecessors were in office they wsnt to London direct for their toans for very different objects from those contemplated by the present Government, as, for instance, the making of political railways and the purchase of district railways, which ware constructed by wealthy landowners for their own benefit, and which previous Governments had relieved them of by purchase. In truth, many of those tailwaya were at the present time real white elephants. THE BANK OF NEW ZEALAND. The Bank of New Zealand Mbara Guarantee Act was one which was forced upon the Government, owing to the extraordinary and peculiar circumstances that had arisen in connection with the Bank of New Zealand, and he ventured to say that at the present moment there was no politician in the colony who would dare go on a public platform and assert that the Government had done wrong in passiug that legislation.—(Applause.) They had been twitted and derisively asked why they had not provided against this emergency at an earlier stage. The electors had been told the Government had been cornered by the bank and forced at,tha last moment from fear of the consequences to do what had been done. Others of their opponents said that if the Government knew the Bank of New Zealand to be in a week condition it was their duty to have provided agaiuut any contingency that might arise at an earlier stage. . The Government were well aware for at least ten months before they were called upon to legislate that tho Bank of New Zealand was in a weak condition, | but it was not their duty to go round New Zealand and declare from the housetops that this was the case. No; the only chance of being able to save the credit of the institution was to stave off any doubt as to the stability of the bank until they were in a position to help it.—(Hear, hear.) Had they made known the facts they would have brought about the very crisis they were so anxious to avert. Then, the Government were asked why they should not take their money out of the bank and deposit it in a safer place. Why, the very fact of the Government having done so would have been circulated throughout the land within two hours, and the crisis wonld have been upon the colony immediately. He could assure those present that the Government knew a great deal more about the position of the Bank of New Zealand than their oppo- j nents gave them credit for ; but, as he had said | before, it was not their duty to publish the j factß, as, had they done so, the bauk would have closed its doors before the Legislature had had a chance of coming to its rescue. He considered the Government deserved credit, not only for the ultimate action they took in the matter, but also for keeping the secret ao well, as it was nob allowed to leak out until the Government wero in a position to help. Suppose they had allowed the secret to leak out, j and the bank had been closed before Parliament met last session, the Government would have been immediately decried and condemned as an incompetent Government, not fit to be trusted j with the serious business of the country, and absolutely powerless in the time of a crisis to save the country from dire calamity. Was there anyone prepared to stand upon that pintform and say that the colony of New Zealand would not have been thrown back many years if they had allowed the bank to go down? Was it to be supposed for one moment that the Bink of New Zealand, with all its ramifications, commercial and otherwise, could have gone under without other institutions being affected ? No; they would have had a general collapse worse than those they had heard of in J other colonies, aud the consequence would have been that the progress of the colony would have been retarded and a large number of people utterly ruined. He had no doubt thera were some people who were ready, now the trouble was over, to say that it would have been better to let the bank go.—(Hear, hear}. Those who said " Hear, hear" would not be there that night if the Government had let it go down.—(Loud applause). The fact was they had now every reason to believe that by careful and prudent management of the bank's affairs the taxpayers of the colony would never have to be called upon to pay ene penny of the guarantee, nor would they have to pay interest on the two millions raised to put the bank in a sound position.—(Applause.) There Beemedto ba a considerable amount of dissatisfaction amongst a section of the shareholders of the lmuk at having to pay a call on their shares, but he really did not think they had any reason to complain. The colony came to their assistance—no doubt to save the colony itself, but still assistance was given to the shareoolder!, and it was only reasonable and fair that they should endeavour to back up their own property by paying a portion of the uncalled capital for the purpose of re-esv.ablisliiag the bank on a sound tooting. Now, he did not think this guarantee to the bank could in any sense of the word be called a loan incurred by the colony ; but even if it waa so, and the colony had even to find the whole of the two millions, he believed himself, and he wan supported in that belief by many other people, that it would be belter for the colony to fiud that money than to permit of such a financial crisis as would follow the closing of the Bank of New Zealand.—(Hear, i hear.) The times were quiba bad enougtt it present on account of the extremely low prices ■of produce of every de«cription, and he asked I those who were thinking people aud who knew something about the commercial relations of the country to consider for one moment wh»t would have beeu the condition of the coLuy j now if the Government had been so weak in I the baok »s to allow the Bank of New Zealand to go down.—(Applause.)

ADVANCES TO SETTLERS. Ha would now refer to the Government Advances to Sattlera Act. Any niouey borrowed under this act could not; be looktd upon ati a loan to the colony. The money could be only borrowed for the purpose of advanoing to farmers on the security of their land. It was a moat important measure, and one which, he ventured to say, when it had been in operation a very short time, would give as much satisfaction to the people of the colony as anything that had ever been done by the Parliament of New Zealand or by any Government.— (Applaufe.) It was a. well-known fact that it was already hailed by the farmers of New Zealand with great satisfaction. It had beeu coraplainingly asked, If the Government advanced money to the farmers, why should they not do so to those engaged in other.

i pursuits ? The reason was this : that in order j [ to make the country more reproductive than at i ! present they must do all l.hey could to assist ; the farmers in their industry, for the fact that all the wealth of a country came from its land no one could deny. Then if they could placo tho farming or producing industry of the country in a sound position by ad- j vanning money to tho fanner* at a rate they j could afford fco pay, they would bo benefiting i not only the farmers directly, but the colony us ! a whole. —(Applause.) Then there was this | view to take of Che question, tuat they were lending th« money on the tioourity of the laud, which must always have a certain value so long as th«r« were people to be fed and clothed by the produce of the soil, so that the money advanced on land would be quite safe if they only used proper safeguards in lending it. l<JTp.ryono connector! with thu interests of the prodtisura would admit thut in a great many cases they had been paying interest far in advance of what they could afford owing to the present low prices of the produce of the soil, and that the action of the Government had already had a tendency towards tho reduction of interest on money lent on good landed security. In many cases this would give new Ufa to the farmers, who conld now get their money at a cheaper rate. It would enable them to get rid of their mortgages, aud would encourage them to improve their farms. Many of them at tho present time did not know what day they might not be turned off their farms by the mortgagee, and consequently they did not care to improve. Anything that would encourage our farmers to work on in tho hope of one day making their properties their own would be to their advantage. — (Applause.) They had been told that the successful State was the State in which the farmers had no mortgages. No doubt; this was quite correct and very beautitulin theo-y ; but here they had to fa«e the hard fact that a number of our farmers had mortgages, and to ease them would be of far greater advautige to them thin talking of ideal States wh<-r« there were no mortgages. The large numoer of applicants that had already been mad* under the Governm-nt Advances to Settlers Act would prove beyond a doubt the necessity fur th« act, and would also prove that it was likely to become very popular and successful. At nnyrate the people of the colony would not be called upon to find the interest on the leans raised for thi» purpose, for, as he had said before, a sufficient return would be got from the good landed security to meet the interest on the loan. The Government were accused of having departerl from the Bailance policy in passing th« advances to Settlers Act; but having beau a collea/UR of tho late Mr Bailance he was in a position to tell them that from many conversation* he had had with him on the subject, Mr Ballauce was shortly before his death maturing * scheme with a view of getting cheap money for farmers, and had he lived he was quite sure, from what he knew of his opinions on the subject, he would have given this measure his most earnest support.—(Applause.) Then with regard to . THE CONSOLS BILL, that could not be called an act for the purpose of borrowing money any more than tne Post Office Savings Bank Act could bs called a borrowing measure. The Consols Act offered a safe security for those who wished to invest their money in such a way that there would be no fear at any time of losing it. The Post Office Savings Bank limited the amount thit conld be so invested, and a great number of people in the colony felt the want of an opportunity to invest money in some safe Government security. If the consols were taken up and the money deposited with the Government it wonld become available for general use in the interests of commerce and the progress and settlement of the country, instead of lying unused as it had heen inthepast.—(Applause.) Now people could invest their money in these consols if they were saving and industrious, and would immediately get a fair interest for the use of it. Theu if at any future time they should require the money for any other purpose they could sell or transfer their consols without any trouble. A? to the money raised for the purchase of land for settlements, this was no new policy. It was a policy initiated by the Govurnment of which Mr Bailance wbb chief, and he (Mr M'Keuzie), as Mr Balance's colleague, brought do>vu a bill in 1891, but waa defeated upon it in. the" Upper House. In 1892 the bilJ was again brought forward and passed, without the compulsory clauses, as a tentative meainre. Mr Ballance had looked upon it as such, and the reason that they only asked at that time tor power to raise; £50,000 a year for the purpose of purchasing land for settlement was that they were, quite satisfied that if they asked for a larger sum they would be refused, and they thought,, it would be better to get half a loaf than nothing at all. The late Mr Ballanca was quite in accord with him on this question, and had he lived he was quite sure that no one in the colony wonld have been more delighted than Mr Bailance to find that ho had been successful in carrying the bill, last session giving power to take land compulsorily' and to use money to the extent of £250,000 in one year for the purpose. The references he had already nude regarding the properties purchased up to the present time would show that they were all paying a fair interest on the money" expended, and that the general taxpayers of the colony would not be called upon to pay any interest on the money so invested. This was quite a different thing from borrowing money to be squandered in all directions. Tho money was raised solely for the purpose of buying land for smaller settlement, the land itself to be an assst as against the money raised; and with the exercise of care and prudence in the pnrchaso of properties there was not the slightest fear that these purchases would not stand on their own bottom.—(Applause.) The colony as a whole would receive immense advantage from the increase of settlement and the bringing into a productive state large areas of land that were now lying almost barren wildernesses. He now came to the moneys proposed to be raised for EOADING AND IMPBOVING CROWN LANDS and for the acquisition of Native lands. There was no new policy in this, for during the late Mr Ballance's term of office they had had power to raise money to the extent of £50,000 for roading and improving Crown lands, so that it was only an extension of the policy inaugurated in Mr Ballauce's time, jnd he ventured to tell his audience that it was impossible to carry out the work of colonisation in a young country out of the ordinary revenue of the country. There had been no period in the history of the colony when it was so necessary to make ample provision for roads and bridges and for the improving of Crown lands as at the present time. The continual demands that were being made upon the purse of the colony for erecting bridges over daugarous rivers and for making roads to give acce-is to Crown lands was very great, aud could only be met by such a policy as they had carried through Parliament last session. He ventured to say that no money raised or borrowed could be more judiciously spent than the money raised for this purpone. It was a,piece of absurdity to send a surveyor into a piece of wild bush country to prepare elaborate maps of the land* for sale, and to say to the settlers who might take it up, " there is your land, find your way to it as best you can." That had not been the policy of the colony in the past. The policy of New Zealand from its very earliest infancy had been to assist the settlers in opeuiug up the country by means of roads and bridges. What was the use of offering an area of land for selection uniess they gave reasonable access to it ? The settlers would not go and live there, and it would be just as well to leave the country in its present state. It meant, therefore, one of two things, either the progress of the country must be retarded or tha policy proposed by the Government must be carried out; and he felt sure those listening to him that night would be prepared to support the policy which would have for its object the placing of peopie on the lauds of the Crown, and the purchasing of areas of land either from private individuals or from the natives in the North Island for the purpose of settlement. The Government were now extending their operations in a very different direction from that taken in tha past. They had at the present time 23 improved farm settlements by which they were carrying out the policy of assisting the settlers to fall and burn the bush and grass the laud, adding the cost of improvements so the capital value of the land, ami charging the settlers interest ou the, amount a3 rent. By this means they had been able to gee 293 settlers, who, by inip-oving their farms, could earu sufficient nrmey to keep themselves instead of going to swali tho ranks of the unemployed—(applause)—and he w*s happy to Bay that these improved farms wer« doing so well that Che Government contemplated adding to their number, and were at the present time preparii g several blocks of laud for the purpose. The Government also proposed to improve the lands and push settlement still further in this direction by setting apart lands for small settlements where they bad railways and road work', to do. arid where the settler* could get, ssy. three days' vi ork per week upon the roads or railways as the case might be, and they would be compelled to work on their own holdings for the other three days of the week; thus in a year or two they shoald be in a position to become small settlers themselves and able to earn sufficient to keep them from wandering about the country as unemployed. This systemgave an opportunity to real hona fide working men to carve out home* for th»mselve« such as they never had before in this colony. And beeausethay had carried out this policy they were accuGed by their opponents oi pandering to the working man. They were not, however, pandering to the working people. If they chose to accuse him of sympathising with the working people by endeavouring to afford them an opportunity of bettering themselves, then he was quite prepared to take all the odium they could cast up-.n him for so doing—(appjs.;ifie.) ;—but he denied that by their action either the Government or himself were in any w»y pandering to I any class of the community. Then coming to |

THE I'DHCIIASE OF NATIVE T.ANDS, the Government had been able to make very extensive purchases since they had carried this measure. They had already duriDg their term of office purchased 1,174j000 acres of land from

the natives in the North Island, and thny wera prepared to continue negotiations with the nvians placsd at their dnipot.U by Parliament, believing thit tha purchase of these land* wmi j the best investment that the colony could i make.—(Appla'me.) In fact, if they were to ' succeed iv making New Zealand tne hone of | a large and industrious population, then they mu-t be ablt) to place the people in a position to become successful colonists ail producurs. That could not be called a r--clc'- s* borrowing po icy; io c uld not ba said that they were squandering the nwnef, but were making tiie best pustible use of it, so that iv time to coma it would yield excellent results to the people of the colony. Ths wise and true policy of ttie country was to prepare for an extension of settlement, and wheu they took into consideration tbo fact that year by year thousands of children who had be«ii educated by the State were leaving the schoolß and were ready to do honest work, and if they looked at the srn-Ul range of occupation they had to offer those young people, they would (.ee that it was absolutoly neeeasm-y to provide for an extension of settlement ho that those children rnigbfc become sucemsful colonists iv New Zealand. They wonld be unworthy the name of a Liberal and progressive Government if they did not do so, and no matter what their opponents might say of their p ilicy of la«t xeasiou and of toe various measures he had referred to, he felt confident tho majority of tbe people of New Zsaland thoroughly approved of them, and would ba prep .red to back them up through their representatives in Parliament. He would now briefly refer to

THE LAND LEGISLATION OI? THE GOVERNMENT during their turm of office. In tho session of 1891, with the full concurrence of his colleagues, he introduced his first Land Bill, and after a tremendous fight in tho Lower House, succeeded in carrying it. The fighting over this hill was lonn and most bitter. He had sat in the House for 11 solid hours one night to get a sinuleclauseoftheLiiudßillpas-ed.ttndalthough they were successful in carrying the measure through tbe Housm of Representatives newly elected by the people, the Upper House so amended it and destroyed its provisions that be declined to accept their amendments, consequently the bill fell through that; session. One clause of the bdl referred to r,h« one-man-one-run. That did not suit tbe financial people of Bond street—(laughter)—and those o' Wellington, Oonstchu'ch, and Auckland. They consequently »et to work to try aud kill the bill. Every liberal m-iaaure was knocked our. of it, and the result was that the Government would not accept, it The following session (in 1892), again with the full concurrence of his colleagues and with some alteration* which made the bill more liberal than it previously had beeu, it was reintroduced, and only parsed after a severe struggle through the Lower Horns, and he was glad tv say they were tcore successful on that occasion in the Upper House. There was, however, then a considerable change of circumstances, for news had just reached the colony that the Secrfct-ry of Stits for the Colonies had disagrueri wita the opinion of the Governor of the colony as to the power of the Government to appoint members to the Upper House, which opinion afterwards resulted in the appointment; of what were ctlled the 12 apoitles.—(Laughter.) Some of these apoatleg, he was sorry to say, had since fallen away from grace.—(Renewed laughter.) The result of this long and extraordiuary fight was the present land law of the colony, and he ventured to say that no other colony under the British Crown could boast a Land Bill of so liberal a character.—(Applause.) And now, after fully two years' administration, it had been f irand to work fully up to the expectations of those who had so ably assisted him to pass it through both Houses of Parliament. Time would not permit him that evening to enter into the various clauses of the Land Bill, but by this time they would be presty well known to those who took an interest in the subject and those who desired to become settlers. That same year they got the Land for Settlements Bill pas«ed without the power to take land compulsorily, but owing to the fioninclusion of the compulsory clauses they h«d not been so successful in the working of the measure as they might reasonably have expected. The result was that last year he introduced the present Land for Settlements Act, which provided for the compulsory takiDg of lands for settlement purposes in any part of the colony. He had benn only able to carry this measure after the geueral election, and he thought if there was any que*tion more than another upira which the people of New Zealand §p,,ke out boldly at the last general election it was upon this purchase of land question, the result being that waen the division on the second reading of the bill took place the number of numbers voting for the bill was 50, while those votiag against it was only five. The opinion of the people of the country was thus clearly shown by the votes of their representatives in Parliamant.— (Applause.) They had now a power to take land for settlement that no other British colony in the world possessed, and he thought they would be able to say that they had led the van in this direction. He had not the slightest hesitation in affirming that before many years had passed a goed many other colonies would have to follow in their wake, for he bslieved the problem of dealing in a proper manner with the large estates had now been solved by the passing of this measure. The act had been in force since the rising of Parliament, and it gave the Government power to expend the snm of £250,000 par annum in the purchase of properties. During the few months the act had been in force they had completed purchases to the extent of 5020 acres, costing £15,987, and they had made ofchsr purchases of 19,293 acres at a cost of £87,753, which were not yet completed. One of the properties was in the Waitaki district, and consisted of 11.000 acres of magnificent land. The Government were going to make a little Cheviot of it, and they would hear it referred to in a few days as another " white elephant."—(Laughter.) The Government had been acting with extreme caution in connection with this matter so as not to give higher prices for the land than the settlers who might afterwards purchase it could pay. They might not have gone so fast as some of their friends would desire, but as he said before, they had to act with caution. In a good many cases the prices offered by the Government for lands were declined by tha owners. The Government hoped now to be able to get on better with their land purchases, but he had no hesitation in saying it would be necessary to put the compulsory clauses into force. They had endeavoured to give the first act a fair trial by offering what they thought fair prices for land, but those prices had in a great maay cases been declined. The Government had now, therefore, decided fco take the first property uuder the compulsory clauses of the Laud for Settlements Act—viz., the Ardgowan estate, near Oamaru. This land belonged to a big company who had a lot of estates, and in taking the land the Government were not driving a single settler out of the country, because there w»8 only one shepherd on the estate now, and the Government would give him a section on it.—(Laughter and applause.) Oamaru would, therefore, be fully provided for for a few years, and then the Government would come down south and go to the Taieri and see if they could not take some land there.—(Applause.) RASH LEGISLATION. Daring the last session of Parliament they passed another measure of great importance in connection with our land laws called the Mining District* Land Occupation Act There was previously a system of land occupation in the mining districts on the Statute Book, but under the old law people who took up occupation leases or licenses on goldfields or mining reserves were virtually without a tenure of any description, aud were thus liable to "oe turned off their land at any time without compensation for their improvements. This had acted I as a considerable bar to the mining industry, and great injustice was caused to the occupiers of hind owing to tbe liability to be turned off without valuation for improvements. It was naturtlly very disagreeable to miners to ba turned off their holdings at the abort notice of three months. The act passed last Bession provided for a 21 yeare' term of occupation, but it also provided for the payment of compensation for improvements if at any future time their land was required for mining purposes. The rents derived from these leases were to be sat s,«ide in a separste account, to be called the " Milling District Land Occupation Account." One-half of the revenue derived from the leases would become local revenue, while the other half would be set aside as a fund for the purpose of giving compensation to the owners of theee leases if at any time they had to be removed for mining purposes. Thus it would be seen that large areas of land on goldfields and coal mining reserves and other mineral reserves throughout the colony could now be taken up by industrious miners and settlers for 21 years on the terms he had mentioned. When the act came to be thoroughly known throughout the various gold and coal fields on the West Coast and elsewhere it would be taken advantage of to a considerable extent, and would ba sure to assist bond fide settlement ou the goldfields.— (•ipplause.) The Government had also reestablished the village settlement system which was commenced by the late Mr Bailance when Minister for Lands, and which had been discontinued during the reiijn of the last Atkinson Ministry. Its reintroduetion by the present I Government had brought about good I results. They had placed on 12,676 acres I 800 settlers during tha last four years. A i very great mistake had been made in discontinuing this system for the three years the Conservatives were in power, for if the system had beeu retained there would not have been the large number of unemployed waiting to be found work when the present Government took office. The establishment of the Agricultural department by the Ballanca Government had been of great advantage to the agricultural and pastoral industries, as a great deal of attention had been given by the department to the agrioultural and pastoral interests in various ways, more especially in connection with agriculture and stock. Takeforinstancethedairyindustry. The Government had by their legislation and administration encouraged that industry in every possible way, aud the result had been a con-

siderable increase in dairy produce now ex- 1 ported to foreign markets. About 13 years j ago they had no such thing us a dairy j factory iv New Zealand, ami lnut y«ar they had registered 164- factories. Since then Borne W dairy factories had been established in the colony, making a total of somewhere ab'mt 200 factories now in full operation. They had proi vided dairy instructors and experts for tue purpose of assisting and showing the people how to produce the very beat article. T&ey now j provided graders and cool storage at the four j principal port 3of the colony, and they were j awaiting with very great anxiety the result of thflir first ehipmnnts under the new system, which would be to hand iv a very short time. The quantity of butter and cheese sent Home in 1890 was 3+.Bl6cwt of butter and «,451cwt | of cheese, the mouey value of both being £207.687. Last year the colony cent Home 60,772cwt of butter and 54,654cwt of cheese. The money valu« of both was £366.483, or an i.,crea»eof £158,796 iv fouryears.—(Applause.) Tim increa-e took place notwithstanding the fact that the value of produce had declined. This change in the dairy industry w&e not brought about without a struggle or without considerable difficulty, for a number of our very beet settlers were slow to perceive that the whole system of dairy production was alteriug. As time went ou thoy would however find the beneflciml effects of their legislation tind administration in regard to this industry, by which immeatic benefits would accrue to the colony. And what they had done for the dairy industry the Govornment were trying to do also for the (ruifc industry. Already they bad appointed several fruit experts, who were giving inatruetion to the fruit growers, and they had 6ome experiments in hand now as to the best way of helping the fruit industry in other ways. These experiments they would continue to carry on until they were successful. He had referred specially to these subjects as they came more immediately uadur his own administration, but this did not nearly exhaust what he could say to them that night on the general legislation passed by the Government during their term of office. He could occupy their time for a whole night on various other subjects which he had not time to touch upon. FUTtJBE LEGISLATION. He might now tell them that their work of legislation was not yet done, and during the next session of Parliament they intended to introduce useful measures on various subjects which yet required attention, and amongnt them would be a bill of very great importance, and which he would have charge of—viz., the Fair Rent Bill. This measure, to be a fair one, must apply not only to tenants but also to landlords, and when he spoke of landlords he wished to include within that category the State, local bodies, trustees, and private individuals—in faot, all classes of people or bodies who had land to let to tenants.—(Applause.) This bill to be fair should not be one-sided; both tenant and landlord should have equal rights under such a measure. That was, if the tenant considered he was paying too much rent, he should appeal to his landlord to reduce it, and if the landlord declined to accept a fair rent, then the tenant should have the right to appeal to a court to be set up tor that purpose. So also if the tenant was not paying a fair and honest rent for the land he occupied, the landlord should have ttse same right to appeal to a court as the tenant. The real value of rural or pastoral land depended entirely upon what could be got out of it atter making a fair allowance to the tenant for his labour and capital. The same law would equally well apply to the tenancies of houses and other premiSßU. No landlord should have the power to take from his tenant money that could not be taken in a fair and honest way out of the tenancy, no matter what the tenancy might be. The legislation passed to give cheap money to the farmers would not have its full value or benefit if they allowed the landlords to rackrens the tenants.—(Applause.) There was at the present time a great fall in the price of produce, and as many of the farms, for instance, were rented at a time when the calculations were made upon a much higher baßis, a fair landlord should be willing to reduce his rent. -; But there were those who would aot make such a reduction, but would go on demanding more from the tenant than aould be produced out of the Und, uutil the tenant was driven into the Bankruptcy Court.-. Time would not permit him to go into cue details of this important rneasuro. He quite recognised its importance and the farreaching effects of such a measure, and the other large questions which it involved. However, he had already taken some action in this matter by sending out circulars to local bodies with a view of obtaining all the information he could on the subject. He noticed tnat some of those local bodies had been making the usual complimentary remarks about himself. He had no doubt he would have great opposition to fight against in connection with this measure, buc&nse it would ba something extraordinary if the Tory press allowed it to pass without their usual cry of " Wolf! wolf!" However, he was not to be in the least dismayed by anything they might say on the subject. He had carefully considered this matter, and felt certain that a Fair Bent Bill would have to be passed into law in this country, for reasons which ha could not at that time refer to in detail. Itwould be for the representatives of the people in Parliament to say whether such a bill should beoome law during the present Parliament, or whether it should bs held over until after the next election so that the views of the people might be taken upon it; but that it would pass before many sessions of Parliament were over he had not the slightest doubt. -He might not be the Minister to pass it, but he felt certain that public opinion oq this question would grow and wag growing, and, whether he was in office or not to carry out such a measure, whatever Minister in the future might hold the position he now held would be compelled by public opinion to take it op. At any rate it was his intention to introduce it, so as to afford the people of the country aa opportunity of discussing it in all its details. LOCAL GOVERNMENT, ETC. Another big question which would have to be faced by the Government and the country was that of local government. Lscal government as at present constituted in the colony was in a very unsatisfactory condition, and, in the opinion of the Government, there were far too many local governing bodies. In many cases half the income of a local body was spent in administration. The Government weru therefore of opinion that by amalgamating a number of the local bodies a great deal of the time and energy wasted by public men could be avoided, and great saving effected in expenditure. (Applause.) It was well known thai many of the local bodies taroughont New Zealand were almost bankrupt, and it was most important that the finances of those local bodies ehuuld be put in a better position. The Government had had this matter in view for some considerable time, but owing to tha pressure of work in connection with various otSer important measures, they had not had time to give tbis question the full attention it deserved. This year, however, they in-ended to introduce a bill to give effect to the views of the Government and tne country ou the question of local government The bill was now being prepared, and would shortly ba ready for consideration by Ministers, as they hoped to introduce it at an early period of the session. Auother important question which the Government intended to give every consideration to next session was that of the liceusing laws. The bill of last session, with some improvements, would be re-introduced, and they had every hope that next session members would giv« sufficient attention to the subject and get it passed into law in a satisfactory mariner to all parties concerned.—(Laughter.) The readjustment of the tariff was another questioa which the Government proposed to deal with next session, and with a view of getting as much information as possible upon the subject, the Government had appointed a commission, consisting of members of Parliament, who are now engaged in taking evidence in all parts of the colony on the subjact, and the Government had every confidence mat their report would be such as would materially assist the Government and the House in arriving at a satisfactory concluEion. CONCLUSION. The object of the Government since they came iafco office had been to pass measures in the interests of the country. Their object, both in their legislation *nd their administration, had been to meet the requirements of the masses of the people, and in so doing it had beeu their endeavour as far as possible to guard against any injustice being dove to any class of the community.—(Applause). The work the Government had done, he could assure his audience, required a large amount of staying power to carry it out successfully. It must be remembered that though their opponents were few in number they had proved very formidable all the same. The Government had opposed to them ia the House last session four of the ablfist lawyers in the colony, who were always ready to pounce upon them at any time and endeavour to pull to pieces and distort their legislation and administration and to throw obstacles in the way of getting their measures smoothly through the House. To those was to be added a number of free lances with a considerable amount of spsakin? power who could not be said to be under the control of any leader, and anyone who had some kuowledge of parliamentary life would acknowledge the correctness of his statement, that though their opponents were not very numerous they were ; very formidable. The Government were always most anxious to have a fair criticism of their measures either iv Parliament or in the country, but what they did object to was misstatements, obstruction, and legal quibbles. Iv a fair and honest fight, either in the House or in the country, they were not afraid to face their opponents. The Government had from time to' tims to fight a strong Conservative body throughout the colony, which, though not numerous, had many advantages. They had wealth and social position, and he might »ay they commanded a large section of the public press, and those were extremely formidable weapons in the hands ot any body of men. Of course their opponents wera Conservative, and Conservatives hsd al-

ways been opposed to reforms, At the time the Abolition of Slavery Act wan carried in Great Britain the Conservatives were opposed to it. They were opposed to the freedom of their fellow-beinga, and every reform that had taken place from that time to the present had bai*n obstructed by the Conservatives in the old country. A Conservative in New Zealand was just the same, only in i, lnsner degree. They oppoaed everything in the ehapa of reform, and ifc was no eaay task to fight the battle of the mnny as opposed to them. He bad been endeavouring to tell the people of Dunedin something about the practical work that! had been done by the Government during the last four years, and he ventured to nay that a number of people ia the hall at that moment wonld be surprised to learn the amount of practical work that had been dove in the way of settlement. In travelling the other day with a gentleman who took credit to hims«lf as knowing a good deal about! the work t:h« Government was doing, when he (Mr M'Kenzie) informed him of the extent of thsir efforts he was surprised at the number of people that had beeu put upon the land during the last four years. iSome of them might say that he had paid too much attention to tha question of land settlement that night, and he h*d been informed that people living in large r.itien such as Dnuedin did not take a great itt".re»t in the laud question. And yet the land question was one of the very greatest importance to the large centres of population, to the artifißii.. the tradesman, the manufacturer, the merchant, and the working man. —(Applause.) Ho himself had been accused by his opponents of treating too lightly the sacred rights of landed property, as some people chose to call them; but he had yt>t to learn that the Rnler of the Universe had ordained that a parchment acroll should feaca in thousands ot acres of land for the benefit; of one individual or one family, | while thousands of human beings were on the verge of starvation. What was this sacred right of landed property ? It was land' lordisin under what was known as the freehold system. And what had been the result of that sacred right in other countries ? In many cases thousands of families had been broken up and scattered over the face of the earth. So that a few might reign in wealth and plenty the homes of many were made desolate. They had no desire to follow that course in this country, and it was the dnty of every right-thinking elector to see that for the future our legislation and administration should be carried oat ia such a maener that the evils of the older countries of the world should be avoided in this fair colony of New Zealand. Let them rigorously apply justice, equity, and mercy 'to human affairs, and distribute the gifts oj! Providence with an impartial hand. If thrjy did that, who would dare question the sufficiency of God's bounty for man'g wants ?— (Loud applause.) Mr J. P. Armstbong said it was over 20 years since he first knew Mr M'Kenzie in the Provincial Council.—(Applause.) He could aesure them that Mr M'Kenzie then held arery respectable place there, that he was there as one of the people and for the people.—(Hear, hear.) He was greatly pleased to have the ■ privilege of moving a vote of confidence in tha Minister for Lands, for he knew he was as I honest as a die.—(Applause.) He moved a, I vote of confidence in Mr M'Kenzie, and also in the Government of which he was a member.— (Applause.) Mr .John Cabboli, had much pleasure in seconding the motion. Capfejji Fox, who was greeted with some expressiOTß of dissent, rose to move an amend* ment. The Chaieiian asked that a fait hearing should be given. Captain Fox then moved—"That the Hon. Mr M'Kenzie be simply thanked for hia address " A Voice : That is no amendment. The Chairman said that it was an amend* ment, and that he would pat it. A Voice : No one has seconded it. The Chairman : It is not necessary that -an amendment should be seconded. Is there- a> seconder ? Voices : No, no. The Chaieman: No one has seconded-the amendment. A gentleman here rose and said that, to test the feeling of the meeting, he would second it. On the amendment being pat, it wag negatived by an overwhelming majority, aboub 50 votes being given for it. The motion of confidence was than put, and was carried by a very large vote, about a dozen persons voting to the contrary. A vote of thanks to the Mayor concluded the proceedings.