THE PREMIER AT HANMER

Otago Daily Times, Issue 12618, 23 March 1903, Page 2 (Supplement)

THE PREMIER AT HANMER

HALF A MILLION SURPLUS ANNOUNCED. '

(Bi a Sfeoial Coruespoxdext.)

CHRISTOHUROH, March 8. On Saturday evening Premier spoke in the new' Town Hall, llaiirrier. Mr'A. W. RHther.ford/'M.H.'K., profiled,' and'there wns'ri good attehSancb, the fremicr being .hoartijy fecoiyed. '"" '' '" ' " Tito Premier' ijaid that the .meeting was .iiillqiie, aftd'ho Kotjovod' hV'bqii'cl" claim io bo tUp first Friffle'Aliiiisflr of"the colony Wat h'3d';s|K)kcK°«e Ifeiimer.' tia .>Vbu!d not 1 ; gb into the'question'of good' government, ■ .but would only*b)4iin that jus Government had given" equal opportunities'to'ell aiid'had ■ endeavoured to adjust Jaxntion on a fair ;bai;is.' 'Tho'Premier 'tjich'quoted stalistice .to-show' the' prosperity bt' tho 'eolojiy. ; There' had boon H dqcrleiaso. in our ' .during ffio p r ist year pf f.26 ji'pr cent.' ' 'fljo .exports jasf year wore £13,bj3,557f-an' ijicrease over t]io : previous year '6t'' JQ752,.153, ' ,or''s.&T piSr c&rit. HoxobTtl like (j? fi<.o' ja, further decreast: in impor't's 'iirid a ' stij) ■ greater increase in our exports.'" Mr ScddVn Yhon gave detailed iw .t° ,'i 10 yppi'la.tio'n and Jih.iyjce'of ,tbe colony, 'and said : that, the investor and jhe\f(i;)i[alis); simply jtiilgcd tlie'cplo.h'y.V.cajißcily'.fp'lJuy or bdl , - row by its population • giiugpcf by that fita'nd- ' jardj Y'.ith a largely •m.cr'eiisinjf .p'p'pulatjqn, .' we pro .decidedly jii a Hotter position t'n : piy interest on (,lie jn'orieyj borrowed. Dur- • )n>i ,l||c"lx .mpritlse .of 'the' pi-eseui financial year tho rovemi'o 'had boW £5i551,568, and taking the .©stujajtes for -jljircb it ajid lip fel,t 'surv that' cAtinia,£e was a low ciio,—the result would 'Iμ llfat on Shye-li 31 the cojpiiy' would ljnyp a surplus , of £266,000, 'and if ji-.ilh .pleasure 'ihal ho niuibimced that'. (ho finances pf the colony of X'uvv Jiqalaiid were j> il serene and t.hut . (here .would bp tho usual' surplus of ha.lf a : million. Ho woiilt} lelf them _anpt):cr Httlo , secret:_ tlibf.c hail jil:O./ljccii ii decrease in pxpeiidilure. Sound government meant keeping down expenditure to the lowest possible point. Tliie ycijr lie believed tho .t-jp- . vcrnnient woiil.d have, underspent'juijiutlioris'ed moneys by at least' £40,000. That would BhpW the lyae'iipt .carj-ied away bdcduiie tlij colony was enjoying ri profncrpiis timo. I'bfcrring to tljo recent loan, Mr Sedfldn saji! Kia't fl'ip Govcniinpnf, after caroful iiiquin.ps ajid ijptini; on the advico of experts, iiact placed the loin on the Lon(lon market (it |i tiin'o'il'licn overything had lieen favovirablc, ljut .the recent nttneks on coioiiia! financo Ijad had a prouidicia! effect. ll'ljo article.in tlje Daily Mail bad }»ee ; h ilireetbd against Australia, and'pcpple were to jgiiorant at.llonVe" of the separation between Australia and .Jtew'.'Zealand.iliat Hip re'jiij); A,yas' that o r ur stock? foil''from' £95 10s,' \ylii6h ,tkey wore wlien dhe loaii iv.as announced, to £9}, .ajul afterwaijds they wcjit'dowp to #93 6(i. Siiice .tlieh ho lielicyed they hac) hacl. a xc.eovery. T!ie P.oyorn'mont'had, iio'tli.vjtlistamlin|; tjic ".bearing" .of lliqsV who deliberately tried 16 iniiiro tho credit.of the ci?lony,!32o.ppople who iiail subscribed to theiion; in 'addition there was an .amount taton u|) w|upl)'h'rnjijjit if.iin to over 8 iicr cent!(.but t-ljb pqint'io which h_e wislied'tp ili'a\y.attonjign jyaj A pable' message had com? ,'otit front Hoino faying that tin;'net rt>suK oHho'loan woylcl |)» under §1. "It Memo'tl to Him rcprtjhonpibio Iri the highest (legrcn (hat, yithout wa/ting for i.ti or asking for correot 'iiifprmatioii, : sdme'-paper3 seized upon that .and wvpte ■ jrtielo? am! said this' jrns fho jpsitl)—■' kss than 8 por cent. 91 not received." The last liiau mi fiqafed at &i The fioyerumeht lwil'grven'Uie'Eamo charges nnd same cominissiori for underwriting, iind Hio net result of the prbvious ln'au wris £3145. The ies.iiU of ,the present, loan iya? JB9I 14s, so that instead of ifie .price'being less, it was greater than the Government received Tor flic' last iojin. Mrßedilpn'.went on to say that' the colony's credit'had never stood higher, nor its'securities better, and there was no reason' whatever' for a. fall in Now Zealand securities. It was. only temporary, and was, in hie opinion, brought about for a given object. The scheme failed, however, because the [Government fixed tjie minimum at £9f 10s,,aiid no nionQy-J.eiider.4 ''in the world should dictate ii policy to the people of New Zealand. * The' Government had spent out of the consolidated revenue over 3i millions on publip works, and tho cpunlry bad Ep?rcely ever ,'feft it. That meant a iiaving of £100,000 n yehr in" interest, and he (]itl ljof ffieh to'give too mjieh to thn outside money-lender. Tho' Government. lind got, lie believed, £9,000,000 ori'clepoeit in the hanks of the country, and it was. quite possible, if the money-lender, attempted to dictate a policy '.to this country, thpro- \yas a way out of the. difficulty, and the moneylenders ivoiild have a lesson taught to Iheni that'thev bad'better leave J>Tow Zealand alone. He die} not believe in usintr harsh terma, l)ut the simple fact was that the Government offered to the public a loan, aiid it declined tq b|e a . customer at tho price, and there the matter , must'end. Thny had got the money all the same, and the country would go on just tho same. ' Thi! crities, of course,, wpuld say it Jyas the writing on the. jy'all—they bad Bern saying ihal for the. last' 12' years.' ilariy of tlie newspapers of (Ke colony' had' done' more to injure our credit, tiiih over Mr "Wilson hofl done in the Daily i'lail. Wβ were in a better position.as regarded paying interest on money actually required for ordinary puUio'-works purposes' than in 1890. liast year the interest amounted'to £1,722.819, or £30,000 less •than" 1890. '-"6e excluded the interest paid on moiioy« borrowed for purchase of lands for settlement, advances to settlors, and the purchase of pjioviot: ypt Mr Duthie had lakcii |>jm to task and saul there was the Prime itinistfljr'goinfi'tiirpiwh the coimfry aiitl misleading the people. Mr .Tobn TJutliie was one" of tlie" bears" of New Zealand, and in his place, as a member of Earlianient if was ■ more reprchenmble of hitn, tliaij the .cpndiict of Mr 'Wilson, of the Investors' Reyie\y, or of Mr Wilson, of the Daily Jfail.. "J't hijji been said 'that two millions of "publio/.money 'had been appropriated for ', last yeaV"; and that was quite right, but this fact wijs kept backthat on March 31 the C4oyernment would not haye'speiif more than'so per cent, nf , the money that' Parliament had granted. The public "wdrlts oxpencliture. of this year would bo considerably less thaii Inst year, and designedly so. Al»ut Ihree millions had been advanced .to sottlers, niid.the Government had security for four millions. There was'no'doubt "as to the-sßpurity, and no interest was unpaid, . Public' iyp.rks w?re making satisfactory progress',' and no ono had (elt this non-expenditure, and it 'eft him u Colonial Treasurer on Xlarch 31 in the public works account with, over a million eterling. And now would they 'believe a' statement such as he was' nb ( out to read to them? Ho had" told tlio'in' we had in our midst thoso who jvere not" true to the country. That: day ho had received o. cablegram from Hie Agent-general as follows:— "Tho Wellington correspondent of The Times telograplied from .Auckland: 'Cabinetmakers have locked out all' their inch, and firemen of the, Union gtcam Shin" Company's steamers have struck in-a body.' " That was the class of cable that went Home from Now Zealand. The same., gentlemrfn, h? thought, it was who cabled ii very incorrect statetneht regarding .himself some months ago, and seized ovorr opportunity to deer\our colony. There , was a cablegram sent Home with, the avowed, object of casting a reflection on- pur labour laws, and trying tq make out they had not accomplished the object in yiaw. But (he worst-feature of the whole thing was that there had been no'dispute.'iio'fai- as lie could lcar'n. 'a'f allbetween the firemen and the'U.S.'S. Company Yet the British public were told that the firemen had all struck. He had made inquiries that afternopij. and he Was told there was not the slightest truth in tho statement. Under these circumstances he did not hesitate to' snv Ibjtt there were traitors in our midst.. Had jt not been for the Agent-general, he (Mr Seddbii) should not havo hadtlio opportunity of repelling an «nju|t acnipatipu. nn. soveral njcpusions the London Tinie3 had liad to apologise to this colony, and if it did what was just it would apologise to tile colony for the wrongdoing" of , its correapondeut in oinmidst. 'The Premier then said he,wanted to say to the poople of Canterbury. Hawke's Bay, Otago, and Waikato, that more of ilio large estates must givb way to closer settlement, and it was in the best interests of the colony that theyshoiild do so. 'flip country must have population. There would bo no departure' from the Government's land for settlement policy, and there would probably he in some districts a very vigorous application of that policy. In regard to the 'Frisco mail service, which would he terminated shortly, thp Premier said he did not like thp. idea of subsidising steamers mat were to'be'used under the original terms of the contract as cruisers in times of necessity.- The Vancouver service was taken from the colony without the slightest warning because the' shipowners and th* people in London wanted to get Queensland sugar over to Vancouver and the K|:indyke gnldfiolde, and the tho Queensland Government gave them tho subsidy, ' They had just established A very nic<> trnde wrih New Zealand, and the Canadians regretted the change nior?' than we did. We had a contract with, tho 'Priseo Company, and he would ask them to allow it to' go on till the two services expired, when the-y would be dealt with 'fogeflipri While at Home he had a conference with Sir "Wilfrid Laurier, SirEdmuiid'Tiavton, and'tho Prime Minister of Newfoundland, when they discussed the 'of a lino, of mail ateamers E[ding from England to Oanada, and Him right on to Australia and New Zealand, 'Representation's wore

maite to the Impcria! Government on these linos. There were 'many reasons why ho would like to see reciprbpity" with Cahad'a, and Jie knew that the Government had the support of the people of New Zealand in that raspect. 'JJj! had at thi? same, time no .intention of doing away with the San Francisco service rtV'a niail servjee'. He'jyiw'etitiejfcil if would riot Be"improved on at' (ho present time, but flie-rc must be an oxteusioi), so as to connect aild have a federal service with Australia

A vote of thanks ami confidence in tho (ibyernmept was'' carried' by acclamation. Mr Sciklph arrives' in Cliristohurch on Monday evening. •' '