BANQUET TO THE MINISTER FOR LANDS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2130, 20 December 1894, Page 45

BANQUET TO THE MINISTER FOR LANDS.

A banquet in honour of the Hon. John M'lOmzie, Minister for Lands, was held in Clinton onThutsday evening, and was attended hy about CO persona. Mr W. J. Coghlan, chairman of the Clinton Town Board, presided, and Messrs J. MarkintoEh and R. M'Niib, M.II It's., and Mr D. Wallace, chairman of the Clutha County Council, were among those present. An exceudiugly Bumptuous repast, provided by Host Ooghlan, having been disposed of, and the loyal toasts having been honoured, The Chairman proposed the toast of "The guest of the evening " Phy6ically, aa they could see for themselves, Mr M'Kcnzie compared favourably with, if he was not superior to, most of the chiefs of his native land of whom they read so much. As an eld colonist his career was unimpeachable, and as a member of Parliament lie had distinguished himself so well that he now held the third highest position that could possibly be attained by a man under the British Crown in New Zealand. — (Applause.) The advantages accruing, especially to t'ae poorer clasfes, from Mr M'keuzie's administration of the land laws were innumerable, and ho had been the means of bringing the land within the reach of every one. He had been the cause of breaking up large estates, such as the Pomahaka, which had been capable of keeping only one man, but was now capable of affording a livelihood to hundreds of people.—(Applause.) The time would come when there would be nice homesteads on the Pomahak<>, and when Mr John M'Jienzic'n photograph would be worshipped by the people of Pomahaka just as Air Gladstone's pLotngrapli was now welcomed by tun people of Ireland.— (Laughter and applause.) The Minister foh Lands, after thanking the comp*ny for the cordiality with which they bad received the toast, and after thanking the chairman for the fluttering terms in which he had referred to him, said that the members of the pre.cut Government were accused of talcing overy possible oppoitunity of speaking to tho people when they met thorn, and ac would like to take the opportunity that night to Bay a few words to the sett lers on political matters. The only chauce that the Government hud of holding their own againßt the Tory presß wa3 to take every opportunity they could get of meeting the people face to face, for about 75 per cent, of the newspapers of the colony were running down the Government day after day during the year. It was necessary therefore, if the Government were to hold their own and to carry out the legislation they hul set themselves to pass, that they must embrace every opportunity of taking the people into their confidence. He should say that he had been aaked by the member for the district, Mr Thomas Mackenzie, to apologise for his absence, as lie was, owing to his health not being very good, at present at Rotorua. The speaker had on the occasion of his present visit been over Pomahaka. It was not his intention to enter into all that had been said for and against the Pomahaka pm chase, but he would refer them to facts. A large number of people in the district had thought the time had arrived, fifteen or sixteen months ago, when some lands should be bought for settlement purposes in the district, and they got up a petition to that effect. They had since been told that that petition was not genuine ; but after seeing the district for himself he had come to the conclusion that the petition was genuine, and very genuine indeed.— (Applause.) And he thought he could prove to them that it was genuine, because at the time they got up that petition asking the Government to get some land for settlement they had no idea that three estates belonging to the Logan family would be disposed of. These estates, comprising 33,000 acres, had been disposed of, yielding some £93,000, and a large number of people who had Bigned that petition had purchased portions of the Logan estates. That showed that at the time the petition was got up there was a genuine demand for land in the district; otherwise these threa estates and the Pomahaka would not havo gone off.— (Applause.) The Government, having no idea that these estates would be put on the market, did what they thought right and put the matter into tho hands of the Bonrd of Laud Purchase Commissioners. He had himself been accused of corruption, aud it had been said that he purchased the estate to please Mr Douglas. He had had nothing to do with the purchase except to authorise the Board of Commissioners to inquire into the value of the estate and recommend whether it should be purchased or not, and when they had done that his duty was to submit the matter to his colleagues in the Cabinet and recommend the Governor to purchass the laud. If they believed all that had been said in connection with this matter they must believe that all the gentlemen who had taken an interest in the purchase — the Board of Commissioners, the valuers, and everybody concerned— had conspired to defraud the people of the colony and play into the hands of Mr Douglas ; they must believe that these were all vagabonds and rogues, and that the only three honest men were the editor of the Ofcago Daily Times, Mr Scobie Mackenzie, and a Mr Stevenson.— (Laughter.) He thought they would find it very hard to believe that. — (Laughter.) Now he came to another point : The estate had been purchased and opened to the public. It was not all takon up, but, after seeing the Pomahaka that day, he had no fear but that it would eventually be a Miccess. He was sure the continual crying-down of the estate by the

press had deterred people from coming to look at the sections that were available, but lie was sure that Pomahaka was not too dear. If, however, it was too clear— if tho prices of agricultur.il produce were to be at so low a point that the Pomahaka settlers could not pay their rent— there \va« a veiy blue look out for the pc pie of tho colony. —(Hear, hear.) They could not possibly help themselves by croaking and by singing out that ouch-and surh was not what they thought it ; but if they would all put their shoulders to the wheel he had no doubt there would be a turn of the wheel and that better times were in store, not only f>>r the colouy as a whole, but also for the Pomahaka settlers. —(Applause) He had no hesitation in faying after seeing Pomahaka— and he had never seen it before that d iy,— and after seeing the property all roun<i it, that the day would come when it would be a very good settlement. It was impossible at the present time for the pcoplo there to see what was before them, but when they considered that it was only a fW months prcvioubly that the Government not the land, and when they considered what they had themselves clone already and what the Government had done already, there was, he thought, a good prospect. The Government would do what they could to help them, but they must, as a matter of fact, keep the settltrs to their bargain. Those present must know as well aa he could tell them that on every occasion on which the Government had purchased an estate the purchase was immediately cried clown by a certain sectio^ of the press, aud they were immediately told it was a white elephant. " The Cheviot wan a white ele-ph-int"; " Teaneraki was a white elephant," aud Pomahaka was a white elephant." The proas was now very quiet about the Cheviot, bscan.se it had been discovered that it was going to be a success.— (A.pplause.) They did not hear anything, either, about Teaneraki, because that also was a success— all the sections were taken up aud the people were doing well,— but if the p»pers succeeded in making the Poraahaka a failuie they would be in their glory. These opponents of the Government wanted to break up the system of legislation in the direction of buying up estates for the settlement of the people. That was what they were working for, and that was why they were agitating the people of Pomahaka — not that they cared one straw for them, if the settlers had not a home tomorrow there was not one of these people who would help them ; but they were making a cat s paw of them in the hope that they would be able to show the col my that this system of settling the land was a failure.— (Applause ) Another point to consider in connection with the purchase of land for settlement was that at the time the Government purchased Pomahaka they could not go to any owner in the colony and demand that he should sell land to them, and the ouly land that was then offered to the Government in the south of Otasfo was the Pomahaka. The Conical Hills estate was, at the same time, placed under offer to them, but only by way of exchange for a large amount of pastoral country in the Maniototo Plains, and the Government had at that time no legal power to make an exchange, aud so they were restricted to the offer from Mr Douglas. It was of no use for people to say, " Why not have bought the Clydevale or some other place nearer the railway ?" The fact was that the Government had not the power then ; but that had now been changed by legislation and they had now the power to go to Olydevale and take the estate, if they wanted it, at any time.— (Applause ) He ventured to say that this was the only British colony in which there was such a power to tako land for settlement— {applause),— and it was due to the present Government that there was that chance of being able to settle the people on the land.— (Applause.) If the Government had not that power in the future what would become of the people of the colony? Every year there were young men ready to go on land of their own, prepared to leave the old noma and go and do something for themselves, and unle-s the Government could keep up a supply of land equal to the demand these young people must leave the colony. So long as the present Government remained in office they were determined to always keep a supply of land in tho market to meet the leßitimaie demands of the young people of the country — (Applaute.) Without such an act as they now had the settlement and profcrefcs of the colony would be retarded, and every other industry would be retarded, for each of them was dependent upon the producing industry- It was the duty of the people not to make clerics and genteel professional men of their sons, but to make farmers of them. He .admitted that there must be a certain number of lawyers and doctors because we could not do without them, but he was afraid the old settlers in the country were running too much after gentility for their children, and it would bo much better v they taught them to work on the land, as they had themselves worked, in an honest and straightforward way.-(Applause.) He did not think they would ask him to say anything more about Pomahaka for they knew all about it ; it was now for the settlers themselves to make it a success or not He would like, however, to say a few words regarding the general land laws of the colony. "When the present Government took othce the laws were such aa enabled the man with the heaviest purse to cat possession of land before the man who could not scrape up so many sovereigns as his neighbour, and were such as to cultivate a system cf dummyiMn by which the wealthy individual, the capitalist, and the financial associations were able

to accumulate lai^o cstat^H for s-pecnlntive purposes ; but under the land legislation passed by the piesont Government these things were changed, and Fiich a thing r.s a dummy \v,i3 har.lly known. — (Hear. he*r.) A Rood deal of discursion hud been going on in the press with reference to the Government Rystum of land aihnhmtr&tion, tind only last year the Otngo Duly Times and Ohristchnrrh I'rcss had eufleavouied, by a series of artirles, to prove that the late Minister for L^nds (Mr Richanlsoii) had been moie suri e^sful in placing people on tho land than he (Mr M Kunzie) had been. He asked the gentleman in charge of the Land department (the Surveyor-general) to prepare a return showing how the last three yearn of Mr Richardson's administration compared with the first threo years of the speaker's. Thatrctnrn was laid ou the table of the House last session, and was published in the Blue Books, but he had not observed that any paper in the colony took notice of it. He had noticed how careful tho Tory press was not to refer to the return. The public only got from it what suited the press, for it would give thorn true facts which it knew to exist.— (Laughter.) LThc return referred to by the Minister, which is dated the 17th October, was telcm.jpncfl by our

Wellington correspnnclcnt the same clay, and appeared in the Daily Times of tho 18th October. The printed parliamentary paper itself came to hand from tho Government Printer only thia vvoi'k ] The return was signed by the Surveyorgeneral of the col'.ny a-< being a correct statement of the disposal of land for the last three years of Mr Riehfirdson'H administration and the first throe years of his (Mr M'Kenzie'p). It showed that the total number of selectors under all syatems of selection for the three years ended the 31st March ISOI was (J912, and the total number for the three years ended the 31st March 1894 was 7270 - (applause)— leaving a balance of 3GI in the speaker's favour.— (Applause.) If, however, they left out the pastoral runs and came clown to bond Me settlement, the figures were much more in hia favour, bning tWO 7 for Mr Richardson, and 6985 for himself, or a balance of 678 settlers in hia favour.— (Applaime.) Coming to areas, the return showed that during Mr ltichardson's term he disposed of 8,520,782 acres, while the speaker disposed of 4,241,439 acres, or just about one-half the area Mr Richardson had disposed of, bo that he (Mr M'Kenzio) had C7B scttlera more with about half the quantity of land. — (Appl.tuso ) That would prove to them that the

land had been distributed amongst a larger number of people during hia term ot ofl.ee than in that of his predecessor. This ictum had boon available to all the Tory papers of the colony but there had never been a w-ord about it till that momcnt-CApplanse.) Financial questions were at the present time largely occupying the minds of people through ut the colony. 'I hey had been tola that the Liberals, if they weie allowed to be in office, were bound to make a mess of the finance ; but on every occasion on which they bad met the House tho Government had had a su-plus, nnd they had been able to carry on up till the present year without going on the English inaikct for a loan And they had not only done that, but they had carried on large works aud raised the credit of the colony at Home to such a degree that its bonds had stood highest among the colonial bonds.-(Applame.) The Government were attacked this year, even in the dying moments of the Parliament, for having borrowed large sums of money. They were first accused of borrowing two millions of money for the puipose of backing up the Bank of New Zea and. If there was anything the Government had reason to congratulate themselves upon it was on the fact that they had had the boldness, together with the desire, to assist the people of the colony to prevent one of the greatest disasters which courd possibly overcome the cplony. T (Applau.>e.) He was sure that every right-thinking man in the colony must admit that if the Bank of New Zealand had been allowed to comedown it would have been one of the B reate»t disasters which could have happened to the colony, for so enormous were the 1 amihcations of the institutiou that if it had come down largo numbers of other institutions would have fallen, property would hava been quite valueless, and Si.-aVter would have spread from one end of the colony to the other. The Government weighed carefully what they were doing, and they saw no other course than to come to the rescue of \he liank They knew that if they did not pass that bill guaranteeing two millions to the Bank of New Zealand in a few days the doois of the bank would h*ve been closed, and that would have been the forerunner of other disasters. Even if it cost us two mill'ons it was a cheap price for saving the colony from ruin, but the Government did not expect that in the very least, and he was sure the colony would not lose one pound of its guarantee. The Government had also been tccu.ed of borrowing largely because they bad passed a bill to enable settlers to get money at a Eper rate than at present. The bill provided that the c lony could borrow a million and a-half next year to adva- cc to settlers. He ventured to say that the taxpayers of the colony would never be called upon to pay one sixpence of interest The settlets who got the use of the money would have to pay the interest, and if the money was carefully advanccd-as no doubt it would lie, for the Government were determined to get careful valuations-the colony was just «s safe su any canitalUt or private individual could be in making advances Since the Government had taken orhce they bad reduced the taxation per head of the population by over £2. and the interast we were Baying now was less than the interest that was feeing paid when the Government took olhce. this being the mult of the conversion of loans bearins a very high rate of interest into loans bearing alow rate. The advances to settlers w.mld be made at a very cheap rate of interest, and the borrowers would have annually to pay off 1 per cent of the p-incipal. so that each year the loan went on the colony', risks were getting smaller and sett lers 1 burdens wew gettiagleaa. He ventured to say that many settlers were now paying an interest that was more than a rack rent, and to these the act gave some hope and a prospect of making their place a home.-(Applause.) The opponents of the Government also alleged that the proposal to utilise £250,000 in the purchase of lands for eettlement wa3 borrowing ; but when the Government purchased the land they Rot ane-Ute aa an asset against the loan, so that the colonj was not one bit worse off than before, while it was giving a chance to settlers to get on the land and increasing the population. The same Hung might be said about the Native lands, of which there were 10 million acres, in the North Island : and if the Government did not buy land from the Natives aettlement in the Noith Island must come to a standstill. These loans could not be looked upon in the same way as tho loans raifci by the Ministry's predecessors and spent on political railwnys. Borne of which were not at present paving for the grease on the wheel*. lhe next sum it was agreed to borrow was one of £250,000 for roads and bridges, and he ventured to Bay that every settlor in the colony would admit that to open up the land properly they rmifcfc give the settlers access to it, and that could not be done without money. He ventured to say that £250 000 would be put to »s useful « purpose as any money could be. If the opponents of the Government eaid these moneys were borrowed they could do so. The Government were *mte prepared to meet the people of the C'lony, and if the electors said that they must not buy land I r settlement, that they must not buy more Native land*, and that they must not give cheap monoy to settlers, the Government must take aback seat, but not till the people of the colony said so.— (Applause.) They had been accused as a Government of having done nothing for the farmers during their term of office, but. he claimed that they had done a lot for them. For the first time in the history of th» colony they had established »n Agricultural department. When he took office *8 Winister for Agriculture that department was a mere name, but he had been doing what he could to put it in form. They had brought out veterinary surgeon?, whose duties were to go about and 'give what assistance they could to the settlers. They had done more to establish and promote the dairy industry of the colony than any Government had done before. Tkty had done more to establish and promote the dairy industry of the colony than any Government had done before. They had employed experts to give all the requisite information and during last session the ium of £7090 had been voted for the purpose of providing cool storage at the ports, the object beiug that the settlers might send their produce to the cool stores in as good order as pnqsible, so that it might be« put on the vessels in good order and command the highest prices in London. They had done many other things which it w<mld be impossible for him to refer to. The Agricultural department had al*o employed experts in fruit culture. What the dairy industry was to the couth, the fruit industry was iv the north, and he ventured to wy that the day wouM come when all the fruit they requited would be found in the north, and the people producing it would be good customers for the products of the south. He again thanked them for tbe very hfarty reception they had given him at Clinton. Gatheiings of that Bort could not be got up without some trouble and without a certain amount of good feeling being entertained towards the individual— (applause),— and he took it that that gathering wan indicative of a certiin amount of cood feeling to himself and to tbe Government of which he was a member, and he thanked them very cordially for that and for meetiug him there that evening.- (Loud applause.) Sir D. A. M'Lachian, the v?ce-chairnirtr\ proposed " The Parliament! of New Zealand," and •in doing so paid a tribute to it and to the Ministers.

Mr J. Mackintosh, M.HR,, iv acknowledging the to^st, said he supported the Governmant with pleasure because he belie\'ed them to be in earnest, and because he believed them to be the first Ministry in New Zealand who had repreBonted the people of the colony. So long as the Ministry acted htraightforwardly and honestly, he believed they would be backed up by a large majority of thn Howe, and by a large majority of the people of the colony. Referring to the legislation of the past session, he declared that if the Government had not had the nerve to face danger, one of the most powerful institution-* of the colony would not have been saved from rnin He did not regret the vote he bad given in fay ur of the Bank Guarantee Act ; for though he had no great love for the^ institution — he had precious little reason to love it— he had a groat de.il of love fdr New Zealand and for the people of it aud the beßt interests of the colony were served by the course proposed by the Government and supported by the House. He alluded at considerable length to, and explained the proviuions of, the Advances to Settlers Act, arguing that it involved no poslible danger tn the State, while it would be of Immenss benefit to the people of the colony. He had ] 6 or 18 years ago advocated the policy foi-

lowed in that act, and, in supporting the Government in passing that measure, he felt satisfaction in that he had accomplished something in tho world. Mr R. M'Nab, M.TTR, also responded to the toast. Alluding to the pre-eminence claimed for the Parliament of New Zealand over the Parliaments of the other colonies, he said that his four mouths' experience led him to believe that that was ascril>able to one lnnii— the Speaker. There wns no doubt th^t Sir Maurire o'Rorkehad done more to mould the opinion of the ont-ide world regarding the Parliament of New Zealand than all the other members of Parliament put together. He thought that under the leadership of Sir Maurice U'ltorke tho Parliament had been able to attain to a state «f excellence whirh under a less experienced Speaker it would not have attained to. The toast of ".Agricultural and Pastoral Inteiests" was proposed h\ Mr M'Nab and acknowledged by Mr Joseph Anderson, and that of "Loi-al Bodies" given by Mr D Wallace, and responded to by the Chairman. Mr F. M'Leod proposed " Our Visitors. Mr J Ross, of Knrtigi Beach, in replying to the toast, said he thought he knew a little about properties, and he was agreeably surprised by what he saw in K'>ing over PomahHka. It had been asserted by some in his district that Pnmnhaka was almost uxeloss and that it was a broken piece of country whiVh could not be ploughed or cultivated in any way, but in his owu district the ploughing of land like Pomahaka would be contidered child's play. The remaining toasts were: "The Press, proposed by Mr D. Murray; "The Ladies," submi 1 ted by Mr H. M'Leod and rcspou led to by Messrs Boyle and Dolt.las; " The Host a».d Hostess," proposed by the Hon J. M'Kenzie »nd responded to hy Messrs M. F. Coghlan and W. J. Coghlan (both of whom dcclarf d that the banquet that evening had been got up sp > taneous-ly by the citizens, and that no suggestion respecting it had been made by Ranger Campbell, as had been stated by a correspondent of the Daily Timeß);"The Pomahaka Settlers," pmpo-ed by the Chairman and acknowledged by Messrs T. Chapman and Watt ; and ' Ihe Chairman and Vice-chairman," proposed by Mr W. Gari'OUTH.