BANQUET TO THE HON. T. Y. DUNEDIN.

Otago Witness, Issue 2493, 25 December 1901, Page 29

BANQUET TO THE HON. T. Y. DUNEDIN.

The banquet to the Hon. T. Y. Duncan, Minister of Lands, at Oamaru on Thursday night was an unqualified success. Our re* port of the proceedings elTT'here carried things up to midnight, at which hour the telegraph office closed, but several speeches were delivered after that hour. In reply to the toast of "The Parliament," Mr A. R. Barclay referred to the multifarious duties that devolved upon the Minister of Lands, and expressed his wonder at the enormous output of the c*iony — a colony it was a privilege to live te, and one in which the people should st«ive to act unitedly, avoiding the dissensions and causes of misery that hampered older countries. Mr E. G. Allen said he was proud to be one of those >\ho assisted in passing measures that were copied by the people of other nations. It was a great honour that a small place like New Zealand should produce legislation that was admired by larger and older countries. — (Applause.) Mr J. Cagney proposed the toast of " The Guest of the Evening, the Hon. T. V Duncan." He said they had assembled that night to do honour to Mr Duncan on his appointment as a member of the Ministry. Mr Duncan had represented the Oamaru con- - stituency for the last 21 years, and 1 during that time he had toed the mark without overstepping it as near as any mortal man could do. He had throughout held the confidence of his constituents, and the feeling that day was that Oamaru had one of the most conscientious representatives » constituency ever supported. The Hon. T. Y. Duncan, who was received with hearty cheers, commenced his remarks by referring 'to the land question. During the first six months of the current financial year the lands put in the market iji each district were : Auckland, 47,036 acres; Hawke's Bay, 38.977 acres; Taranaki, 6001 acres ; Wellington, 10,758 acres ; Nelson, 15,541 acres; Marlborough, 434 acres; Canterbury, 34,279 acres; J Westland, 73,810 acres j Otago, 129,042 acres; Southland, 7105 acres ; —total, 362,983 acres. The number of new selectors, together with the area selected,, from the Ist April to the 30th September, 1901, was- as follows: — Number of selectors, 1050; area, 379,708 acres. For the eight months of the year the gross revenue of the department was £243,579, this sum including the territorial revenue, amounting to £152,600. The lands purchased under the Land for Settlements Acts and opened during the present year from the Ist April last were : Hawke's Bay — Hatuma, 20,718 acres. Taranajci— Tokaora, 1495 acres. Wellington — Equni, 93 acres ; Mangawhata, 1226 acres; Maungaraki, 267 acres. Canterbury — Kohika, 3820 acres ; Tarawahi, 27 acres ; Puhuka, 36 acres ; Kapuatohe, 47 acres ; Kaimahi, 1&0 acres ; Rapuwai, 2245 acres. Otago — Barnego, 19 acres; Earnscleugh, 268 acres; Ringway, 2231 acres; — total, 32,592 acres. There was an estate about 12 mile 3 from Wyndham (Southland), known as the Glenham, containing 11,500 acres, now in the course of survey, which would be in the market shortly, in farms of from 150 to 500 acres, with a few larger sections. The demand for farms in the Hawke's Bay district was being met by the Government. The Manga-a-toro estate, in the Waipawa County, near Dannevirke, contained 19,580 acres, and was recently purchased from the Assets Realisation Board. It had been subdivided into 20 farms and six small grazing run 3, the areas of the farms ranging from 309 to 1000 acres and the runs from 1025 to 1177 acres. Two other estates — tne Forest Gate and the Kumeroa, — containing 12,960 acres, bad been rompulsorily taken, and were now being subdivided into sections. The Government had also given notice to the owners of the Biilbourne estate that it wa3 required for settlement. This estate was near the Hatuma estate, and contained 29,600 acres. Most of these large estates in Hawke's Bay were acquired in the early daya for very little— almost nothing, he might safely sayin the way of payment, some rum or an old musket or two being given to the Maori owners for great patches of the best of it, and, that being the ease, one could easily understand how the forefathers of the present holders, secured huge tracts of country that was most valuable. Much of the land so acquired was etill held by the descendants of the original purchasers, and it was land of a rich quality, suitable for settling the people upon. There was the danger, however," that the land they required would cost such a sum that the rentals it would be necessary to charge would be too high, and the Government would therefore have to act with caution and look very carefully into the question before they took any step. It waf the wish of the people that there should be land opened in Hawke's Bay, and that land, he had no hesitation in saying, would be opened, fo that, notwithstanding obstacles that had been put in their way— and even the judge of the Compensation Court had made the work of the Government in that rcpeet as difficult as he could — the closer settlement of that part of ti-e colony must be pushed on. Settlement of the land must be gone on with. The Government were pushing it on as fast as they could, and could push it on much faster if money was available. After he took office he told his colleagues that he wanted two millions in three years for his department alone in order to supply roads to markpts, creameries, and other things by which settlement would become prosperous, but he had to do with something less. The dairy industry was spreading tremendously in the North Island, in Taranaki especially, and, owing largely to this, land that was formerly worth £2 per acre was now selling at from £15 to £20. The men who were selling were going further back and taking up equally good land which, when improved, would cost them about £6 an acre. Dairying had made all the differenci in To foster that dairying the Government had appointed expert? to attend to the grading, and as a result the people at Home now had such confidence in us that they wculd buy cmr butter by the brand on the boxes. If frozen mutton had been graded at first that industry would have been in a far better position to-day. At that time, however, it was considered sacrilege for the Government to interfere. The mutton rings at Home were quite as bad in their way as the Tammany rings of America. There were people in the colony interested in them as well as people at Home, and something must be done to put a stop to such practices, detrimental as they were to the best interests of the agriculturists of the colony. Some effort ought to be made, and he thought we ■should start a company here so as to disconnect the business a 9 far as possible from London control. He lealised that it wnuH be a large contract to deal with the-e people, but we ought to try it. We should uxftka & fi'esli start altogether and grade our

mutton and have our own shops. In that way he believed it possible to pick up our business and thus get ahead of the people who were pocketing profits that rightly should go to our farmers. — (Applause.) Our produce trade had great possibilities in it. In connection with the export of dairy produce and frozen meat, the speaker adduced the , following figures for the 10- year period IS9I to 1901: — Butter, an increase of 145,12icwt, valued at £639,902; cheese, an increase of 69,382cwt, valued at £162,203; beef, an increase of 192,785cwt, valued at £237,823; mutton, an increase of 343,861 carcases, valued at £95,769 ; lamb an increase of 1,014,928 carcases, valued at £497,289. As to wool, in 1886-1891 the export was 106,187,1141b, valued at £4,129,686; in 1891-6 the export was 123,742,1891b. valued at £4,140,116 — or an increase for the five years of 17,555,0751b, valued at £10,430; in 1900-1901 the export was 136,716,3111b, valued at £3.894,739 — or an increase (in weight) of 12,974 r 1221b, of the value of £10,430, but at the same time the decrease (in value) was £245,377. The stock in the colony showed the following increases for the 1891-1901 period :— Horses, 55,655; cattle. 424,849; sheep. 3,479,347. The number of dairy factories in the colony is 251. acid thsre are 252 skimming stations. The department Las 29 veterinary surgeons," 11 dairy experts, and, nine other -experts. The survey v of the Crown lands in the Kinp; Country, in the Auckland district, was[being pushed on rapidly**, and it Mas probable that 50,000 acres would be opened for settlement about the end of February, in sections of a suitable size. He believed ,that the Government had done as much for the farmers as for any other class, and of what had been accomplished in that direc--tidn nothing had been of more service than the advances' to settlers scheme. Many old farmers who at one- time were in first-class circumstances had v been weighed down and ultimately compelled to part with their properties owing to excessive interest. The advances to settlers- rcheme had stopped" ' that trouble, The first board meeting to consider the granting of advances was held in February of 1895, and th-e net advances authorised up to March of this year num"bered 8701, amounting to £2,679,520. The security for this was valued at -£5*859,039. The total number of applications up to March last was 12,999, the amount applied for totalling £4,540,828. It was not only the amounts actually advanced by the Government that had helped the settlers. They were assisted also by money that others had to advance being now offered at lower interest owing to the Government taking the lead. These facts showed that the farmers had not been neglected, and he would add that they must not ba neglected. The way to keep them goinfc was to open up land as fast as possible and make it available for our young people to settle aod get to work to keep our exports, up. — (Applause.) He intended, so long as he was a representative and % Minister, to follow as- nearly as he could the policy of John M'Kenzie. — (Applause.) Sir John and he- had had many consultations on the land : question, and after he (Mr Duncan) took a. seat in the Cabinet Sir John encouraged him as much as he could to go on with tho settlement. The people, however, must understand that the acquisition of estates and the making of roads for the back blocks could not proceed vigorously without borrowing. The Government would go co with their policy till the countiy told then^ to stop, and then it would !;<■ time for them to step aside am. make way for somebody else. — (Applause^ Mr W. Milne proposed the toast of " Thi> Agricultural, Pastoral, and Commercial Interests,"' and expressed his delight at hearing " the great guns " of the colony talkingin such a hopeful tone about the colony's prosnects. Mi T. Mackenzie, M.H.R., thanked the committep for the invitation to be present that evening. Speaking of the very important points raised by the Minister, he might say that he regarded this department as the most important, in the Government — Lands *and Agriculture. They involved capable management in New Zealand, and the capacity and ability to wisely deal with the transit of our products to market* abroad. Referring to the abuses to which Mr Duncan alluded, he said the Government should certainly endeavour to correct some of them. He (Mr Mackenzie) had gone most exhaustively into these subjects in Parliament, supplying proof of what he> had contended — evidence which could not be refuted, and which he had embodied in the t>ages of Hansard. At the time of the delivery of that speech he was told that his statements would be refuted and exposed, but ud to the present moment not one single statement had been disproved or attempted to be disproved. He was not in the habit of going into abuses without having at his fingers' ends ample data to support his every statement. Now, if New Zealand was going to hold its own agriculturally more energetic efforts must be put forth, and that must be in the direction of imnroihig trade communications with our. markets. Wo must, subsidise speedier boat-,: That brought him to the question of mail subsidies, and this he said most emphatically : that our mail subsidies should be jriven to encourage quick-running-steamers direct from our own shores to our markets. It was of infinitely more importance to get our produce taken quickly than our papers ; yet one woulil think that the papers were the most urgent. That was not so, and giving money for overland services and neglecting ships going right from our own ports to our mar"kets was almo-t criminal. A thirty-fi\e days' direct mail service was what we should aim at. A week in delivery in mail matters in these days of (table communication was nothing compared with the loss we wcro likely to suffer by the want ot a quick and regular service for the delicate product* i^hich we were now producing and pxportiiiG. Take butter and cheese, poultry, and fiuit. The propriety of adopting the most recent methods of sending meat Home chilled instead of frozen, as was now done by North and South America, whereby chilled meat can now bp sold at Englishgrown prices, was one of the real reforms of the future. This was a question with which he was thoroughly familiar, and on which he could talk w>th authority, and he said that our mail subsidies should be given to pstablish Mich speedy transit. The whole Buribh Kmpire v.'fcs laes'ng dieadfully behind for lack of subsidising tier mercantile marine. She ua? being largely driven out of her trade in many seas by German. French, and American competition. The French and German subsidies to Australia, alone camp to £240.000 a year. or £10,000 for each voyage, while the Fiench paid pnormous sums for other trade connectionThere should therefore be nor only trade subsidies granted by our New Zealand Government, but the British Government; should join hands with us, so that ko&jal

trade competition from other nations should not rob Great Britain of her own markets. In addition to that, the time bad quite arrived whei there should be trade conceseions within the Empire. British-produced goods should have preference in British markets, co that our people, who enjoyed a high civilisation, should not be driven out of their markets by nations supplying inferior goods and employing cheap labour. These -wore the important questions of the hour, and he sincerely hoped they would be taken up with greater energy. It was not that the Government were unwilling, but the -great necessity was the knowledge and capacity required to wisely grapple with these problems. Songs were sung during the evening by Messrs M'Kinnon, Potter, Lucas, Dorward, and Booth. Mr P. Williams acted as conductor of the evening's proceedings, and Messrs Forrester and V. Booth were the accompanists. In our report elsewhere of Sir J. G. Ward's' Speech at the banquet to the Hon. T. Y. Duncan at Oamsru. he is made "to say, when refciring to the Workers' Compensation for Ac- . cideata Aci^ that the risk can. be covered for "**T3O per cent, per £100." This should be "10s Vet £100. ■