THE INAUGURAL MEETING.

Otago Witness, Issue 2668, 3 May 1905, Page 28

THE INAUGURAL MEETING.

The public meeting called by his Worship the Mayor with a view to the formation of the Otago League for the promotion of the interests of the people of Otago., wa 3 held in the Victoria Hall on Friday evening, whon there was a good attendance. Amongst those present were hie Worship the Mayor (Mr T. R. Christie), Messrs J. A. Millar, M.H.R., James Allen, M.H.R.. T. Mackenzie, M.H.R., H. D. Bedford, M.H.R., J. F. Arnold, M.H.R., J. Bennetts (Roxburgh), J. H Hosking, J. Dunne (Mayor of Balchitha), A. Bathgate, M. Cohen, and G. H. Uttley (vice-president Trades and Labour Council), who were set down as speakers, and amongst others at the meeting were the Hon. W. M. Bolt, M.L.C., Messrs E. Xi. Allen, M.H.R., J. Bennet, M.H.R. (Tuapeka), J. Braithwaite (Mayor-elect;, F. J. Stilling, W. Burnett, D. E. Theomin, A. Sligo, G. Fenwiek, J. C. Thomson, R. M. Clark (president Chamber of Commerce), W. L. Simpson, J. Hutchison, J. R. Smith (chairman cf the Maniototo County Council), J. Wilson, G. L. Dennistor. D. M. Fca, T. Muir (Waihemo) County Council), W. B. Harlow, W. S. Bedford, J. Harrison, P. Barr, C. R. Smith, R. Gilkison, J. C. Arbuckle (Lawrence), R. Kinaston (Mayor of Roxburgh), G. Lawrence. R. Brinsley, D. A. De Maus (Mayer of Port Chalmers), J. Hazlett, — Crow, Crosby Morris, T. E. Shiel, J. M. Gallaway, W. Earnshaw, .J. Gore, C. VV. Rattray, L. Wilson, J. Small, W. E. Dall, A. S. Orbeil (Waikouaiti County Council), J. Jolly, jun., and J. H. Nimmo. Apologies for absence were received from the Most Rev. the Primate, and Messrs T. K. Sidey, M.H.R., J. Loudon, W. A. Wathen, A. Burt, L. Harris, H. H. Leary (Mayor-elect . of Lawrence, T. Scott, and J. P. Simon (Mayor of Mornington). In the course of his letter of apology, addressed to the Mayor, the Primate said : "My frequent journeyings into the interior of Otago for considerably more than 30 years have made me very familiar with every part of it, and I am deeply sensible of the obligation the whole community lies under to yourself for the efforts you have made to draw the atte ltion oi a somewhat apathetic public to the value of the country. I cannot in such a letter set forth my views upon this subject, but I may say that I have, in addresses delivered at various centres from time to time, endeavoured to illustrate this subject to the inhabitants, drawn from the knowledge obtained from other countries of similar climate in my early youth. Indeed, lam somewhat moved to offer a public lecture under the auspices of your league should you think it likely to be of use."

The reading of the letter was received with loud applause.

His Worship the Mayor in opening the proceedings, said it was not required of him to say much about the scheme. The constitution of the league had been published already. It had been most carefully considered by representative gentlemen, and put into something like shape, and he put forward the scheme with every confidence. He would simply call on the various speakers.

THE FDRST RESOLUTION.

Mr T. Mackenzie, M.H.R., who was the first speaker, and who was frequently applauded during the course of his remarks, said the fact that they were "called together to promote a league indicated a necessity. He had had the following question put to him: "What have you to do with attending a meeting of Dunedin people, and urge its interests. You are a country representative?" It was because he was a country representative that he was there. Two factors make for his constituents' success-, which, according to present circumstances, were not what they ought to be. The one — a ready iocal market ; the other — a port from which their products could be shipped to the markets of the world. Regarding his personal interests in this City, he might observe that his connection with it had been almost lifelong. He knew Dunedin when the waters of its harbour lapped Princes street, when the Octagon was a wilderness of flax, _and in the forests of the north end a bushman might lose his way. He had watched the progress of this City during the early sixties, when manly fellows from every clime came to our shores, and, by uniting their enterprise with the solid capacity of our earlier settlers, this town was forced ahead with suoh a tide of prosperity that it became the commercial metropolis of New Zealand. He had witnessed the slackening of that tide, and its currents settling in other direction®, bearing on its bosom that commerce that we had hitherto regarded as peculiarly our own. They would expect more than a mere assertion on- his part in justification of so serious a statement as he was about to make, which was that not only had this city lost- a great portion of her distributing trade, but that this port was not even shipping away the produce that is manufactured on its very shores, nor the sheep that were fattened on our hills. And he oontended that if our produce had to be railed hundreds of miles to other ports for shipment that every penny of these extra charges came from the pockets of our producers. He would give a brief summary of a quarter of a century of our trade from 1878, and also in 1903. To show how the centre of distribution had changed from Dunedin to Wellington:—-

IMPORT TRADE. Diinedin v. Wellington. | Dunedin— 1878. 1903. Imports ,* -.. £2,975,000 £2,393,000 Exports .. *. 2,112,000 2,548,000 £5,087,000 £4,941,000 A decrease of £146,000. "Wellington— 1878. 1903. Imports >* .. £1,529,000 £4,133,000 Exports :.» >. 783,000 3,154,000 £2,312,000 £7,287,000 j An increase of £4,975,000.

So that, continued Mr Mackenzie, when the population of this colony was half its present number Dunedin imported far more goods and held about £3 out of every £8 oi New Zealand's trade. New Zealand's total import and export trade was 14J millions** c\s <whici!i Dunedin held over £5,000,000. Now our population had doubled, and Duncdin's total trade had decreased, whereas Wellington's had increased by £5,000,000 during the same period. Our shipping trade also showed an unsatisfactory state relative t.Q northern,

ports. In the foregoing figures Invereaiv gill was included, which made recent com* parisons still more unfavourable to ua. At the annual meeting of the Wellington Chamber of Commerce, held this month, tho chairman said: "With respect to Wellington, it had continued to make gratifying progress. From 1901 to 1904- the total import and export trade of Wellington showed an increase of 31 per cent., of Auckland an increase of 21 per cent., of Lyttelton a decrease of 3 per cent., while Dunedin remained stationary. The total actual figur-es for 1904 were as follows: —

Wellington £6,310,398, Auckland, £5,750,922, Lyttelton £4-,421,031, Dunedin £3.561,986. Continuing, Mr Mackenzie said : I have endeavoured to show tho change in general! trade. I now desire to justify my statement that our own port doe? not ship the butter and mutton locally produced. Dealing first with dairy produce, the Taieri and! Peninsula Company exported last year 6SO tons of butter, not lib of which was shipped! from Otago. It all went to_ Wellington or Tjytteltcn for shipment. This year 572 tons have gone for shipment either to Wellington or Christchurch, and 150 from Dunedin by direot or Federal line. It costs the Taieri and Peninsula Company (in other words, the dairy farmers) 23s a ion for such, shipping and railing, but that does not indicate nearly the full loss. Owing to exposure ahd handling, butter that would grade 93 here only gets 90 at Wellington. This is a most serious thing in so delicate and. valuable an article ac butter. Tn addition, great logs occurs in smashing- boxes, 239 or' which ware so damaged in one Jot of butter recently. As shpep represent half the value of our exports I will show how we far© in this important 'item. Otago flocks, as compared with Canterbury are, roughly, as 4to 5. Dunedin first initiated the frozen meat industry, thanks to Mr Brydtone'9 energy. We got the first grip of the trade, and for a fow years held the premier position. Canterbury forged ahead in entei prise. New, what is the history from 1884 to 1903? The total of sheep and lambs exported from Dunedin is slightly over 2 millions; Bluff, 3£ millions; Oamaru, 1£ million ; Timaru, 4£ millions ; and! Lyttelton. 13^ millions : or all Otago (including Bluff), 6? millions as against Canterbury's nearly 20 millions — as wall as byeproducts proportionately. Last year's shipmepts were : — Dunedin, 78,000 carcases : Bluff, 230,000; Timaru, 630,000; and! Christchurch, considerably ovar a million; and now the Pioneer works are absorbed by Canterbury. In wool shipments we do not even hold cur own. Bluff ships 1% million pounds, Dunedin 11 millions, Oamaru 3 1-3 millions, Timaru 12i millions. Lyttelton 29J millions. I am not here to-night to attribute -causes-, for this unsatisfactory state, nor to argue all the contingent issues; neither would I alLude to these facts were it not that we> require to learn the exact position in order that we may unite with a view to amendment. Let tha dead past bury its dead j we are concerned in the living present and! the coming future. Ido not believe that the transfer of our trade has been due to such causes as changed in the Old World! the centre of commerce. . Venice, throned! in her hundred isles, held the trade of India in fee until a new passage was discovered Rome and Greece lost their trade because, to itse the words of a writer, they dallied with the extremes of luxury — their foods were all "sauces and their garments all fringes. Indifference and selfeomplaeenoo have been a large factor in our loss. Now, what have we to do? First, to arouse from that slumber which hast been surrounding us, compared to which the sleeping sickness of equatorial Africa is

a mere circumstance. Then we must look around and oee the possibilities of ooar surroundings. That in and around are all the elements necessary to build up a prosperous city and . province— and at this point I begin to ask some questions. What have you done to open ut> the fertile valley of the Clutha. so that "its delicate and delicious products may be brought to market? Have you realised what the fruit trade of Ofcago may mean to New Zealand? In no portion of_ the globe can fruit be rai;ed under more favourable circumstances ; and when the Panama," Canal is cut that will bring New Zealand within 10.000 mile 3 of England^, where, with up-to-date boats running, fruit could be landed in 21 days. Otago and California could work shift and

shift about in supplying the fruit-eating-world, as our summer is their winter. Have you moved one foot to save from absolute destruction for all time of our choicest fruit-growing land by dredging, 10 acres of which would keep a family in comfort? What have, you done far opening up pastoral Crown lands for settlement? Absolutely little or nothing. How have you acted regarding those hundreds of thousands of acres of virgin forests in Tautuku and Catlins? Wild horses would not drag you to a meeting to promote its roading 1 and railing. Yet there is the most valuable crop of timber — taken 1000 years to grow. The neglect and maladministration in connection with that settlement are enough to make the very angels weep. Not one stick should be wasted. The very supplejacks there are now becoming an article of commerce-; and after the timber is cleared the district will become a good dairy district — Mr Hall-Jones said one of the finest in New Zealand. What have you done to promote settlement under the Land for Settlements Act within 50 or 70 miks of Dunedin? Absolutely nothing until Greenfield was opened the other day by the jointi action of some of us. Read in to-day's Times Commissioner Humphreys's report o£ what hax; been done in that way in Canterbury. What have you done to see that road and rail communication with your own local factories is established ? Take the

Roslyn Woollen Mills.

In winter- it was

hardly possible to obtain ingress or egress to the works. What about your railway connection, Roxburgh to Dunedin? You saf? still, unconcerned-^ while that political job of a railway to Edievale was being done ;' and Southland was not slow to profit by your lethargy. "What about the lightning speed of Catlin's River work* — talcing three years to make a mile on dead-leve-1 country, costing £700"0 a mile? The league to be formed to-night desires all progressive people to unit© in seeiner that Otago's interests are promoted. Make for a free port ; urge opening land for settlement; oea=e

permitting fertile land to be destroyed by dredging ; encourage your local industries ; conserve your timbers ; develop your tourists* resorts ; encourage mining : urge speedy railway construction on sound economic lines ; foster the fishing industry ; and I

venture to prophesy that, if enersrv

courage.

and determination be shown, wo shall once more see Dunedin thrust forward and oceuny

the position she formerly held, of being the. 4 cozaniea-cial metropolis of tile colony. Ea

concluded by moving — "xnax, in cue uj^iuuuu ©I this meeting, it is desirable in the interests of the provincial " district of Otago that a league should be formed for the purpose of promoting and assisting, by ev«ory legitimate means, public movements for the advancement of the interests of the people of Otago." Mr J. Bennetts "said after the elaborate manner in which they had had the resolution proposed by Mr Mackenzie, and the eloquent speech from him, rt was not .(necessary for him (Mr Bennetts) to say a —great deal in support of the motion. He had very much pleasure in seconding the motion,' and must first of all congratulate ths Mayor upon, the idea of forming such a league. He thought they should give the •Mayor .credit for having priginated the t idea, and -if it could be carried out by -the people of Otago he had not the slightest doubt they would see the "benefit of it to 4he .commerce of Dunedin and .Otago gene--rally—(applause) — in, a very short space of time. As they had had the statistics gone into by Mr Mackenzie, he would not enter into that in a general way. He thought it . .would be more -within his province to give %hem some idea of the- resources of- the district he represented. He - referred _to the Teviot, district.- ..Mr/ Mackenzie had,.' said that -railway, communication., as a means^of -tapping, .the--. resources- of the colony had,; to : Borne - exfenJO been andV.th&t • applied particularly- to the'district ,of-Rox- ; burghr;t They.l]?liacH there, resources; o£ i no, auean^-qrder.. .He would not go 'into -fc£e matter 3n minute detail, Jbufc he. would like . to point .-""out "the large extent of country - ther -field -"on- 1 leasehold — that was, country still in the hands of the Government that -might be opened for settlement. There wer© . -hetween Lawrence and Roxburgh 200,000 acres. In the Bellamy •Estate there were' 40,000 to 45,000 acres, a large portion of which was suitable for agricultural .and dairy-- purposes, and other parts- very t suitable- for -pastoral purposes, "and if _ this. was. settled upon by industrious people, such as they had in Otago waiting for land, "to settle upon, it would return twentyfold what itr was returning at the .present time": Then. they had the Beaumont Station," comprising- 69 r OOO acres of -leasehold,- of -whicli" a very--s.mall portion — about 648 acres— waV freehold! ' This wa& splenHid •country for stock-raising: It -was fairly high country,, and 'he knew* from those who had been engaged there that excellent' results could "be got irom- the" land if "it was cut" up into suitable blocks.; Coming to Ormaglade, they " kad a still finer property, comprising _ some ;4000 acres, of freehold .and about .45,000 acres of leasehold, and in it was "some of the .very best", agricultural country obtainable. - Tfiat country was noi seen .when passing" along-the road ; jt was, sc to speak, over the Garden Wall. At present there .was grass . growing there as high as "one's .knees. Some, of ishis station had- been broken" up, and experimented' with in graingrowing,. and some of the very finest quality of wheat was produced. Ho was- of- opinion that same of the estate was capable of run- - ming a, very large dairy .concern — perhaps two or three of them.- 'This land was~ occupied by one and he jnust 'say that the Best use - was not made of that country. . If Kit was, the -production .from -.the estate would to increased, tweniyfold .easily, and it would, at the -same time," maintain a large -pep'u-Jationr-Then. there, was- the. Ttviot -Estate This ..comprised 25,000-<-.acres-of- freehold -and ,63,000 acres- of • leasehold; and -there wasrin 1&at T esta%e.some-ofthe finest- of- agricultural . land- "Mr Scrimgeour .-Bad -'■ informed him. that "^he. had 'there grown - some very fine "wheat,' -'but by the time he had harvested it " and paid carriage down to Lawrence he had found "he had" no profit left. If there had been a railway, he considered he could -.have grown wbdat very profitably, and also barley. He (Mi Bennetts) understood there were some brewers in the who considered that the -best barley was grown in -the Miller's Flai "district, and that district was capable of growing a very large quantity of grain. ' He drew attention to these - facts, to induce them to move, and move strongly, to obtain railway communication in the direction of Roxburgh so I. that these resources-might be, tapped. Along -the hill side there were huge streams of water from Beaumont to Roxburgh, .and these streams were,., -utilised -at the x present time -for; hydraulic : sluicing, but they might b& •utilised 7 for. etber purposes-, such as the generation -of -electricity, as that power was comnag' very' prominently to the front, and at might be. largely .used in the direction o£ manufacturing. Goings further north, they, .came- to the Mount Benger Estate, in which there", were -about .35,000 .^acres. was Admirably adapted _f or .raising early stock. He,jnight say about Moa. Mat- JSstate. . that' ST a line were taken from Xawrence toTßoxburgh, crossing the river at Miller! s Plat, It. might, be taken in such a_way;a§.to tap Mthe.-north. of that -estate. The estate, comprised a good".mahy thousand acres, so that -a line going^ -from -Roxburgh .to Lawrence would -^command- a Jarge_ extent of country. They Kad also" very" large coal deposits in th'eidistribt — hundreds- of acres of first-class lignite,— the seams of which had been tested to a- " depth-; of _about 100 ft without any •bottom being- found at that depth. If there was railway communication coal could be landed at Lawrence at 10s a ton, and the supply of coal was_practicaDy inexhaustible. Then they had a good gold-bearing district, and it was the gold that had really opened their district some" 40 years -ago. He thought 'that- in course of time, with improved, machinery, the mining industry would show no signs of being on the •wane. Then they had their fruit-growing industry, "and, using the evidence of the Government, experts in the matter, they had a "district second to none for the pro- j emotion of fruit". Of course they did not j go Si for sub-tropical fruits. -They had a ' considerable area planted at th& present ■time, but so far as this industry was conicerned it was only in its infancy. The area i&fc their "disposal for fruit-growing was coneiderable, and they bad started a canning factory.; and, as those present were aware tfrom having.- seen samples, the preserved ffriirt was second to -none. Experts had, he understood, given the iruit the' pride of iplace, it being ' "superior to American. In | connection with the fruit industry they j ■would, as f*r as' th«y could, stick to Diih- j fedin for fruit consumption — (applause), — iDunedin, by comparison "with Invercargill and Sonttland, being 2fr times. ahead. He 2iad intended* to refer to the fact thaj; he -xras extremely pleased to find so much inifcerest had been aroused in Dunedin in conaiection with the extension of the railway ihetween Dunedin arid Lawrence, ,but he was a-eminded that his time was up. He was glad faey had awakened ±0 the fact that something was to be game 3by trade with fehe MbJyneux Valley. .Other ports is the

colony were jealous'in regard to that trade; but they might be sure the people of Roxburgh would hold to where they had the strongest level", and that was Dunedin. — (Applause.) Mr J. 1\ Arnold, M.H.E., said he bad been requested to say a few words in support of the resolution that had been moved and seconded by those who had just sat down. He would like to congratulate the Mayor upon the fact of the completion of the scheme, which would take place before the meeting closed that evening. He had held for some time that they wanted to be more united than they had been in the past. — (Applause.) On May 23, 1902, when addressing his constituents, he had been reported as follows: — w Mr Arnold then proceeded to characterise the policy of settlement in Oatlins as unwise. Their policy in future should be a combination of city, suburban, and country members in Otago, whether belonging to the Ministerial or Opposition party,- to see that the Catlins and Otago Central railways got their fair share of money, and that they should be pushed on as fast as possible. 1 ' Continuing, Mr Arnold said he was delighted to find that the league proposed to go in for what he had suggested. The difficulty had been that members of -Parliament representing the country Iliad not been united upon questions that defected the interests of Otago, and he iifelieved if they had "been mote united they have gained a great deal more for part of the "colony than they had. The rfeoessity for a" league was that in other parts -of the colony the people were united. In Auckland every question that came before .Parliament 'had the united support of ..the Auckland members. And not only so : they- had only to touch the electric wire, and t"he press of that part of the colony, supported -by the -whole of the residents, ■would rise -up and" bring influence fo bear upon their meruhers "so that they would bring/ pressure to bear upon Parliament to get what was required. That applied in oth&r places, but not in .Otago. Not j only did they find ia Otago a want j of- unity among the commercial and ! business class, but. they found - there -was "no unity among members of Parliament, which was the first thing that most be secured. It was all very well ; for one -man 'to be enthusiastic over the j Catlin's River or Otago Central, but they must be able to work hand in hand for the . welfare of the province. They must join :h»nds -and- appeal to Government to do justice to this "part; -of the colony. It wasthe people who -should ~ move the members of Parliament, and the members of Parliament- who should move the "Government. — (" Hear, hear.") If he or his colleagues, or | country- representatives were divided upon j any "particular- question wtiat was said? i M "Ebu are trying to favour yourselves. | People 'in. your ' part of the colony don't .agree with regard to this question. The people" Jiave nothing to say, and the members are silent." • Consequently members of -Parliament could do very little indeed, but a league such, as * they were forming - that evening could bring pressure to bear, and would be- able to show that they were determined "to have 'what -was right," and what was just^ and they asked for nothing more". — (Applause.) Members ' should unite whatever party they represented, and so he' was delighted to find that this league had ■no. party and" no "politics, no representative : of country or city in particular, was not ' composed of—merchants or shopkeepers, but was -r to be -composed of people .residing in -ibis [paxt'oi Otago- working for the good of Otago atone. Mr Mackenzie had said he was," there as a country: member, and he (Mr Arnold) stood there as a city member, and he could join hands with this country member, -and they could work together for the-, interest of the country aud for the interest of the town, for he held the interest .of the one*' was the interest of the other. — (Applause.) In ihe first place they must see that the Otago Central was 01 up. If . Anyone was told to - go through the Catlins Hiver district they would see thousands of acres of beautiful bush country, and" would realise the position of the Government in -compelling these people to cut this timber down and burn it. or leave it -to rot — timber that was required in the oity. for 'building purposes-, and some of it for firewood. They would recognise that that country •• was the best for agriculture that could be found, and* the league must see fo it that this bush country was opened up. ;They heard *a great deal of bunkum talked about roads and bridges. If a member- ~ got" them for his district, and he .belonged to the Opposition, he was said to be very -fortunate, and if he belonged to the Government — well, it w*as said to be spoils to the victor. But if they were going to open the country they must have roads and bridges, and they were just as much entitled to them as any other part of the colony. Corning to the city the Government had a great deal of pressure brought to. bear upon it with regard to education. "He (Mr Arnold) said they must s^ee to it thai our "University, and the Mining School was" supported by this league, and that they received justice. Then he wanted them to be be very jealous with regard to their education endowments, which were purchased by the early settlers of the colony. — (Applause.) Then there was Otago Harbour, and there was the dock, and there were local industries which affected every individual and the whole provincial district. There were questions in connection with municipal government, and all these came within the jurisdiction of a league such as they were forming that evening, and which would have to be looked after. He recognised the necessity for such a league being formed, and he had great pleasure in supporting the resolution to that effect. The motion was then put and carried without dissent.