SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 30.

Otago Witness, Issue 2691, 11 October 1905, Page 15

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 30.

The House of»Roprcsenfcaitives passed the last of' the Consolidated Estimates before ■rising on Saturday morning." THE-DUNEDIN TO MOSGIEL RAILWAY DUPLICATION. Mr Sidey is asking the Minister of Kailways : (1) Whether it is correct 4x> infer that as the vote on the Estimates foT the duplication of the Dunedin-Mosgiel line is only £10,000 it is intended to make muoh progress with the work during the current financial year? (2) As there are many ■person's seeking employment in the district, whether he will make arrangements for the vigorous prosecution of . this work ? (3) Whether he will in any oasei make a dear (statement of the intention of the Government, and as to what prospects there are of many persons being employed at this work in the near futjii© so as to prevent disappointoiEait to a large number who are .to being so employed? RAILWAY CONSTRUCTION. -The'%Aueßland members of Parliament interviewed -the -Premier and the Minister of Public: Worts on the question of the north of Auckland railway Jines — Helensville north- " ■ ward and Grahamstown-Kawakawa. On the Public Works, Estimates there is a vote of £30,000 "for the former section and £20,000 for the latter. The deputation asked that th& total voto be increased to £100,000 to plaoe Auckland North on an equality with -the Otago Central and ' Midland lines. This was one of the planks of the Auckland provincial platform adopted by -the Auckland members at a meeting held early in the session. The Hon. W. Hall-Jones said he could not spend any more money on these lines at present. The surveys completed would not absorb more than the £30,000 already allocated. If the Colonial Treasurer offered him more money for the Helensville northward line he would say, "I don't want it, because I can't spend it," as the surveys were only completed to that extent. If they had given a larger vote they would simply find next year that the additional money had not been expended. The Premier assured the deputation that the Helensville northward line would be pushed on as fast as the surveys would allow, and if more than £30,000 could be spent it would be spent. He could say that as Colonial Treasurer, because he had the means to provide the money, there , being several obher works on which the votes would probably be underspent. THE NATIVE LAND QUESTION. A correspondent to the Post -nakes the | following remarks in -the course of some ■comments on the Native land question: — "Our Premier is "very fond of telling the Maoris in tearful accents that he is their father and they are his children, and that he' will gave them from the rapacity of the pakeha-Maori, while 1 the Native Minister has elevated the ' Tailioa^-' policy to a • sublime' art.- - Simple matters, such as the t .allocating of certain areas set apart for ' landless Natives in the -South Island many years ago" by the* late Sir A. J. Cadman and Sir John~M*Kenzie, and the allotment of some small reserves for the owners round, the Wairarapa lakes, are. kept back through . sheer indifference or culpable neglect, and while Nero fiddles Rome burns. How long will the North Islanders submit to such an "unhappy state of things? Were it to take a special session of Parliament and cost £100,000 to enable the necessary legis- j lation to be passed to deal with this burn- : ing question, the time and money would' be a mere bagatelle. This is a matter far above all party politics, and surely it iS not beyond the capacity of our legislators to devise some measures which, while doing justice towards and saving a noble race from extinction, will also save the honour of the colony, and at the same time open up these idle millions of acres, the locking up of which so greatly retards its progress." THE YELLOW PERIL. The Post, in sounding a note of warning last night concerning a possible " peaceful invasion of Australia by the Japanese," urged that the colonial Governrnen<ts should take steps to ascertain whether the Imperial Government will or will not assist the colonies in resisting e,uoh a possible incursion. Referring to the New Zealand aspect of the matter the writer said that the Premier should obtain a definite answer from the Home authorities as to whether they will support a policy of Asiatic seclusion, including Japanese. A quotation from an article by Mr A. G. Hales, the Australian war correspondent (who discussed the possibility of Japan demanding from Australia an open door for her surplus population) is followed by an illustration of what is regarded as the tempting potentialities of New Zealand as a field for Japanese colonisation. "We may add," says the Post, "that the Bay of Islands would form an ideal settlement for Japaneas, while in every walk of labour we may expect that they would be content with five yen, where

L our own people earn £1. In casual labour, ' in the dairy industry, and domestic ser- " vice they would be found cheap and re- ' liable. They would succeed. White women p could bo found to marry them, and we are quite willing to believe they would prove r most excellent husbands. But we come back to our first question — Doss the Premier intend that New Zealand shall remain t British, or become Anglo- Japanese? Will i he say, and quickly?" The Times this | morning took the Post to task for what it '. regards as " A most astounding suggestion." It says: — "It seems a direct invitation to . the Japanese to establish an ' ideal settle- | ment ' in the northern part of this colony, ! marry white or "Maori women, and form , part of our community. To reconcile the . people of New Zealand to the incursion the Japanese are extolled as cheap and reliable workers, while their wives ' in posse ' are assured that the Mikado's subjects make good husbands. What can it all mean? Has the Post become an advocate of cheap, coloured labour and of racial intermarriage? Apparently not, for in the article from which we quote it profes c es itself desirous of resisting a peaceful Japanese invasion of Australia. _ But granting its sincerity in opposing; an influx of coloured aliens, why should it proceed to tempt Asiatic workers and European employers with a glowing p : cture of the advantages of Japanese immigration to New Zealand?" "The Post contents itself to-night by making the following brief reply to the above statement: " Our morning contemporary misquotes us to try and show that the Post would favour Japanese labour for New. Zealand. The jest might pass but for the dishonesty of the statement."