SLANDERING NEW ZEALAND

Otago Witness, Issue 2921, 9 March 1910, Page 53

SLANDERING NEW ZEALAND

EON. T. MACKENZIE'S -VIGOROUS . , DEFENCE.

CHRISTCHURCH,;;March'. 4. Speaking at Cheviot show'.'torday, the •Hon. T. Mackenzie referred..to..the. misrepresentations of New Zealand affairs appearing in the English newspapers,- and said that the statement made by the butter factories' delegates, telegraphed from Sydney, to the. effect that the system of butter grading in Australia and. New Zealand was a failure was entirely incorrect, and he took the present and first opportunity to give it an emphatic contradiction. It had been *a success in New Zealand since its inception in 1894, and the number of complaints received against it was almost infinitesimal. Leading men engaged in dairying throughout the Dominion candidly admitted that it had been the means of raising the standard of quality, and producers and merchants were evidently well satisfied with the method. The dairy farmer considered grading a protection alike to him and to the merchant. Continuing, the Minister said : " The system of discrediting our country abroad is reaching a serious point, and it is time that something was said. Yesterday my correspondence brought copies of. newspapers published in London and Washington, each of which contained misleading articles reflecting on the Dominion. The article in the London journal to which I refer begins : 'A friend in the colony has obliged us.' And then follows &n account written and devised to mislead people regarding the position of New Zealand. Referring to the increased debt of £32,000,000 since 1891, it sneers at the interest yielding results from our investments, which more than repay the whole interest we require to remit to the British money lenders. This article goes on to say, ' it is impossible to be sure of the true vitality of anything in a country whose entire industry is stimulated and sustained by means of doles out bf loans.' When one remembers that you farmers here to-dav are representatives of those who by their enterprise, industry, and energy are helping to export from our country nearly £20,000.000 worth of products a" year, a quantity not eaualled by any other country in the world, and when it is remembered that this year shows the greatest credit balance between the imports and exports that has_ ever occurred in the history of the Dominion, a difference over last year in our favour of £600.000, can all this be said to be the result of doles 1 Again, this same

article quotes a journal published in New Zealand in support of some of its con- * tentions, and remarks ' as we have more than onee indicated, the land is eaten up

by officialdom as bv locusts, and every branch of the public service is redundantly staffed.' Is this not sufficient to make any New Zealander indignant? If this is true, what a reflection it is upon the people of the Dominion. If it is not tru©, then it is a slander which should be repudiated by every lover of 'his Homeland. I have under by charge three leading departments of the State—viz. Agriculture, Tourist* amd Healtn Resorts, and Commerce. Will any man 'dare to state to me that I would tolerate 'for a moment the appointment of an officer for corrupt purposes? If this sort of business goes on you will find that good

men will refrain from taking part in public life altogether, as they now do in America. The members of the Ministry, in the face of the greatest pressure for extravagant expenditure, are doing their utmost to carry on the work of this country on sound economic lines. We are making enemies daily because we are doing right, and the country should support us in these efforts, and it is not encouraging to Have to contend with and combat such reflections as those which I am alluding to. Honourable public men will not always put up with such reflections, arid if the public gets what a section persistently says it now has it is going the very best way to bring that about. The article in the Washington newspaper is probably by the same friend in the colony. It bears the following headings in large black type:—' New Zealand plunged headlong into debt'; ' Is beinc; steadily abandoned for better fields by all who can get away '; ' Work scarce, wages poor, living high.' As in the London journal, so in the Washington paper, exactly similar illustrations are given without giving credit for results obtained. We have a magnificent country here, requiring population of the right class and money at low rates of interest to develop it. These misleading reports alarm the very people we require, and prevent them from coming here, and also increase the interest charges on the money you and the State require for the country's development. In public, as in private matters, borrowing is good or bad in proportion to the ability that is shown and the nature of the investments dealt with. Our public debt is considerable, but we have six times its value in assets. Why, in the Old Country they have one railway company which alone has a total indebtedness in round figures of £124,000,000, of which £42,887,000 only is in ordinary shares, the balance being composed of liabilities on debentures, preference shares, and guaranteed stock to the extent of £82,800,000, whilst its assets are not a third of what we in New Zealand have against our indebtedness, and will it be said that the company is rotten or that England is affected?"