The Otago Witness. WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE SOUTHERN MERCURY. (TUESDAY, AUGUST 28, 1925.) THE WEEK.

Otago Witness, Issue 3624, 28 August 1923, Page 40

The Otago Witness. WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE SOUTHERN MERCURY. (TUESDAY, AUGUST 28, 1925.) THE WEEK.

"Nunqnam allutl natura, a’lud sapieatia dixit.” —JTJVEXAL. "Good nature and good tense must ever join.”— Pci’r. The Prime Minister may be congratulated on the adroit and skilful Mr Massey's fashion in -which he has Trip. hajidled the business of Parliament, and it now amounts to an absolute certainty that he will to able to catch his steamer this (Tuesday) evening, eu route to attend the sittings* of the imperial Conference in London. Whether Parliament will have prorogued prior to Mr Massey s departure is open to doubt; but the Prime Minister will be able to leave with an easy mind, conscious that all the really important matters have been successfully disposed of. It is really a triumph for Mr Massey and his Government that, with only the slenderest of majorities behind thorn, it lias been possible to carry all the measures essential to the business of the Dominion; it has been done at high pressure and at the cost of a number of protracted sittings, but Mr Massey should be the first to acknowledge that, but for the consideration extended to him by Mr Wilford and Mr Holland, it would have been difficult, if not impossible, for him to complete his prognname. It is reported that Mr Massey seems “a little weary, as indeed he might well be, for the burden he has borne during the past few days has been heavy enough to bring the strongest man near to the verge of collapse.” For this reason' the comparative quiet of the voyage will be welcome -as affording opportunity for recuperation; this is all the more essentia! in view of the ordeal which awaits Mr Massey as soon as he reaches London. The programme cf entertainments and social functions in which the Prime Ministers of the self-governing dominions will be invited to take part has, so it is stated, been “drawn up on a more than lavish scale.” As honoured guests they will be invited to lunch with the King at Buckingham Palace and spend week-ends at Chequers with Mr Stanley Baldwin, at Cnatsworth with the Duke of Devonshire, and At Broa-dlauds with Colonel Ashley. Mr Massey's powers of endurance and digestion will be sorely tried by the series of banquets which he will be to attend. The hosts on these historic and gastronomic occasions are to include the Royal Colonial Institute, the London Chamber of Commerce, the Government, the Trinity Hall Association, the Associated British Chambers of Commerce, and the Overseas Club. If the guests survive this ordeal they will show themselves worthy scions of a hardy British race. Next in importance to the discussions in the Conference itself is the effort which is being made to bring Mr Massey and Mr Bruoe, as representing New Zealand and Australia, into touch with some of the men most prominent in the worlds of commerce, politics, and society. This is being done with the ideaof promoting an interchange of ideas on all manner of subjects to the end of closer co-operation between all portions of the Empire. The programme is a portenticus one, which might well stagger any ordinary man, but Mr Massey has shown himself the possessor of qualities which will enable him worthily to represent the people of the Dominion and to uphold the highest ideals of the British Empire. He carries with him the best wishes of political foes as well as the support of political friends ; he goes with the prestige of being the only pre-war Prime Minister still in office : and it may confidently be anticipated that he will discharge * his heavy res]K»isibilities with credit to himself and to New Zealand as a whcle.

Mingled with the congratulations which accompany Mr Massey on Legislation his trip to the Homeland Under Pressure, are certain forebodings concerning the necessarily hurried manner in which much of the legislation of the session of Parliament now ending was placed upon the Statute Book. The provisions of the Finance Bill, for instance, are such as to create serious misgiving in the minds of the cautious and conservative members of society. It is proposed that the Minister of Finance be empowered to raise four millions for public works and four and a-half millions for advances to settlers and workers. In addition authority is to be taken for borrowing two sums of £50,000 each for the drainage of swamp land in the North Island. It has to be borne in mind that the Government has still in hand unexhausted authorities amounting to a considerable sum, which, added to the new proposals, constitutes a borrowing programme of alarming magnitude. The obvious retort is that the public works loan will be reproductive, but the margin of seeuritv on which the Government has promised to make advances to settlers and workers is too narrow to be safe from a sound financial standpoint. In a sense Mr Massey would appear to be gambling upon the continuance of the wave of prosperity, the first flow of which has but recently made its appearance. There is the hope, also, that tbe substantial remissions of taxation made by the Government will result in considerable trade development. Above all there is the Prime Minister’s breezy optimism, which has justified itself so often as almost to amount to a certainty. It is regrettable, too, that so much valuable time was wasted on a contentious measure such as the Gaming Bill, the provisions of which, however much desired by the racing fraternity, would certainly not conduce to the prosperity of the Dominion. It was a foregone conclusion, owing to the differ-

ence of opinion which prevailed, that the hill would fce killed at some one or other of its stages, and the only result of the introduction was the waste of much valuable time, and all to no purpose. The same may be said of the Bible-in-Schools Bill, another most contentious measure and involving a discussion in which there is no finality. The greatest mistake ipade by the “Government, however, was in its attempt to carry through the House of Representatives the Dairy Produce Export Bill, and which, should it reach the Statute Book, will be shorn of its purpose by the addition of a provision that it shall not become operative until the dairy producers have declared in its favour by a plebiscite. The determined opposition which the measure evoked is due to the fact that the dairy farmers are divided in their opinion concerning the wisdom of the Bill. Its most objectionable feature is the compulsion it seeks to enforce on the dairy farmer to export his produce through the channel which a specially-set-up board shall direct, and also that it allows the Government to interfere with the export of dairy produce. It is little justification to point to a similar provision in regard to the Meat Producers’ Board, since it is an open secret that that board has discreetly refrained from exercising its compulsory powers. It is a dangerous thing to set up boards with such powers, in that it is inimical to that freedom of action in trade and commerce which lies at the root of national prosperity. The Public Works Statement presented to Parliament last week preTtic sages steady development Public Works of the resources of the Statement. Dominion and continual concentration on the most essential points—viz., railways, hydroelectric power, and irrigation. These are the three strategic points in the path to greater prosperity, and Mr Coates has done well to emphasise their importance. It is satisfactory to be told mat ioO miles of completed new lines will, u present anticipations be realised, be handed over to the working railways department within two years. Among the lines which are to engage the activity of the Public Works Department in the near future are the Westport-Inangahua railway, the Napier-Gisborne line, and the railways north cf Auckland. It may be questioned, however, in view of its natural facilities for ocean transport, whether the North Auckland peninsula - would not be better served by improved roads than by fresh railway facilities. The policy of concentration upon absolutely essential works has to some extent been interfered with owing to the continuance of unemployment, but Mr Coates claims that the extraordinary results achieved fully justify the policy. From the nature of the case", Otago cannot expect to share in the railway extension now proceeding in the north ; the people of the province are more vitally interested in hydro-electric schemes and in irrigation. It is satisfactory to note, therefore, that substantial provision is again made in the Estimates for the development of hydro-electric power, as in development, coupled with irrigation, the future prosperity of Otago laTgely depends. That Mr Coates is firmly seized with the importance of irrigation is seen “in a characteristic comment. “With the work carried out in the year just closed,” he remarks, “as well as that included in this year’s programme, it is anticipated that the area commanded by constructed races will increase from 7000 acres to approximately 40,000 acres, and a marked increase in production may be looked for in Central Otago in a very few years.” Such a forecast should inspire hope in the breast of the most pessimistically-minded men who have been too prone to deplore the passing of the palmy days of Otago, and whose pessimism has contributed materially to the northward trek of too many of our young men. A properly irrigated Central Otago should provide an avenue for the expenditure of much youthful energy and with prospects of good returns. Irrigation is the key to the situation, and Mr Coates promises that it shall he pushed ahead.