Taranaki Herald. MONDAY, MARCH 30, 1908. THE PREMIER'S SPEECH AT ONEHUNGA.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LIV, Issue 13663, 30 March 1908, Page 4

Taranaki Herald.

MONDAY, MARCH 30, 1908. THE PREMIER'S SPEECH AT ONEHUNGA.

| At Oueliuuga Vst Wednesday j Sir Joseph Ward delivered a poliitical address in reply to tlie criti- ! oisuis of the Leader of the Opposition and others,, who have lately discussed the financial position of [the country. Sii^ .Joseph started j upon the premise that there I seemed to be an effort to cast doubt upon the financial stability of the country./ Xhat is a poor argument to use in reply to those who, while granting that tha country is now sound and prosperous, say they do not like to see the public indebtedness increasing so rapidly, and who view with anxiety the growing cost of government. The Premier quoted at some length the statistics of! the public and private wealth ofj the DqpJiiniqii, as estimated by the Hegistrar-Grene ral, to' demonstrate its financial stability. These figures make it appear that the private wealth Jias increased from £142,602,000 in 1800 to £304,654,000 in 1906, while public pror perty has increased in value .£18,800,000 in the same period. This reminds us oi, a certain cooperative society in Taranaki which maintained an apparent financial soundness for some years by repeatedly raising the .estimated value of its landed property. There is no question us to the financial solvency of New Zealand, nor any necessity to paint the lily or gild the rose l>y unduly I'writing1 ' writing up our public and private assess in order to show a good .balance-sheet. ' The method Oi calculation of private -wealth is, the Eegistrar-G-eneral says, the same as that adopted in Australia. But, whatever the method, it must be conceded as a general principle that our land values should be based, upon the return the land will give. Now., the, aggregate private wealtK itt.tne end of 1906? was set down at £304,654,000, and thatof course included the; yalu<? of i, land in private hands. It is 'calculated that the income from these lands Will be less this than last by something like a million and a half or two millions sterling owing to t^e drop jn. w^qol alone, <so that the private

wealth in 1908 "will be many millions less than in 1906. Therefore the figures upon which Sir Joseph Ward dwells so much are subject to revision, and we hold that more harm is likely to be done to the Dominion by parading inflated statistics as to its wealth and prosperity than by open admission that in view of changing circumstances, such as the falling income from wool, a cautious policy is necessary. There is, we fear, no doubt that during the next two or three years the in-i come of the Dominion will be; considerably less than it was last year, and the wise man is he who prepares for such a contingency, not he who wilfully closes his eyes to patent, facts. We have no space to refer at length to the Premier's remarks upon his finI ancial operations with regard to lifye' renewal of loans, etc., at any rate we do not doubt that he has ! made excellent arrangements, nor i do we propose to enter here into the merits of his replies to Mr. S. Vailed criticisms about the railways. 'We Wst, however, com- | mend Sir Joseph's remarks upon ,the shortcomings of the conciliation and arbitration system. "There was," he said, "somei thing in this country which was not right. He did not know, what it was, but it was evident that the d«a4 level of affairs brought about; by a social system whicU on the whole was working well, but which kept the moist : efficient workman on the same : plane as the jfess efficient, and kept the former back for the latter, required amendment. There was discontent as the result of this operation of the system, but wherever there existed a great social system some must feel sore about it. Laws concerning , laJbour must be in existence,- not only for the goo.d government of the people, but also to enable the community to work and to receive the results of ; their labour, and to koep at a disjkance the sweating and starvation which existed in blctei- couta tries ; "In ihe interests of the country it was desirable that some improvements should be made »in the 'Arbitration and ponoiliation Acts, and the Government as a whole was taking the matter into its consideration now 1 , with a view to deciding what was best to do."