The Timaru Herald SATURDAY, MAY 4, 1907. THE ACTING-PREMIER'S SPEECH.

Timaru Herald, Volume XC, Issue 13277, 4 May 1907, Page 4

The Timaru Herald SATURDAY, MAY 4, 1907. THE ACTING-PREMIER'S SPEECH.

In spile of the little complaint about political life to which ho gave expression when lit) was addressing the High School pupils yesterday afternoon, Mr Hall-.Tones cannot be entirely dissatisfied with the way in which fate has treated him sinew he began to pick the ''Dead Sea. fruit" of a parliamentary career. As the figures which he quoted last night so plainly indicate, ha has had to assist in 'tins administration of the colony's affairs during a period of unexampled prosperity, which must have made the lot of a Minister at least a little; less unendurable than it was for instance in the. last days of Sir Hariy Atkinson, when the hand of poverty pressed heavily upon the country. Among his. juvenile audience in the afternoon, there we.rs no doubt some who have construed from Horace a piece of advice about keeping up one's courage, not merely \vhen everything is going well, but also " rebus in arduis " —when life's path is st.aep. ]f the work of administration has been vanity and vexation of spirit during a decade in which the exports of the colony have doubled in value., and a series of. surpluses has culminated in the record credit-balance announced by Mr Hall-Jones last night, we can imagine how depressing it must have been when " chill j>enury repressed the noble rage" both, of the individual colonist and of those at the helm ,of public affairs. The Acting-Premier has surely cause for thankfulness in the fact that destiny, which marked liim out as one ..f the leaders of his country, was at least ■considerate enough to cast his \lines in as pleasant places as a politician can reasonably hope for. We can unreservedly con-gratulate-both Mr Hall-Jones and the colony upon the excellent financial results of the last financial year which he was ' able- to make public in his speech last evening. . The expansion of trade disclosed by his statistics is, as he claimed, quite remarkable for the small community which inhabits New Zealand, though it is wise I ,to remember the warning, given we fancy by the president of the Wellington Chamber of Commerce, that the increase in the colony's exports for last year was an in-I crease in value rather, than in volume—in- 1 other words, that our production lias not 1 grown to any appreciable* extent, although , our producers have obtained' a better return for what they have sent abroad. That is satisfactory enough as far as it goes,/ but it would be still more satisfactory to find that the, volume of production wasi expanding instead of remaining stationary. We are not sanguined enough to hope that the rate of increase in the next ten years will approach that of the last decade, "'liea comparative figures of which were given f by, Mr Hall-Jones last night, but wo have every confidence that the export,? will continue to .show a substantial improvement as fresh areas of virgin country are brought into use, and the' settled parts of the c.olouv are subjected *,to the process of .sub- | division, which is going on to a largo < extent quite independent of the operations of the Government. The Clydevale Estate, at present in 'the market, promises to provide a classic instance of private enterprise undertaking a task upon which the State ,was too timorous to AiKer, and the Land Bill, according to Mr McNab's own explanations, is designed to comptH large landowners to assist in the satisf - tion of a demand which has outgrown tL resources of the Government's close settlement scheme.. Mr Hall-Jones eluded that point last night when lie was discussing the Land Bill, but in his recent speech at Temuka the Minister' for Lands made "t clear that the only alternative to a substantial increase in tli# borrowing for the repurchase of estates for subdivision was his proposal to make big estates supply the land which the Government are afraid to provide by repurchase. There seems to be 110 doubt now,, whatever there may have been when the Bill was first introduced/ that 'the repurchase, system is to be continued as the .Acting-Premier declared last night would be tlr; ease. .But it is not to be extended to mee;. the clamorous demand for land of which the superabundance of applicants wherever an estate is subdivided, is a symptom. Much of the demand,, as Mr McJfab has admitted, is spurious, coming from, speculators of all -sorts who want to secure a section simply in order to sell the goodwill of the lease.. But eliminating the cycle repairer, and 'the city physician and others of the same kidney who have lately been in evidence, there are still, more genuine applicants than can .be accommodated with Government sections so long as t.ha amount annually borrowed for the purpose is limited to half a million, and Mr McNab's Bill was introduced to meet their requirements without adding to tha public debt. In regard to the endowment clauses,, which are to be put into a separate Bill, it. ?s interesting to have the Acting-Premier's frank declaration of his leasehold attitude, but we find a difficulty in reconciling i*-, with his selection for the vacant Taranaki seat of a gentleman who is apparently afflicted with opposite views. In opening his election campaign on Wednesday night, the Government candidate for -the late Mr E. M. Smith's seat said that l.e " favoured setting aside a reasonable por- f tion of Crown lands for education, oldage pensions, and hospitals ; the balance to be sold under the optional tenure. He was infavonr of giving lease in perpetuity tenants the right to acquire the freehold of their sections oil an equitable adjustment." One would scarcely expect to find "upon a candidate of these views the hall-mark of a Government whose leader professes such pronounced. leasehold sympathies as those to which Mr Hall-Jones gave expression last night. However, in the event of a. freehold ' majority, the Acting-Premier might manage to submerge his own leasehold views as effectually lie se&ms to have concealed his sympathy with sinking funds, which made a appearance last night after hibernating f. ? nearly twenty'years.