DEPUTATION TO THE PREMIER.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 5991, 28 July 1887, Page 3

DEPUTATION TO THE PREMIER.

Auckland. Chamber of

Commerce.

[Per Press Association.]

AUCKLAND, Jvlt 28,

The Premier met a deputation of the Chamber of Commerce this forenoon, who approached him on the subject of local matters requiring attention. Sir Robert Stout said the building of the Customhouse would be proceeded with without ; delay. The North Island trunk railway was going on all right, but they would require to borrow more money to complete it. Thnrc was such a determined cry for retrenchment that he did not think the House would vote money to make a road to connect Taranaki with the trunk railway. Auckland would have to depend on sea communication. He expressed surprise that commercial men, usually freetraders, should want colonial shipping protected against foreign competition, but promised to look into the United States law on the subject. He said technical education was the only hope of the Colony ; and the cry for cutting down the Education vote was useless. The encouragement of goldmining and small farming industries would make Auckland the wealthiest district in the Colony. He approved of the Pensioner Settlement Bchemo, and promised to see what could be done to rectify the complaints as to exports by direct steamers not being credited to the ports from which they were originally shipped. The Premier left for the South at noon.