Wairarapa Standard Published Tri-weekly, Price 1d. FRIDAY, JANUARY 28, 1887. The Premier’s Speech.

Wairarapa Standard, Volume XX, Issue 2023, 28 January 1887, Page 2

Wairarapa Standard Published Tri-weekly, Price Id. FRIDAY, JANUARY 28, 1887. The Premier’s Speech.

Sib Robeet Stout addressed the . e’ectors of Dunedin East on Monday , evening, and as was expected there , was little that was new brought for- . ward. Sir Robert commenced by saying that depression had not been confined to New Zealand. In this colony there had been a falling off in t the revenue, and be was specially gratified to find that less money had been spent in intoxicants. A great advance had been made in this colony in this respect, which was due to the temperance people. Another falling off was in the price of goods. The Customs revenue was based on the prices which goods realised. There had not been less food consumed or fewer goods for clothing imported, and the main fall was not in the volume of goods, but from the fact that prices had decreased. The cry of economy last session by several members was merely raised bv those who wished to displace the Government. He fully recognised that if thi? colony was to assume ilie p> ilion of a progressive colony, the strictest care was necessary on the part of the Government, and the peo le must be prepared for less help from Government. Concerning local Government he said it was recognised that unless the Colonial Government was to become a huge Board of roads : nd bridges the responsibility of i taining them must be cast on cal bodies. This had been done by the measure passed last session, which would enable the General Government to resist all claims for roads and bridges, and he hoped would put an end to a system not unknown even in our House of Representatives, which was popularly known as log-rolling Sir Robert next dealt at length with the land question. The unemployed difficulty had not been lost sight of in dealing with this land question, and people without means had been enabled to obtain homes in the country and made comfortable for life. During 1-BG, notwithstanding the depression and low price of agricultural and pastoral products, they had been enabled to settle more people on the land than ,wcre ever settled in any year before. With the large homesteads system Government disagreed, and in Auckland it had proved a failure. While this country for years to come must remain a pastoral and agricultural country, they must not allow their industries to be neglected ; and he claimed that, as a Government, his administration had used both energy and industry in the promotion of other industries. They had accepted tenders in this country for work formerly done at Home, and tried to give an impetus to native production. If there was to be prosi perity in this country, much more would have to be done in this direci tion. He admitted that the tariff required revision, but in its revision it would not do to ignore local iudus» , tries, if they were to have a chance of surviving in our midst. I hen in the railway tariff the present administration bad granted the agricultural and pastoral settlers a bonus of something like £75,000 a year in reduction of 1 fares. Next they came to retrenchment, a question on which a want of ' confidence motion was based last session. Retrenchment in the public . service could only come in two ways —first, that the General Government wotk was lessened, and second, that payment for this work wa lessened. If the Government w»rk wa.-. lessened it meant that the local bodk should i perform functions previously performed by the General Government, ' or that the people would look to the | Government for fewer conveniences by it. Before economy could be got in the public service the people m ist demand it by being prepared to it up with fewer conveniences thai y now possessed. Of all this talk ■ ,oul , economy, three-fourths was unreal. They practically said “ Economise in some member's district, but for Heaven’s sake don’t touch mine.” He affirmed that the higher aud more responsible officers in the Government service were not too well paid. But Government this year would be able to show very large savings in the public expenditure. On the vote for working railways a very large saving would be shown in the Estimates fur the past 12 months. A small reduction would also be shown in the Justice Department. In the Native Department there would be a saving of at least £IO,OOO There would be a saving in the Mines Department, in the Customs, in the Colonial Secretary’s Department, and in fact in every department of Government, so that when the estimates next year came down, instead of a saving of £20,000 or £OO,OOO, as he had promised in the House, they would be able to show one of double that

amount. Strict economy was required in the administration of the public affairs of the colony, and the Government had left no stone unturned to secure it. If members next session would assist Ministers, instead of scrambling for office, still further reductions would bo made. The educational system had b( en strengthened by a small vole that was given for technical education. He had also intended to speak about the need there was for limiting the hours of labour of men, women, and children ; and of another Act, which he thought would need amendment next year, viz , the Employers' Liability Extension Act. U might be asked what was to be their future policy. In reference to railway construction and in reference to loans he had no new policy to enunciate, no policy different from what he announced year at Invercargill. He had

stated that the time of our borrowing must soon cease, and he was still convinced that if we were to provide, not for a more temporary prosperity but for permanent stability in our finance, borrowing must cease. He believed that next year they ought to be able to do without a loan. They must take a new departure in New Zealand finance, and though it might cause additional taxation for a lew years and entail some additional hardships, we must depend on ourselves and not rely on the foreign money-lender for assistance. He did not know whether we could finish to a paying point, or rather he should say to a working point, some of the railways in hand without an additional loan, but even it were necessary to raise a small loan for that purpose, we should no longer depend on the London market. Loans for public buildings should be wiped out at once. He ventured to say that the people of this colony were anxious to fulfil their engagements, and that there was no country in the world more able to fulfil its engagements than New Zealand. What he pro posed might entail additional taxation upon the people, and many districts might not get works that they naturally expected, but he asked the people to put up with some hardships in order than they might raise the financial standard of the colony, and that they might, as colonists, set their children an example of self-reliance in not having to depend on outside aid for their prosperity. He did not believe that the prosperity of this colony was to come from borrowed money or paper money, but, if the colony, was to progress, it would be by the work and the thrift of its colonists. He hoped to be able to pass a Representation Bill next session. The leading principle of the measure was based on population. In order that this Bill should net lead to a fight in the House every thu a or four years, he proposed last session that a Board should be provided, and that after every census this Board should alter boundaries in accordance with the population. He was willing to allow an advantage to scattered country districts, but otherwise would stick to the population basis. He was opposed to single electorates, and hoped that in the new Representation Bill the cities aud some of the suburban districts would be welded together. This would give minorities a fair chance of representation. In conclusion, Sir Robert Stout said that the outlook at present was more favorable for the colony than for some time previously. Things were on the turn, and if the settlers were true to themselves and would exercise private and public economy and a policy of self-reliance, he had no doubt that the ""ospects of the colony were now as bright as they had ever been in tbe past. He asked those who made New Zealand their home in the past to be hopeful, and not to be downcast. Let them look at the saving that might be effected if the people would abolish the two millions a year 1 they spent on the drink, and the money they spent on tobacco. If 1 people would only be saving and have , faith in themselves and in the colony, he believed there was no place in the ' world that had a brighter future before ] it than New Zealand. He advocated • a policy of self-reliance—a national 1 policy.