West Coast Times WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 29, 1902 AN IMPORTANT SPEECH.

West Coast Times, Issue 12345, 29 October 1902, Page 2

West Coast Times WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 29, 1902 AN IMPORTANT SPEECH.

The speech delivered by the ActingPremier in Auckland a fe*v nights ago was one of the most telling and forceful utterances we have had on the position of the Colony, from any side of the House, for years past. It was probably intended to be the manifesto of the Government on the situation, and the wide ground covered by Sir Joseph Ward, together with his masterly exposition of details on all subjects touched on, thoroughly dissipated any illusions, which carp ; ng critics have been at such pains to raise of late. His Majesty's Opposition for some time now have been hard pressed to find , reasons for tbeir existence, and with many of them when stock arguments fail, a good deal is implied by a wise shake *pf the. head, and a vague reference to the Governments unsound finance. Sir Joseph Ward with no uncertain sound, gave an effectual contradiction to all such irapot* ent critics. He, as it were, exposed the Treasury pigeon holes to the public gaza, and being as he admittedly is, a master of finance hetriumphantly refuted all aspersions on the Government's financial i

operations, and showed that their financial policy lias been both sound ahd a source of present and f uiure profit to the country.

The Minister pointed out that it was not an uncommon practice for those who wi&hed people to believe that the Colony was going too fast to enlarge on the addition of £14,000,000 to our public indebtedness since the Government came into office. Ho asked, however, of any impartial colonist, whether or not the Colony would have held such a strong position upon the all important side of production to-day if most of the items which went to make up that addition to the public debt had never been incurred at all. They would have, without a doubt, avoided the increasing of responsibility, but to have done so would have meant the paralysing of the settlement of the country, a ruinous continuance of a shortage of money for all our settles in the interior, a shrinkage of assistance to the local public bodies, and a curb.ii'tnent of the development of the country by the addition to our railways throughout the colony. That would have meant, instead of a policy cf life, energy, and go, a condition of stagnation, and with it retrogression. Of the increase in borrowed money during the past ten years Sir Joseph Ward pointed out; that the direct increase earniDg amounts — that is to say the sums expended on interest earning reproductive public works amounted in the aggregate to nearly ten millions out of the fourteen and he specified the items as follows :— Lands for settlement, £2,772,715 ; advauces to settlors, £2,740,000 ; loans to local bodies, £1,419, 100 ; lands improve menfc, £500,000 : Bank of New Zealand preferential shares, £500,000 ; New Zealand consols, £468,324 : district railways, £47,000 ; additions to open loans, £1,325,000 ; dairy industry, £1781 ; this giving a total of direct interest earning amounts of £9,773,921.'

The non-direct interest eam ; ng portions of the increased indebedness were purchase ot native lands, £649.700, 'public works, £3,260,000 ; conversion of loans in order to lower the annual interest payment, £654,229 ; naval and military settlers' payments, £27,000 ; Sinking Fund accretions, £1,664,700 ; and Government expenditure, £2,000 ; making a total of non-direct interest earning moneys, £6,570,825. This added to the £9,773,921, gave a gross total of £15,831,776. Under the Consolidated Stock Act, 1884, the colony had effected redemptions to the extent of £1,290,420 and on debentures of £435,259, .a totil of £1,695,679, which, deducted from the £15,831,776, gave an increase in the public indebtedness for the 11 years the Ministry have governed the country of £14,136,097. With regard to the non. direct interest earning side of tfce Colony's debt Sir Joseph Ward said first of all, though the £3,260.000 expended on public works was not direct interest earning, it must be lecognised that in every young country such as New Zealand, the development of works of a public character were just as essential as it is for cities to incur expenditure for the purposes of obtaining light or water, or any other of the daily necessities that go to make comfort in our daily life He did not know of any material publ'c works expenditure throughout New Zealand that could be said to have been wasted, and indeed at the present moment the demand made for public works expenditure upon railways, public roads and bridges throughout the country showed that instead of a diminution beiDg expected by the public, their anxiety, was to have a largely increased expenditure in this direction. Again in the purchase of native lands, it was surely a wise thing to use mouey in this manner, and bring lands under the lands for settlement laws thronghouo the colony, so as to enable men and women, European or native, to settle upon the land and to add to the coffers in the Treasury, as well as to the progress of the people, by putting the lands into a state of production. Although in the meantime the money expended upon the purchase of native lands is non interest bearing, it must be recognised as years go on £it will not only recoup the interest on the amounts expended, but. repay the whole of the interest through settlement of the lands so purchased . It would, he thought, be recognised by any impartial critic, that the public indebtedness of the colony in round figures totalling £52,000,000, was not a hea*y burden, as was sometimes made out, but, on the contrary, it had created a condition of affairs in the country that had enabled it to be one of the most productive in the world per head of its people.

Mr Smith of the Bank of New South Wales has received notice of his transfer to Ghriatchurch. The Kotuku Oil Company have arranged with Mr Lindsay the American oil expert to bring his boring plant on to the property and commence operations at once. 'A very fine trout taken in one of the tributaries of the Grey river was on view at Mr Eisfielder's shop yesterday afternoon, and attracted considerable attention. It was a perfect specimen, and turned the scale at 14lb. For the King's Birthday a capital programme o£ sports has been prepared at Greymouth. It will include chopping arid sawing contests, a Sheffield Handicap and foot and bicycle races. The handicaps will be declared on the 29 th inst and acceptances close on the sth November.Great interest is being manifested in the ball being tendered to the returned troopers by the First Westland Rifles which takes place this evening in the Drill Shed. The committee have now completed all arrangements and patrons of. the ball may be assured of a moat enjoyable, night's amusement.

The pre-communion service will be held in the PresbyWian Church ' this evening at 8 o'clock. Members are specially invited to attend and receive their '■tokens" at the close of the service. We regret to learn that Mr Arthur Seed, the popular "representative of the Mutual Life Insurance Company is [ making but slow progress after an operation which he underwent in Wellington a month ago. His progress is* however, satisfactory if tardy and he expects to be back to the Coast again in December. Tbe Monarch gramaphone, which is being supplied to the order of the Empire Bazaai? Committee, and which is intended for one of the prizes in the an. union, will be to hand in a .few days. Ac the request of a number of people with whom the instrument was very popular at the last concert given in the Town Hall, a similar entertainment will be given with the new gramaphdne and an entire change of records. A match between the Hokitika and Arahura Cricket Club will be played at Aaahura on Saturday.' The followiug will represent Hokitika .—Messrs Benjamin, Bonar, JBorton, Fowler, Harrop, Low, M'Donald, O'Donnell, Ongley (Captain), Parkinson, WilUams. Emer» r gencies : — Cedermau, Wade' and Morgan. If any of the above are not available, they are requested to leave word with the Committee before mid day on Friday. The public are again reminded of the concert in aid of the school prize fund at the Princess Theatre on Friday evening. Among the -new faces who will appear on this occasion are Mrs Grant, Misses Murdoch, Lee and Suckle, and Messrs Mouat, Jones,- Collyer, Henderson and Thompson: Rev J R Clark of Kuinarawill operate the limelight for the illusstrated songs, etc, and Mr B H Low will have c'larga of the lecture in connec ion with the "Tour through Japan." At the Magistrate's Court yelterday morning before D Macfarlane, Esq., S.M. in' the following wandering cattle cases convictions were recorded with costs 7s in each case. Borough Inspector v J Cameron 2 horses 10s, 3 horses 15s, 1 cow 5a ; v J Howat, 1 cow ss, Lcow 5s ;v. T Stop forth, 1 cow ss, 1 cow ss ; v P Kirwan 1 horse 5s ; v J Jones, 1 horse 5s ;v W Pascoe 1 horse ss. L Bignell v. H Rosenberg, claim for rent £4 4s. Judgment by default with costs 11s. A meeting of the Committee of the Greymouth Jockey Club was held at the Albion Hotel on Monday evening. Present — Messrs Petrie (chair), Giesking, Bignell, Ponsonby, McCarthy Sheedy, Claughesy, Yarrall, and Walton. Letter of thanks from E. J. Barton to the Club for sending a wreath to the funeral - ' of the deceased Mr Barton was . received. Mr Yarrail's action in sending a wreath to the funeral on behalf of the Club was endorsed. Jockeys' licenses were granted to J S Watson and J. Wraksworthy, an apprentices license to T. J. Kent, andtrainers licenses to George Hope and R. M'Taggart, the latter to be accompanied with a caution. Letter received from the Secretary of the Christchurch Jockey Club stating that jockey's licenses were refused to Wallace and Crawley. We are asked to notify students and others interested that the recent amalgamation of the American School of Correspondence with the great Technical School at Chicago, the Armour Institute of Technology — the faculty of both schools co-operating Jn and conducting •the correspondence work — signifies a great, probably the greatest, development in technical education the world has ever seen, This amalgamation places 59 experts in engineering, electricity, science sanitation and textile work in charge of th 3 correspondence work with an Advisory Board of practising mechanical, constructing, electrical and mining engineers and a small army of assistants and clerks. The degree, Bachelor of Science, conferred by the Armour . Institute has long had an honoured reputation ; the diploma granted by the combined schools for work done in the correspondence section will likewise have a wide recognition, as *it will .be an evidence of thoroughness of instruction, such as no other institution has ever been able to offer. A lady well known in Wanganui musical circles, now resident in Melbourne, thus describes her impressions of Madame Melba's singing:— IC I heard Melba sing in the Town Hall, which was packed to the doors, over 3500 persons being present. When Melba came on the platform she was greeted with deafening applause, which was only discontinued to allow the diva to sing. When she did it was a thrilling revelation of exquisite sound artistically controlled. I have heard many good singers, but none equal to Melba. I never previously belived that a human being could sing so divinely. It was better than the singing of even a lark or any other bird of song. Personally Melba is not a scrap like her photos, which .ire mostly libels on her; She is very sweet looking and has a perfect figure, whilst her dress was exquisite, and her diamonds-'a sight to remember, and well worth going, to see. The audience, as . previously stated, was an immense one, and it _ was a beautiful sight, as nearly all 'the ladies were in full dre3S, and, gave the scene a blaze of colours and glittering gems that I will not soon forgot. It was quite touching to watch ' her Old father with a delighted look on his face the whole evening. As an encore Melba sang "Robin Adair," looking at her father the whole time, as it was his favourite sojg when she was a girl, a fact she had not forgotten. A young girl in her teens played the harp splendidly, and the pianiste was also very good. I did not think much of the tenor or baritone, as I have heard better in Wanganui. Mr W. Webley, junr, representing Webley, Sons &' Gofton pianoforte tuners has arrived in town. -All orders left at the Red Lion Hotel will be promptly attended to. — Advt. The Fireman is in great danger from falling bricks or timbers as well as from the flames. No fire department is properly equipped without a supply of Chamberlain's Pain Bairn. This liniment is unexcelled for burns and bruises. One applications give 3 ' relief. Try it. — J. Chesney & Co, Wholesale Agents sell it. W. J. Ren ton, Surgeon Dentist, Hamilton street, Hokitika, (opposite the Fire Brigade Station). Hours— 9 am to 5 p.m.— Adyt*

The final count of th.9 Bible in scho ols in plebiscite in Dunedin, Caversbam, Taieri and Waikouaiti districts was made recently, when the figures were as follows — For Bible reading, 15,266; against 2420; for the New South Wales system 161; declined to vote 1117; informal, 122. The chairman of the commitee, referring to the figures, said that on the basis uf the voting at the lasc election, and in the unlikely event of the whole of the new voters voting "No," Dunedin city would show a substantial majority in favor ot Bible reading in schools, while on the same basis in the country tfce majority - -was overwholmiug. It was resolved to prepare tent questions, to be submitted to every candidate at the coming election, askiag definitely whether he will urge Parliament to submit the present platform to the people by referendum. House Furnishing— To thosefurnishing or about to furnish, wa would kindly recommend them to M'Kay & Son, the leading drapers, who have a first class stock of house furnishings, including all the latest goods in linoleums, all widths, 2ft 3in, 3ft 4in, 6ft 6in, 9 ft, 10ft sin ; and I2f t ; hearthrugs — We start tnese in price at Is 6d ; door mats' start from is each. Space will not allow a full description of every line we have in stock, but we would kindly ask , inspection. W M'Kay & Son, Drapers and Clothiers, Hokitika and Greymouth. — Advt I WHAT IS PAIN BALM ? .Chamberlain's Pain Balm is a liniment, and while adapted to all the . ordinary uses of a liniment, has qualities which distinguish it from other remedies of this class. Pain Balm is especially beneficial for rheumatism . Thousands of cases can be cited in which this remedy has effected a cure when the sufferer had previously tried the best medical service without securing relief./ Pain Balm is - positively guaranteed to give relief in the most severe cases - chronic or acute rheumatism.' Pain Balm heals bruises, burns and scalds in less time than any other treatment. It is " antiseptic," that is, it prevents pufcref action, and by so doing generally prevents an unsightly scar remaining after the injury is healed. For :lame back, lumbago and neuralgia, Pain Balm has no equal. It has the quality of " getting to the right spot," No sufferer from these distressing affections should should defer a trial of this remedy. One application gives relief. Try it. J Chesney & Co, Wholesale Agents sell it. *