THAT OSTRICH FARM.

Wanganui Herald, Volume XLIX, Issue 14463, 30 November 1914, Page 8

THAT OSTRICH FARM.

MR. MASSEY’S SHOE OF THE / QUESTION. . . WELLINGTON, November 27.' Speaking at Lower Butt on Thursday night, the Prime Minister referred, after some interjections, to the subject of the Pukekohe ostrich farm. ‘T want to clear pp this matter of the ostrich farm,” said Mr Massey. . ■, ■ A Voice: About time you did! Mr Massey: “And I have waited for tho opportunity of doing so in Wellington.” Mr Massey said the line was surveyed and practically agreed to 15 years before he became Member for the district. A great deal of energy had been put' into the construction of the ! Main Trunk lines', and quite rightly. 1 The people of. thd: districts had been given promises by various .Ministers. -The Hon. R. McKenzie and Sir Joseph Ward had both gone to the district and had approved of • tho line; and he (Mr Massey) had no doubt that it would pay. Now about the ostrich • farm. A gentleman of the Auckland district, who had joined the great majority, had left a will stating that his property must he put into cash. The outcome'.,of the negotiations over the estate was tho establishment of this ostrich farm, into which he had put .£IO,OOO. The company which had been formed had paid .£17,000 for the property and, had come to the conclusion that the "best thing to do was to improve it. For this purpose they had. borrowed first £IO,OOO, and then a smaller sum, Tire property had never paid any of them, including himself, a cent. He hoped some day that they would get their money back, but it was being inferred, that he was using the people’s money to build a railway to benefit himself. As a. matter of fact, the property touched on the present main line. If they had travelled to Auckland, they. had probably seen the . ostriches. There were 500 of them at Pukehoko. That was where the property touched the - main line. .’ MR. MASSEY’S CHALLENGE. The Prime Minister (Mr Massey) at Christchurch on Tuesday night challenged anyone to prove, either by means of Hansard! or public print, that any member of the Government had ever stated that tile Government'would stop borrowing. “What the Government had done,” ha continued, “was to spend borrowed 'iiom v <- to the best purpose.” Mr Masse, y is taking no chances, says the Taranaki Nevrs. Probably no one could literally 'disprove his assertion, but there is-’ene thing that could easily be proved. That is, that both he and his colleague? eon-’ detuned their opponents .for increasing the national debt, .and ..promise*! , that

when they got into power -they would decrease borrowing. Here’s mis own -'words, 'uttered'in 1911; “If the electorsof the _co!ony' : c!o not feel inclined to put the brake on-, it will bo a good thing for, the country as U whole if the British lenders.do.” , Up and down the country he went, railing against the prodigious pi)ing-up of -the national debt by the Liberals, and promising the pursuing of a more-.self-reliant policy. Mr Janies ■p>n. warmly supported him. ■ ‘‘lt is -my plain duty,”,. he said on one occasion, “to warn non. members and .the; peoplp; of New Zealand that the continued bpr-. rowing of large sums of money is not a safe method of finance. There are lour courses open—to raise money by- faction, or to decrease expenditure out of the -Consolidated Fund -in order to have mere ordinary revenue available for public works; or to increase the amount : of, borrowed money; or, lastly, to bring within reasonable limits tlie expenditure of borrowed money.” Well, they duly, reached office. What happened ? Did they put into practice what they preached? They did not. On the contrary,: they cut out the borrowing paco faster than Sir Joseph 'Ward in his. most extravagant mood over contemplated-