Shburton Guardian Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit. FRIDAY, JUNE 2, 1893. LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Mr T. Bullock has requested us to call attention to the sale of Mr Shiel's property at Alleaton. which takes place at the Arcade to-morrow at two o'clock as per advertisement. The members of the Albu Concert Company arrived ia Ashburton to-day, and give their first concert in the Oddfellows' Hall to-night. In an interview with Mr Ja*nes Jago, of the Amy Sherwin Company (whose opiniou should be of some weight) Mr Jagonaid "The Albu 'lassies 'are the finest soprano singers I have ever heard—bar none." Death has removed from the ranks of those entitled to wear the Victoria Cross Private James Davis, who served her Majesty with conspicuous gallantry in the Black Watch throughout the Crimean War and the Indian Mutiny. Private Davis was present at the Alma, Balaclava, and the siege of Sebastopol: he was also at Cawapore, Lucknow, and Bareilly. He was decorated for his distin guished bravery at Fort Rooyah in April, 1853. At Board of Education's meeting on Thursday—Mr E. G. Wright, chairman it was deciden to allow £5 to Pendarves school for repairs, and to put a stove in the porch at Ghertsey, which (is used as a class room. The Clerk of Works was instructed! to report on certain small matters asked for by Flemington. The matter of a school at Allenton was deterred. The tender of Collins and Co. £16, for painting at Wakanui was accepted. It was decided to oppoint a third inspector at £400 per annum. A full report of the Hon John McKenzie'g address in the Oddfellows' Hall on Thurs day night appears elsewhere. In this con nection it may be mentioned that since the celebrated "Ashburton speech" of Sir Julius Vogel, when the great financier was seeking election for this constituency, have so many reporters been seen on an Ashbur ton platform—no less than ten being present last night, four papers being specially represented, in additiou to our selves and the Press Association, Ab the meeting on Thursday night a well-known resident, whose duty takes him out at all hours and to all parts of the county, was present. The Hon. Minister's oratory was not lively enough apparently to keep the resident awake, but the details nf tha hnah f«n;«o. ;n-o- ~-<.uoments, &c, booming over his head must have affected his dreams, for just as the hon. gentleman had reached the bush felling point, our towns man—no doubt with visions of a dreary drive over tussock before him—woke up with the cry "Dromore!" Apologies were read at Thursday night's meeting tor the absence of Messrs E. G. Wright and J. C. Wason, both of whom would have gladly been present, but that the short notice given of the meeting pre vented them from arranging their engage ments. In the case of Mr Wright he had to attend a meeting of the Board of Education in the early afternoon, followed by another of the Christchurch Gas Company, of which he is chairman, so that time was not left for him to come by the 4.45 train, and the short notice given by Mr McKenzie of his meeting left the promoters but little time to issue invitations. In a letter to his brother, Professor Garner has written that he has succeeded beyond his wildest anticipation in the experiments which he has been making among the monkeys in Africa with the view of learning more of the language that he is convinced monkeys use. He says that he has now nearly 200 monkey words, and thinks there are not more that twenty or thirty words which he has not been able to get hold of. Apart from their own language, the Professor has become the proud possessor of a chimpanzee that can say *' Tenakoe, pakeha " (Maori for " Good morning, stranger"), a gorilla that knows about twenty words of Fijian, and a female ourang-ontang that has picked up "Dormer und blitzen" from his German valet, with whom she has shown signs of having fallen in love. A deputation representing the village settlers at Dromore, beaded by Messrs Clark and Daly, waited upon the Minister for Lands on Thursday evening. They pointed i out that under the conditions on which the Dromore Battlement was taken up the settlers did not, participate in the thirds which in other cases were available for public purposes in connection with the settlement. They were in great need of this for the purposes of water supply, and pointed out that last session provision had been made by special vote for gome cases similar to their own, and now asbed that the like provision might be made in their behalf. Mr McKenzie conceded that the deputation had made out a fair case for consideration, and promised to bring the matter before the Cabinet. Immediately after the Hon MrMcKenzie's meeting on Thursday night a dsputation, consisting of about fifty gentleman, among whom we noticed the Revs Lawry and i Cocker, Messrs J. Keir, R. Alcorn, Sawle and others, was introduced to the Minister by the Hon W. C. Walker. Mr Keir, followed by others, brought under the Minister's notice the fact that members of temperance organisations were practically disqualified for serving on licensing com mittees and urged that the law should be amended so as to remove the disability, Mr McKenzie said that he was personally in smypathy with the deputation but could, not pledge the ministry a* to what action might be taken. He would however bring the matter under the notice of his colleagues. The deputation thanked the minister for his courteous reception and withdrew. A meeting of persons interested in form ing a seciety for the promotion of social intercourse was held last evening in Mr Gates' School of Music, There were twenty five ladies and gentlemen present, and Mr Speighfi the chairman, explained the object of the meeting' which he. put in the form of a resolution a follows;—Th»t those present form themselves into a society, hav ing for its object the promotion of social intercourse among the members through the medium of essays, debates, readings, songs, recitations etc, all joining to be active members." The resolution was unanimously carried, and it was decided to adopt the name of "The Phaotom club," and meet every Thursday evening in the kindergarten school. Rules for the guidance of the society having been drawn up and adopted the officers were elected:-—Preside!?*- Mr E. Saunters ; vice-President, Mr D. Brock; Secretary, IU H. Speight; assistant secretary and treafiiijTerj, Mi«g Saunders; Committee—Mieses Orr and Grant and Messrs Cromio, H. Fooks, and H."Curtis. The providing of entertainment for next Thursday evening was left in the hands of th# c9msiWff r -; ■ : ;-

HON. JOHN McKENZIE AT ASHBURTON.

The Hon. John McKenzie, Minister j for Lands, addressed a public meeting in the Oddfellows' Hall last night. There was a very large audience, the hall being full Irom platform to doo>-, Mr H. M. Jones moved that the Hon. W. C. Walker be Chairman of the meet ing, and this being carried by acclama tion, Mr Walker took the chair. There were also on the platform the Hon. Major Steward, Messrs Alfred Saunders, M.H. R. David Thomas, H. M. Jones, I. R. C. C. Graham, Robert Alcorn, John Steele, J. C. Duncan, R. S. Bean, James Keir, John Lambio (Kyle), W. Strachan (Cherfcsey), and Mr John McLachlan, Bogside, Doyleston. The Chairman said he was pleased to take the chair on this occasion, as Mr McKenzie was a personal friend of his own on whose word he could rely as 'though he had been his own brother. He took the chair with pleasure, but regretted that the Mayor of the borough was unable to do so, and for the Mayor's absence he apologised. Mr McKenzie was one whose career in politics had been very closely watched, but he had ever been found to be a man who carried through all he undertook and never broke any promise he had made. The Chairman introduced Mr McKenzie, and also stated that both Mr Wason and Mr Wright had sent apologies for absence. Mr McKenzie said he appeared before them that night at the invitation of the Liberal Association of Ashburton. It had been a long promised pleasure on his part to take an opportunity to address an Ashburton audience. He was afraid that he would not be able to realise all the Chairman had said. He had no preten sion at all to being an orator, but he would, howaver, do his best, and whether they would be satisfied or not he could not help it. During the time that he had been in che office of Mipister of Lands he had taken the same opportunity that he was doing to-night of addressing the people in all parts of the colony, and he did so because he thought it only right that any one holding the position of a Minister of the Crown should make him self known as much as he possibly could to the people of the colony. There is no doubt that in some places where he had been a good many had come as much out of curiosity as anything else. He had been severely criticised by the public press, and when this is the case with a man people generally begin to think whit sort of a fellow he id and come to see for themselves, and to hear what he had to say. By this means this Government of which be was a member took these oppor tunities of giving their views to the people of New Zealand. They had against them a very large portion of the public press of the colony which was continually trying to adversely criticise their actions, and by that means the people got an im proper idea of what their opinions were. He took this opportunity of meeting and explaining the views of the Government to them face to face RETROSPECTIVE. He did not wish to go far back ia ad dressing them, but thought he should refer to the position in which they found the colony when they took office. People were trying to leave it as fast »s they could. No place could be prosperous where people were trying to get away from it, and the Government had to do what the/ could to keep the people in the colony—not wishing to see the exodus going en. When they did stop this exodus and were bringing the people back, they were found fault with because there were many coming back to the colony. This was an instance of the kind of criticism of their actions the Government were subjected to. xney naa checked the exodus, and had made the colony so attractive that the people were coming back to it. BORROWING. One of the things they had to consider when they took office was that the period of borrowed capital was about coming to an end, and one of the first things that stared them in the face was whether they were to continue the system of borrowing or whether they had to rely upon their own resources. They had solved it in a way they all knew, and had asked the people to rely on their own resources. When they took office they had pro mised to abolish the property tax and change THE INCIDENCE OF TAXATION in that direction. They did so because they believed that taxation. was unfairly dis tributed. Some of the large landowners throughout the colony were not paying their fair proportion to the revenue. He was speaking that night, he expected, to a large number of farmers round about this district, and being a farmer himself he would just refer shortly to his own views on the property tax before he be came Minister of Lands. He never could see what delight any farmer could have in the property tax. They were now called upon to pay a tax upon their land, before this land tax came into existence they were called upon to pay a land tax, tax upon improvements, upon the horses that worked the land, the cows and the sheep that were reared upon it, and ev&ry thing that was upon the land was taxed under the property tax. He just referred to this shortly to show them what the Government undertook when they came into office. THK NEW MINISTRY. Aa they were aware, the death of the late Premier necessitated a reconstruction of the Government under a new Premier, as either the death or resignation of a Premier carried with it the death or resignation of a Government. He had seen it stated in the public press that be cause the member of the Ministry had been resworn, technically they were not responsible for the actions of the Ballance Government, but he would say that the present Government had not the slightest wish to take up any such position—they were quite prepared to defend their actions as members of the Ballance Go vernment. In fact, they felt it to be a duty imposed upon them to defend the policy, legislation, and administration of their late chief. It was his intention that night to refer fco various matters which affected them very much, and there was no question he could refer to that affected them so much as THE FINANCIAL POSITION. The land and income tax was intro duced by the late Mr Ballance, and they were told by every Conservative paper in i the colony, and also by the squatters on the Conservative side of the House, that the tax would not yield sufficient revenue to make good the loss in the property tax. It had yielded all they had said it would and something more. Not only had the revenue from the land and income tax yielded all they had expected from it, but they were also able by careful management to show a very good surplus during the present year. They might hear that the Government had no right to take any' ereflit for thai;. Hp tfeopght if he gave then a few figures to show what had been done they would agree with him that no previous Government could take the predit for things which they had dx>he "during the last t\p> to three years, and they were to be con gratulated upon thp'highly satisfactory results of the financial year 1892-93. Tn respect of the ordinary revenue of the colonyi the actual receipts reached £4,*^,pus, a»<* the. expenditure £4,153,124, leaving a Burpll 1" <>» the year's transactions of £346,711. The estimate-. revenue was exceeded by £173,735, and the estimated expenditure was underspent by £48,719, in addition to the £346,711. The present Ctoyernment brought forward

the surplus of £165,570 of the previous year, and these sums together produced a gross surplus of £512,281; bub, in order to gire effect to the policy of carrying on public works out of revenue, authority was obtained by the Government in the Appropriation Act of last session to transfer £200,000 of the surplus to the' Public Worka fund. That transfer was accordingly made. A further sum of £28,502 was also transferred to the land fund account to provide for the deficiency in that account. Deducting;, then, these two amounts from the £512,281, they obtained a neb surplus at the close of the financial year amounting to £283.779. Then with regard to the land fund account, the operations were as follow : — The estimated revenue was stated at £99,000. The actual receipts reached £110,355, and the Bxcess of £11,355 was made up of an increase of £8t64 in the cash sales and £3191 in sales on deferred payments. The expenditure was esti mated at £142,593, but the actual figures only reached £141,044. The cash defici- j ency was therefore only £28,512 instead of £41,406 as contemplated ; and the deficiency was made good out of the ordinary revenue. In connection with these figures, it was only fair that he should make some reference to the un authorised expenditure—that was, ex penditure not provided for on the Esti mates, and which any Government that might be in office had to make use of to a certain extent. During the two yeara they had been in office they had reduced the unauthorised expenditure consider ably. The unauthorised expenditure of the last two years was considerably lower than the expenditure of 1890-1891. The actual figures were as follow ;—ln 1890 ---1891 the unauthorised expenditure amounted to £89,946. He asked them to remember that the present Government were only in office for a little over two months of that year, and consequently had not the control of that expenditure. In 1891-92, the first year for which they were entirely responsible, the unauthor ised expenditure was reduced to £40.092, or close on £60,000 less than the previous year. In the year 1892-93, just ended, the unauthorised expenditure amounted to £45,796, being an increase on the previous year ; but that increase was not' owing to the operations of the Govern ment, which was responsible to Parlia ment, but, strange to say, to that branch of the public servics which was not re sponsible to Parliament—via , THE BAILWAT COMMISSIONERS, who were compelled during the year to ' overdraw their appropriation to the ex tent of £14,362. Whether that expendi ture was right or wrong he was not in a position to say. The Railway Commis sioners being independent of the Govern ment, he had no right to question their finance, and he would not have referred to it 3t all were it not far the fact that it was necessary to show that the unauthor ised expenditure for last year would have been under £30,000 had that amount not been charged to unauthorised. Then they would see that in the year the present Government took oftce the un-. | authorised expenditure was, as he had already said, £99,946. In 1891-92 it was £40,092, and last year, had it not been 1 for the heavy charge made upon it by the Railway Commissioners, it would only have amounted to £30,000. These figures, he thought, should at any rate prove to the colony that they had been economical. Still, further, in connection with the finance?, it was only right that they should take into consideration the liabilities at the end of the year. The total liabilities at the close of the past year, according to statements rendered by heads of departments, amounted to £91,739, chargeable against the ordinary revenue account of the colony, and com parnd nrifch JClOQjlal ah the close Of the year 1891-92 the result was satisfactory, md proved that the surplus had not been manufactured by delaying payments. They would therefore see that the surplus was as genuine a one as they had ever had in New Zealand. Then in connection with the PUBLIC DEBT they would have noticed that various members of Parliament- on the Opposition side of the House and other Tories had been making unfavorable comments in reference to the assertion which appeared in the late Premier's Financial Statement of last year, that the debt of the colony had been reduced by £11.7,000. In speaking of the debt of the colony, it was quite clear that allusion was made to the amount upon which interest had to be paid ; and if it could be shown that the amount upon which such interest was paid was smaller ab the end of one period than it was at the beginning of such period, there could be no doubt of the absolute correct ness of stating that the public debt had been reduced. The figures were : Gross debt 1890-91, £38,830,350: gross debt 1891-92, £38,713,068; and if they de ducted the latter amount from the former they would find that the amount of reduc tion was £117,282—exactly as stated by his late colleague in his Financial Statement. It was on that amount they had to pay interest, and probably seved some £5000 per annum thereby. Qf course he knew that the nefe debt of the colony had been increased by devoting some of the accrued sinking tund to purposes other than their anticipated destination, viz., the reduction of the principal debt. But in making use of that accrued sinking fund they had acted in strict conformity with the law. In 1884 the Consolidated Stock Act was passed, which enabled stock bearing high interest to be converted into stock bearing a lower rate of interest, That Act had been taken advantage of not only by the present Government, but also by the Vbgel and Atkinson Governments when ever an opportunity occurred. It meant that a certain portion of the sinking funds providing for loans was relieved or set free as provided for in the Apt, and a portion of that sum could be applied to carrying on public works in the colony. He then gave an illustration of the case of a farmer borrowing money on mortgage, and putting aside a certain sum into a bank to meet the payments and interest when they came due, and then caking the money out of the bank before the time came and making use of it in a manner similar to what he had been explaining. It must be candidly admitted, he thought, ' that in these troublous times of financial unrest, ife had been of great advantage to the colony that they could devote those moneys to public works of great import ance and so avoid either of the two alternatives—namely, a sudden cessation of public works expenditure, qi, on the other hand, an application to, thp English moneylenders for more money. The Government had thought ib prudent to avoid any application to ; the London money market for iurther loans. He thought it would be acknowledged by all, no matter what their politics might be, when they took into consideration the troublous time 3 that were now being experienced by our less fortunate neigh bours—viz. theother Australasian colonies, which had to depend upon the London I money market tor supplies to enable them "to parry on th.eir public works— that the policy of the New $ealand Government was a sound and prudent one. lie thought they would all admit that it was a Very good thing that during the last two ye^rs'they had fyad '{/he means to carry on public wqrks, because if they had not it would have had tp be raised by taxation, or by going intp the money market *nd borrowing more money. The colony must not stand still but must go ahead, and to do that they must have fund? t0 3Wry on. the works of the colony. They could not possibly pub people jon the land unless they were prepared to make roads and bridges to enable them to i get on to \t. In some parts of the North

Tsland the land could not have been got | at unless by means of balloons. They i were told by the Press and by some of I their opponents that the sole cause of the ■ prosperity of the colony was due to the' •ebtlers. Well—they did not deny that at all—there was no doubt that the in dustry of the sattlers has had a great deal to do with it. They were told that the last two years had been very prosperous, and that it was entirely owing to this prosperity that the finances of the colony were in a sound condition. Well, he did not wish co take credit entirely to the . Government for the present satisfactory | financial position, bub they had a right to regard it from this point of view—namely, that the very same markets had been open to the settlers of the Australian colonies for their produce as the New Zealand settlers had had—for the produce of Australia was somewhat similar to that of New Zealand, consisting as it- did mainly of wool, mutton, butter, cheese, vheat, and so on. Still we found them in a most deplorable financial condition, whila the present financial position of New Zealand was most satisfactory. In the departments he himself administered the disbursements amounted to over a quarter of h million annually, and was there any one in the Opposition camp bold enough to say that with economy and careful expenditure there could be no saving effected in handling so large a sum. His greatest trouble from day to day was guarding the public revenue, and he was always on the look out to effect a saving whenever possible, and he felt sure that everyone of his colleagues was equally zealous and careful in the expenditure of public moneys in their different depart ments, and surely they were entitled to some creiit for that, even though their opponents did not allow them any credit for the splbndid position of the finances of the colony. It should also be remem bered that a very large proportion of the disbursements — namely, two million pounds—went Home to pay interest on the public debt. That state of things could not be altered by the present Government or by any Government that might come after them. If they added to that about three-quarters of a million, being expenditure by the Railway Com missioners, that would give them the total amount over which the Government had no control. The amount out of which any saving could be effected was therefore considerably reduced. Looking at the whole of the financial operations of his late chief, Mr Ballance, it must be I acknowledged that beyond a doubt! he had proved himselt to be a far seeing, capable, and prudent financier. When they took office it was] declared through the length and breadth of the land " Now that we have those Liberals 1 in office they will send the money flying all over the country, and land the colony in a big deficit." But, now, seeing that they had served two years and four months of their term of office he would ask, had they landed the colony in the position prophesied 1 They (the Govern ment) had a tight to take credit for what they had done. 1 THE LANJ» QUESTION. Another question that no doubt they would expect him to refer to was the land question, which in his opinion was the 1 biggest question the colony had to deal with. How to increase the producing power of this country must be always a big question, and how to dispose of the i lands for settlement so aa to arrive at the largest amount of (production from it was also a big one, and was of the greatest possible importance to its inhabitants as a wholp, as after all, the land was the source of all our wealth and progress; We should, then, so legislate that our lands must be held for productive pur poses, and not for speculative purposes. There were many people who imagined that it was only those who wished to be come settlers themselves who had a right 1 to say how our Grown lands should be disposed of. He held a very different opinion. He had no hesitation in Saying that the merchant in the town, the manu facturer, the artisan, all those engaged in professions, the industrious working man, and all other classes of people had an equal right to say in what manner their inheritance should be disposed of. He had always held those views, and they would not therefore v*onder at his efforts to pass a Land Bill which would prevent speculation, increase settlement, and generally 'dispose of the land in the manner most beneficial to the community at large. With that object in view he had undertaken the position of Minister for Lands, Hie had prepared a Bill which I was submitted to Parliament in 1891. They would all remember the fight on that Bill, when, though it passed the ! Lower House, it was so emasculated in the Upper Chamber that he was forced to drop it for that session. He again intro duced his Bill last year, and succeeded in getting it passed through both Houses. He ventured to say that at the present moment the colony of New Zealand had a more liberal Land Act than any other British colony. It was true that the Act was not liberal in the sense of allowing speculation and the. aggregation of large estates; on the contrary, it threw ob- 1 stacles in the way of speculation and land monopoly. That was one of its main features. But to the honest, industrious man, who wished to become a bona fide settler, it offered inducements which no other Land Act he had ever heard of could offer, and he might say that ha was fairly well pcsted up in the various land laws of the Australasian colonies. They might naturally a?k him the question, how it was that the present Land Aot passed' through the Upper House last session and was blocked the previous session 1 Well, he thought he could give them an answer to that question. In the first place, the position was altered materially, inasmuch as the Secretary of State for the Colonies had decided to uphold the Government of New Zealand in the stand they had laken in appointing members to the Upper House. Previous to the announcement of that decision arriving from England, he had to fight the Land Bill clause by clause in the Lower House, against a most determined Opposition, and al though he had a majority to ctrry the Bill, still its progress was delay ed night after night, hour after hour, by those who were opposed to it, no doubt, to his view, with the object of encouraging the Legis lative Council to throw out the Bill for a second time. However, he thought that when it becanie known that if the Govern ment was a,gain defeated on their Land IJill in the Upper House, they would exercise their right to select twelve of their fellow-colonists for appoint ment to that Chamber, that knowledge was of material assistance at the last moment in carrying the measure. Tt was true that the act was not all that; he had hoped to make it, and that he had had to consent to some compromise when he met the managers for the Upper) House at tha conference, but hs thought | that, on the whole, they had succeeded in | getting better terms from the Upper I House than was generally; anticipated, j They would now have some idea why the BUI passed last session. Had u the decision of the Secretary of Sgtatie been against the ijoveisnment,' that they co\jild not select members- for appointment jto the Upper Hoiise, it was just possible that the resultf; n*ight have been quite different. Time would not permit him that night to go minutely into the various amendments qf the Land Act* but he had no doubt his headers would be fairly well aware, of what they were through .the. pages of "Hansard" and the public press, and from the act itself. The act now/pro vided under the optional system for three ways of disposing of our. Crown lands—viz., for cash with improvement conditions, occupation with the right pf

purchase with improvement and residence conditions, and lease in perpetuity v which also required residenceand improvements. The Act also curtailed the area that any one man might purchase fiom the Crown, and it established for the first time the one-man-one-run Bystein for our pastoral country. It also provided for the small farm homestead association system, village settlements, and in fact for such systems as could be applied to any part of the colony with success. A considerable amount of objection had been raised to the lease in perpetuity, or the 999 years' lease, on the ground that the Crown was giving away to the settler what is known as the unearned increment. Strange to say that objection was taken up to a great extent by people who. were quite prepared to ssll the land for cash. It must be obvious that if they parted with the land for cash they would at once part with the unearned increment. It was true they also did this under the lease in perpetuity system. But the difference between the two systems was this, that while the Government could not control the disposal of cash lands from one person to another after purchase 'from the Grown, and thus prevent the ! aggregation of large es'ates, they could | under the lease in perpetuity system control the transfer of leases, as they must be transferred through the Land department, and the department had power to prevent the leases being trans* [erred to people who already owned large estates. Thus the Government had legis lated in the direction of insuring that the lands should only be transferred or dis posed of to people who would make good use of them, and not to those who would use them for speculative purposes. A good deal had been said about an attempt to do away with the freehold system of tenure, or absolute sale. He had not at tempted to abolish that tenure entirely; but under the Land Act it was left to the selector himself to choose his own tenure. We had in this country already parted with far too large an area of our Crown lands by allowing them to be mopped up in !arge estates, and it would cost us very deat to re-purchase them for settlement. He had always maintained that when •nee the Government had parted with the freehold of a piece of land and had given the Crawn grant for it, the Government should recognise and respect that title, and that none should have to give up for settlement property acquired under the land laws of the country without being fully compensated for any loss they might thereby sustain. He also main tained that where bom fide settlement was necessary in the interest of the country, the demand must be met by the re-purchase of land already disposed of. A s our young and growing population in creased from year to year and reached the state of manhood, they must be provided with land to settle upon if we expect to make this colony a great country. It was no use to shut our eyes to that fact. The young people as they grew up would demand elbow room, and with it a chance of working out their, own destinies in the country of their birth, and he was the most prudent and far-seeing statesman who would make provisions accordingly. Travelling as he had done for the last two years through various parts of the colony, his eyes had been considerably opened with regard to the way in which large estates were blocking settlement. He found that in the provinces of Nelson and Marlborough, and in North Canterbury, it would be absolutely n«cessary for the Crown to re-purchase some of the land already sold to enable them to make use of the back country. The frontages had all been purchased by the large landed proprietors to secure the water-courses and road lines, and millions of acres were thereby rendered useless to anyone but themselves. To enable the Government to deal with the back country, therefore, it would be absolutely necessary to re purchase some of the frontages. These facts he thought should prove to them the urgent necessity of keeping a watch ful eye on our Crown lands, and of exer cising the greatest care in dealing with every acre. Then with regard to the LAND IDHIMSTRATION for the year just ended—viz, March 31— he found from returns prepared by the land department that 3071 selectors had taken up land under all the .various systems under which land could be dis posed ot during the year. That was an increase over the figures of the previous year 1891-2 of 652 selectors, and an increase over the year 1890-1 of 661 selectors. That would at any rate prove that they had not been going backward— on the contrary the selectors were increas ing year by year. These figures, as he had already said, gave the number of selectors under all systems, but if they excluded town and village lands and other small art-as, also small grasing runs, the actual results for the three past years were as follows :- In 1891-91, 425,600 acres had been disposed of to 1616 selectors, or an average of 263 acres each ; in 1891-92, 369,000 acres were disposed of to 1350 selectors, being an average of 274 acres each ; in 1892-93, the year just ended on 31st March last, 446,800 acres had been disposed of to 2345 selectors, being an average of 190 acres each. This would show beyond a doubt that the land was being taken up for bona fide settle ment. It would be remembered that, in a speech made by him last year at Gore, he stated that 1741 selectors had had land allotted to them under the Small Farm Homestead Association system. That land wag unserveyed land, and in consequence it could not then be balloted for, and the names of the applicants could not appear on the returns for (hat year, with the exception of 13 who had balloted for their land before the end of the year. That portion of his speech at Gore had been made a handle of by. almost every member of the Opposition during the last session of Parliament &nd even during the ! recebs, notwithstanding the fact that he i had fully explained the whole position last session in Parliament. He still found it referred to as bogus settlement. During the year just ended land had been allotted to a few more associations, bringing the total number of selectors up to 1857* Of that number 838 had had their lands sur veyed and ballotted for, and their names now appeared as settlers for the year. There were still IQ]9 selectors in those associations whose lands had not been surveyed, but that work was now being done as fast as the department could overtake the work. Those 1019 selectors had consequently been unable to ballot, and would therefore not appear in the returns for the year ended 31st March, 189,3. This was not bogus eettjement, but. it was in fact the very best olass of settlement. There existed a- con siderable amount of misapprehension in the minds of people with regard to these associations. He found even the leader of the Opposition making a gross blunder by stating in one of his speeches that this system of special settlement association " placed between the Government and the individual settler an association of middle men, who were dealing, with the land, possibly, for speculative purposes." That was not the case. The ' *ystem, shortly explained was this : When.a num* b'er of intending settlers desired to take Up a block of land under the association system tihey' could save themselves the' annoyance and trouble, which, each mem ber would, otherwise be put to by - having to run all over the country to look for a section for himself,'by selecting "one or two practical men from their number to go forward as pioneers and select a suit able block. They could then form them selves into an association for the purpose of taking up a certain area, nob. to an average area per man of 200 acres. They then applied for the land, and if tfio Government granted their frpj>Uoaspj)

THE AHHJtftJRTON GUARDIAN: FRIDAY, JX3NU 2, 1891



Wanted. AN FED KNOWN .-For One Week Only, Men's Boots and hhoes, 6s 6d ; Ladies' Boots, 4a 6d ; Ladies' Cloth Boots Is 6d, Girls' Boots, 2s bd ; a few Infante' Boots for 3d per pair, at Andrew Obb's Cheap' Sale. .d_w inj- ANTED Known—First Class Watch W Repairing at Gbaihobb's, East Street. s*gg BEST Brooch Pin 3d, at Gbaing^' East atreet. _____j!!^ TCIIREWOOD for Sale at 15s per Cord. JC Apply to the Custodian, Aahburton Domain. 5 811 •TATANTEDrCIocks~Io~ Repair, at VV Gbaingeb's, East street. 5*230 HE Good Samaritan, for the imme diate relief of pain.— Light s Cash Store^^ _^ I™. HAVE you seen the New Slimien at MiTOHBit. and Ttowub's^ 4148 HAVE you secured some of our warm Slippers for children, is I ~ MITCHBLL AKD T^BNE^^ * 14H -tTTANTED Known.—Warm Slippers W for mothers ;Is9dto 2s 9d per pair.—MITCHHiAND^TuRNBB^ 4 1W PIANO Tuning and Repairing. Our Toner, Mr Chattaway, is now in Ashburton. Orders promptly a^ded 10.-H. M. Jonks. 6 213 WANTED Known.-Jacket A Dress Department a specialty. High class goods marked cheap. H. C. Sbgebs, lielford House. ■ "TTSb"h.'g. Fi«wer's Sulphur Tablets, LJ Cough and Eucalyptus Drops, and stop coughing. ANTED Known.—For Jackets, Ulsters, Dress Stuffs, etc. Come u> Melford House. H. 0. Seqebs. W*"~ ANTED Known—* * The Corner "is showing a magnificent New Stock of Drapery and Clothing. —W, H. Collibb. ANTED KNOWN~^-S. W. Alcorn and Go's, premises will be closed to-morrow (Wednesday). Re-marking ■tock for sale on Thursday. ANTED Known. —T. Hoult having commenced Bacon Curing he will have a good supply of Pork Sausages, Pork Pies, etc., fresh made very day. Ii^EATHERS Cleaned, Dyed, and JD Curled. Ladies' and Gentlemen's Gloves Cleaned. — Misses Hitchcock, StafFord street, Timaru> WANTED Known—Andrew Orr has opened his new premises with his First General and Grand Display of Ladies' Jackets, Fur-lined Cloaks, Milli nery, Carpets, Boots, etc.—Andrew Okb. 5 19 BANG ! Bang I Bang 1 Guns ! Guns ! Guns 1 by the best makers and itted with all the lateßt improvements. Powder, Shot, Caps, Cartridges, Wads, and Cases at J. W. Habdlet's, East Street. Guns repaired. THE Missis Adams' new Refreshment Rooms now open. Tea, Coffee, Cocoa, Lemon Squash, Soda and Milk and all the new summer drinks ready at «11 times, Coleman's Buildings, East Street. ' HOMEOPATHIC Medicines, price Is. Sole agent for district, Light's Cash Store. 2 34 6d, have just arrived in all sir-es. CXTANTED Known.—Come and see » » our beautiful Mantles, Jackets, Ulsters, Macintoshes, Dress Stuffs, etc. H. 0. Skobks, Melford House. WANTED Known—Great Bargains in Ladies' Underclothing, Milli nery, Mantleß, and Jackets ab S, W. A morn & Co.'s Compulsory Sale. CIHEAP Firewood—Short Dry Gum i Firewood, at 26s per cord; mixed wood, 24s per cord at Mayo's, Trevorton.—Apply Mas Jambs Fruit Shop. . SWI A lcorn & co.s • W • J\. Compulsory Sale. Flannelette at 3d, Dress Tweeds at 3|d, Kid Gloves greatly reduced, *T 1/ HO is your Plumber 1 Why, J. W. W Habdiet, who is a Manufacturer of Spouting, Ridging, Steel Gutters, Baths, Sinks, Tanks, etc., and who has on hand the largest stock of Pumps and Pipe in town. EST Nickel Watches in the market, are those at 22s 6d and 255. Specially made for S. Salbk, Jeweller. Guarantee with each watch. SOMERSET Meat Mart. The oldest the largest, th« best, and the cheap Mt. Small Goods a specialty. Ful weights guaranteed. A trial solicited. —W. J. Siloock. 4t182 EASTER Cards and Booklets, New Games, new supply of the Zither Harps and Autoharps, New Books, Stationery, and Fancy Goods. Sub ■eribers wanted for our Circulating Library, L, F, Andrewks and Co, Stationers' Hall. ANTED Known—Habdlby Bros. are sailing Women's Leather Shoe 1* 4s lid; Elastic Side Boots, splendid quality, 4s 9d ; Leather Slippers only 2s lid. Call early and purchase them.— Hardmby Bros^ 5 141 f ]CTHERE do you get your Ironmon VV gery' Ati Hakdutv sof course, where we get the best value in Sheet Lead, Nails, Locks, Hinges, Plough Chains, Rope, Wire Knotting, Gorse Knives, Spades and Forks, Lamps, Fender and Fire Irons, and anything you require. WANTED Known— Robert Shields Charles Street, opposite Wo/>ilen Factory, has commenced Dyeing and Cleaning Ladies' tnd Men's Garments. Blankets and Woollen. Goods Scoured. Moderate charges. Parcels etc., lefb at Mrs Adams', Saunders' Buildings, will be attended to. jj^* WTN TE R Suits. Boys three garment long Trouser Sutt« ftt 15s. Boys, Colocial-made Knicker Suits Ivom 10b. Men'a nicely made Colonial Tweed Suits 30a. ColonW Tweed Suits to measure from 50s.—Ashburton Clothing Mart, Saunders' Building*. Robert SALVAGE, ex Ruahine, Blankets, Shirtings, *nd Flanellettcs nothing the worse, but wfeiefo the extra insurance on my other goods will enable me to sell leas than u-u-*l prices, and as they are direct from the Manufacturers any onp wanting ought to secure a supply at once. —Robert Alcorn, Sawders' Buildings "i^^NIS WANTED. t X ANTKP Agent* for a GOOD V SELLING LINE. Either sex anVi wtm gotwi \mm Q- APpty ®aily *8 onl* a limited nurobar m required. NOVELTY IMPOR'jI'J&G 00.,



fi -i -i r? —By Order ot the Mort <3i/_L_LO t gagees. One acre with j Cottage thereon, being sections 523, 524, j SSI, 532, situated between Harland and j i Grove Streets, Tinwald. Must be sold. 1 T. BULLOCK. [A CARD]." "I MRS A. C. "CLARIDGE, TEACHER OF PIANOFORTE & ORGAN, COX STREET, ASHBURTON. TERMS ON APPLICATION. 32 Nrm~ ZjiSiUiAND Clothing Factory, wurrEß i*o3 EAIN. BAIN- EAIN. WATERPROOF COATS WATERPROOF COATS WATERPROOF COATS LEAVE your measure ab the Factory. Over 100 patterns to choose from. | OIL COATS OIL COATS OIL COATS From lOs 9d. LEATHER LEATHER LEATHER Try the NEW ZEALAND CLOTHING FACTORY for your NEXT PAIR of BOOTS. I^* You will Save IS per cent. BLANKETS 10s 9d I RUGS 7s 6d FLANNELS ... ... Is per yard] NEW ZEALAND CLOTHING FACTORY AND Waterproof Manufacturers. ALEX. HENDRY, Manager. FOR WEDDING PRESENTS. BIRTHDAY PRESENTS, & PRESENTATIONS INSPECTION is invited of the very JL choice and high class Stock of c- SALEK WATCHMAKER, JEWELLER, AND OCULIST-OPTICIAN'S AGENT. A very large stock of Electro Plata and Silver Ware, Engagement and Wedding Rings, Marble Clocks and Gold and Silver Jewellery of every description; forming a splendid selection of new and unique ffoods, just the thing for presents and ob tained specially for the ASHBURTON TRADE. _A SPECIALTY— The Rotherham English Lever Watches pxpressly made by Rotherham for b. SaJek are becoming famous throughout the district as the MOST RELIABLE WATCHES OBTAINABLE. gy Special attention is devoted £o the Watchmaking and Jewellery repairing .department. With the extra assistance obtained, irork is turned out promptly. LOWEST CHARGES, CONSISTENT WITH SOUND AND p:L*ABLE WORKMANSHIP. S. SALEK, WATOHMAKBB & JEWBIXER



UNYIELDJJNJ 3 FACTS. g. j. nei£l & co. /-AWING TO THE DULLNESS OF TRADE THIS SEASON we havebecome Being only\ «hort time in Business we have no old Stock. Everything NEW. New Winter Dress Goods, 4s lid per doz. New Winter Dress Goods (extra value), 6M nfa&SfflSS 1 SK3SSJBi£ I& 1fl& COMPETITIOB. Flannelettes, 3a 9d per doz Heavy Twilled Flannelette, ssd 'iND SHEETINGS, MARVELLOUS LOW PRICES. 36in Wide White Calico, 3s lid per do* W^TmNG^S'uSsUuS.S^for QUALITY and PRICE. Men's Tweed Suits, 19s 6d Men's Heavy Tweed Suits, 26s 6d Value. BOOTS BOOTS. BOOTS. Everybody's Trouble is-Where can we get the BEST BOOTS for the LEAST MONEYI TRY /I/I 'Q G. J. NEILL & C 0.5. ALL OUK BOOTS AMMAM^S^^J^ SATISFACTION . Ladies' Strong Shoee, 4s lid £3taSf£s B«io Side. Boot,, 6, Ud, positively give from dgU to twelve months' Wear Men's Colonial made Shooters, nailed, 8s 6d Men's Colonial made Bluchers, 5s The Best Pegged Heavy Watertights in New Zealand at 13s 6d TRY our BOYS' and GIRLS' SCHOOL BOOTS. Every Pair Guaranteed. G. J. Neifl & Co., FRIBDLANDERS' BUILDINGS, CORNER OF EAST STREET AND MOORE STREET, TERMS-CASH. No Discount. OUR MOTTO—Small Profits and Quick Returns. STEPHENS BROS., Market House. . f.\ JUST LANDED 150 Cases Kerosene. Light of the Age. AND 100 Cases Zurlite Kerosene. Best Oil Procurable. AS there is a possible rise in the price, we would advise our Cus. tomers to make EARLY PURCHASES. Stephens BrosT, Market House.



\j I School. Easy terms. T, BULLOCK. HINDS PUBLIC DIP. j BROOKE'S ASHBURTON DIP. i CHERTSEY PUBLIC DIP. /"\WING to the Delay caused by the wet weather the Charge will still be One Penny per head until FRIDAY, May 18, after then l£d per head. C. M. Brooke, ASHBURTON. Hardley Bros. HAVE OPENED THEIR FIRST SHIPMENT OF WINTER GOODS, ! WHICH HAVE BEEN MARKED AT Very Low Prices TO CLEAR. Special Value in Blankets and Flannels, i Colonial Blankets from 17s 6d. Waterproof Overcoats, grand goods, from 29s 6d. Men's Colonial Suits from 23s 6d. DON'T FORGET TO CALL AND SEE THEM & COMPARE VALUES. We are selling a Splendid Drees Tweed at 6|d. All Wool, double-width Dress Tweed, only Is lid. BOOTS. BOOTS. Our Boot Stock is now Oomplete la every Branch. Splendid Dancing Shoes, 3s lid. Men's Watertights from 12s 6d. Shooters, nailed, 8s 6d: Boys' and Girls' Boots in endless variety OUR MILLINERY DEPARTMENT Is now showing some Splendid value In HATS, FUBS, RIBBONS, LACE, Etc. Come and Secure Arcade Straw Hats, latest shapes, only Is, only a limited number lefc. Splendid Fuir Collarettes, only 3s 9d. THESE ARE GENUINE BARGAINS. niRDLEY BROS., ARCADE. STEAM CHAFF CUTTING AND CRUSHING. Gteorge Os borne. ' Begs to announce that he is PREPARED TO CUT CHAFF AND ' CRUSH GRIAN IN ANY QUANTITY. He uses Messra Andrews and Beaven's best Canterbury Chaffcufctpr, and then crusher with latest improvements, ana can therefore guarantee giving every satis faction. Tinwild. CrGfcQRGE OSEORNE, 3§« , m^^.Jß9s6fo i



[a card.] ImT I S S T> E R G, DRESSMAKER, &c, CAMERON STREET, ABHBUBTON- sm FOR SAli JV The Following IMPLEMENTS, NEW LASI SEASON. -I Mc'Sherry DRILL, J. 6 coulter, -*- with broadcast attachment 1 Cambridge ROLLER, Seed Cannieter and Chain Harrows -| Portable HUT, a first class one -j Set DISCHA.RROWS, ten feet 4.00 GallonlßON TANK, with tap F.~FERRIMAN. 5 148 .