8.—6

XIV

A Bill will be submitted for the purpose of doing justice to occupiers who have made improvements on the land within the Midland Railway area. In order that they may be satisfactorily dealt with a large number of applications have been held over pending the result of the litigation. I advise special powers should be given to the Commissioners of Crown Lands in Canterbury, Nelson, and Westland. The vigorous prosecution of the Midland trunk line, and the settlement of the lands within the area, and the removal of the embargo on the timber industry, will be welcomed by the residents of the district specially affected and the colony generally. OLD-AGE PENSIONS. The amount asked for old-age pensions, namely, £200,000, may appear large, and more than was anticipated by some. The number of pensioners of the Maori race is a factor not contemplated, and was not ascertainable at the time the Act was passed. It has been urged, and with great force, that there are a number of aged aliens in the colony who have in the past neglected their opportunities to become naturalised, but who are in every respect deserving colonists, and who fully comply with the other conditions entitling them to the pension. According to the present law they must be naturalised for five years before they can claim the pension. A Bill was introduced last session reducing the term of naturalisation to one year prior to making the claim for the pension. In the Bill to be introduced this session for the purpose of making the Act permanent, amongst other provisions power will be taken to meet these cases. Experience in working the Act has proved that a number of deserving colonists, some of whom have been in the colony for thirty and even forty years, have been prevented from obtaining pensions owing to the fact that they have been absent from the colony during a total period of more than two years. I propose to submit an amendment of the law removing this disability, provided the persons concerned have not been absent from the colony for a total period of more than four years, and have been in the colony at least four years prior to the passing of the Old-age Pensions Act. On the whole, the Act has worked satisfactorily, and has proved a great boon to thousands of our pioneer settlers. The funds at our disposal have been sufficient to prevent the payments of these pensions being felt by the taxpayers of the colony. There were many who hesitated to make the experiment of granting these pensions, asserting that the strain upon the resources of our country would be too great; but time has proved that these fears were not well founded. With some slight amendments in the details, I feel convinced there will be no need for any serious objections to the measure being made permanent. The renewal and the continuance of the Old-age Pensions Act will be a bright and cheering page upon the statute-book of the colony. To have led the van in providing for the comforts of our aged in their declining years redounds to the credit of the New Zealand Legislature, and our example could with advantage be followed by the Imperial Parliament and the Parliaments of the other colonies and British dependencies. THEEMAL SPEINGS. The public generally have little or no conception of the value of the mineral hot springs of this colony, and how the sufferings of humanity can by means of their virtues be alleviated; and some of the waters have medicinal properties requiring only to be known to be appreciated. We import annually thousands of pounds' worth of bottled mineral waters, which are in no way equal to those obtainable from our own springs. In addition, there is the novelty and grandeur of the geysers, which attract visitors from all parts of the globe. How little we have done to take advantage of the wealth nature has bestowed upon us is fast becoming a reproach, and the sooner it is removed the better.