Evening star., 1901-02-16

| not seem to realize that this is one of the
| chief-spending populations of the globe
| Our people dress well and they will have
luXuries. Our laboring classes live as well,
| If not better, than those of any other coun-
| try. We annually import on the average
| about $50 worth of goods per head of $500
worth per family. We buy more than s4O
| 100000 worth of goods per year from out
| siders, and we buy just the things you SELL
No, don't think you work the trade half
| as well as you might"
! New Zealand Wants Reciprocity.
"And then I think you might grant US
| some favors in the way of trade" Pre-
mier Seldom went on. New Zealand and
| the United States could make reciprocity
treaties which would be to the benefit of
each and to the injury Of neither. AS 1t
| is by your tariff and micronesia trade
you are shutting us out of Hawaii You
are keeping one of the chief New Zealand
steamship lines out of that market. You
| ought to make an exception in this case
| and we could grant you favors in return
| We have certain kinds of wool which you
cannot raise and which you might admit
! at lower rate of duty. On the other
| hand, we could make reductions to
| tariff on certain of your manufactures
| which we have to import
| Our new possessions in the Pacific
brings us much closer to New Zealand,
! your eXcellency."
| Yes; they do said the great New Zea-
| land boss Your new colonies make the
| tlleu States our next QOOT HtlSUDOI IL
is only a five days trip from here to Tu-
| tuila. and with the new steamers which
| the Spreckes line have added we are only
ten days from Hawaii and not much more
| than two weeks from San Francisco. Aus
| tralia and the Philippines have direct
| steamboat connections and, in fact, we are
! fast becoming great Pacific family"
Premier Seldom Interviews Mckinley.
Gas to Hawaii said the premier Of New
Zealand, II was rather glad that the
| Americans got possession of 1t, although
my first idea was that it should be under
| the dual control of England and the United
States. I think if our home statesmen had
played their cards properly in 1896 and 1897
this might have been done. But they were
| too SLOW and President Mckinley was
| little too fast for them. / made a trip to
| Hawaii in 1897 and from there went to
| San Francisco and thence across the United
States to England. l was in Washington
when the Hawaiian question was still un-
| settled l was anxious to know the feel
ing of the United States concerning 1t be-
| fore 1 went to England, and | called upon
| Secretary Sherman, who was then at the
head of the State Department. I found
| that he was not in favor of annexation,
and that he thought it would be contrary
to the Monroe doctrine, which he upheld
| 1 had quite long talk with him over the
matter.
II next called upon President Mckinley.
l had little hesitancy at first in APP
preaching him, but / thought to myself
that the president of New Zealand ought
to be on par with the ruler of any other
country of the world, and this stiffened
me. l had no trouble in getting at your
President. 1 presented my view of the Ha-
waiian matter, proposing the dual control
of England and the United States. AS l
did so / saw the Presidents Jaws come to-
gether and his lips tighten. rather hard
| look came into his eyes, but he listened
without a word until l finished, when he
said emphatically:
frnp he yNayr 10
that there would be no doubt as to his
attitude and when l went over to London
I told the ministers of the queen that
Hawaii would surely become the property
of America And SO it did
How New Zealand Runs It's Railways.
The conversation here turned to some OF
the new movements in New Zealand, and
1 asked the premier about the government
control of the railways. Said l:
Your excellency, you have been a rail-
road man from the ground up. You nave
worked In the shops. You have run an en-
gine and you have had to do with adj sorts
of railroad construction. You are now the
chief manager of a government which has
built its own railroads and to which the
railroads belong. Do you think it best tor
the government to own the railroads.
Yes, ! do" said the New Zealand pre-
mier 1T is the only way in which the
railroads should be owned and operated.
We believe the roads are for the people,
and we managing them In the interests
of the people and for the development or
the country in that way which will best
help all the people. We are not trying to
make a profit out of them and, as our
revenues increase, we steadily reduce
freight rates and passenger fares. We are
already giving an excursion rate of penny
a mile to parties, and we expect to cut
down the fares right along. We give re-
duced rates to working men going to and
from work. We use the trains to bring the
school children to and from school free OF
charge and we have excursion trains to
take the school children now and then out
over the country and give them practical
gee graphical lessons We send out such
trains. which give excursions of lo0 miles
for SO cents per child. This is just about
the extra cost of running such trains, and
any school be taken off on vacation
or on an instructive excursion at that rate
upon the request of the teacher.
Servants of the People.
1T Is my Idea" Premier Seddon con-
tinued. that the railroads are the servants
of the people and that they should be run
entirely in their interests. We want to
bring every farmers produce to the mar
kets a. the lowest possible cost and TO
make it so that our people in all parts or
New Zealand can compete with those OF
other countries in the markets of the world
If we can build railroads so that the man
100 miles from the seaboard can send MS
produce to the ship at the same cost as
the man who lives only ten miles away.
We raise the value of the first mans land
to that of the second. We get that much
more taxes out of him ard he becomes a
more prosperous member Of the cOmmun-
ity We are now devoting the roads large
ly TO opening up new country. We are
pushing them out into the public lands and
settling them.
''How much railroad have you In New
Zaaland?''
I'VE have now more than 1000 miles, the
total cost of which has been little more
than f16 900 600. or in the neighborhood of
$50 900 600. Nearly all the roads are max
ing money The cash revenue for 1899
amounted to more than SI.000,000. while the
expenditure was less than S5,oOO,0G0. The
earnings of some of the lines ranged from
to 13 per cent. The matter IS very closely
figured and the roads belonging to the
government there is no incentive to give
ANYTHING else but the best service at the
lowest possible cost
The Civil Service and the Bosses.
But how about using such large bodies
of men in government employ? | should
think that your service on the railroads, in
the telegraph offices and in your many
other public institutions would be largely
affected by the fact that it is governmental
Do not the clerks vote to keep your party
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