VISIT TO ABERDEEN.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 61, Issue 249, 2 August 1941, Page 6

VISIT TO ABERDEEN.

MR PETER FRASER HONOURED. GIVEN FREEDOM OF CITY. ( » ' LONDON, August 1. The Prime Minister of New Zealand (Rt. Hon. P. Fraser) yesterday received the Freedom of Aberdeen, also the degree of Honorary Doctor of Laws of the University of Aberdeen. More than 700 persons attended the latter ceremony which was carried out with traditional ceremony and colour. The University’s promoter in- law, Dr. T. M. Taylor, in a speech before the conferment of the degree, said Mr Fraser, like many who had risen to eminence in public life bore a Highland name and had his roots in Scottish soil. Dr. Taylor praised Mr Fras-' er’s association with New Zealand’s social legislation which, he said, was designed to remove the spectre of unemployment from the masses of the people. He added that the New Zealand Government’s system of family allowances ensured that children were not recognised as the greatest single cause of poverty but as the hope of the State. Mr Fraser was cheered when the Chancellor invested him with cap and gown.

Mr Fraser, replying said he received the degree as an honour to New Zealand. He recalled the part played by the early Scottish arrivals, especially Dr. Burns, who was the poet’s nephew, in establishing the system of education. Mr Fraser earlier was the guest at a civic luncheon.