ROTORUA CHAMBER OF COMMERCE.

Auckland Star, Volume XLV, Issue 16, 19 January 1914, Page 7

ROTORUA CHAMBER OF COMMERCE.

HON. W. H. HERBIES BANQUETED. (From Our Own Correspondent.) ROTORUA, Saturday. The annual banquet of the Rortorua Chamber of Commerce was iheld in the Grand Hotel. The principal guest of the evening was the Hon. W. H. Herriee (Minister for Railways and Native Affaire). Other gueets were bhe Hon. G. J. Smith, M.LC. for Canterbury, Mr. J. A. Young, M.P. for Wadkato, aadi Mr. R. J. Gwiynne (chairman of the Hamilton Chamber of Commerce). Mr. H. S. W. King (preebd'enl of the local chamber) occupied' tihe chair. , Mr. D. Gardner proposed bhe health of Mr. Herxiee. He said srsy. man who could- pleaee hie constituente for orer 17 •y«aTe must be trustworthy—a man in every respect to ibe proud' of. Mr. Herries bad done well for his constituency and , for the Dominion. The Hon. W. H. Herries 6aid Ministers were continually 'being itold that they 'had not done right. The test was the genera! election. His position .was different .to that when in Opposition. He eouldlr't put complaints down to that "rotten Government" now ac he could tiren. He "wanted to aeeure iSiem that he hadn't forgotten them. The pocition of a Minister was different from that of a member. They had to remeanlber that ihe was a Minister for the Dominion at large, and 'that there were other Departroente over which be had no control. The dfey «f raJeing expectations toy promises •had passed. The a-ppointraent of commiesroners had stopped aayithdng of that kind, and a very good thing, too. The speaker, referring to ihis own Department, aiHudted to the changing of .the ■train time foyr the -express, as had been requested. He had got /the middlay .train foT Roboraa, which had proved a boon, whale the express stopped at Ngongotairia,. Tire overhead bridge wanted at Rotonua station was the orrly .thing not yet done. Turning to native afSaira, Mr. Herries eaid 'he had paused a 'bill which gave great opportunitieß -to take up land in <tihe Batonm dtetrict. He thought •there rwae a great future foT Rotoroa. Referring to the recent laibour fcrouMe, he aeked if no credit was dtie to the Government "for preventing civil waT in the 'Dominion- (Applause.)! He predicted that the Government would go back to power from -the general election stronger tihan it was before. No Government t'lrai he knew of dn 'New Zealand had gone ithrough two eeseione wiftraut a reverec Even Mr. R. J. Seddon could not Jiave eaid: that. It was a great achievement. All measures had ibeea paesßd , by laTge ma<joTiti«e. They had' the freehold.

A voice: Not in RtJtorua towneihrp. Tihe Minister: That wiß came in time. Mr. Hemes went <ra to eaiy wften the farmers left to 'fight the .Red , Feds, and disappointed Liberate, it wae easy' to -recognise that the strength of the country lay in the freeholdere. He concluded by thanking the cbarolber for its invd■bation and the members of 'hie constituency for iieir kindness. "Trie Pajfiamerrt" was ably propoeed by the Yen. Archdeacon C. A. Tiedall, MA.., and responded' to by tihe Hon. G. J. Smith and Mr. J. A. Young. "Commerce and , AgTvcutt-ure" waß in the hands of Mr. W. JEH, resident officer, and -responded to by Mr. R. J. Gwiyrme. Mr. J. M. Curtis (manager of the Bank of Australasia) proposed "The Visitors.' , which was aclaiowiedjred by Mr. A. Nathan. Judge Brown and . Cant. Mair. The banquet closed "with the singing of "AuW I/ang Syne" and "God-Save the King."