TO VISIT COOK ISLANDS

Press, Volume LXXII, Issue 21805, 10 June 1936, Page 10

TO VISIT COOK ISLANDS

THREE MEMBERS OF

PARLIAMENT

MR S. G. HOLLAND CHOSEN

[From Our Parliamentary Reporter.!

WELLINGTON. June 9

Three members of Parliament, Mr J. Robertson (Govt., Masterton), Mr C. L. Hunter (Govt., Manawatu), and Mr S. G. Holland (Nat., Christchurch North), will leave for Rarotonga on July 7 to investigate the position of fruitgrowers and exporters.

This announcement was made tonight by Ihe Prime Minister (the Rt. Hon. M. J. Savage), who said that he had asked the Minister for Industries and Commerce (the Hon. D. G. Sullivan) to appoint three members of the Industries and Commerce Committee to make the trip. The committee has recently been considering petitions from the island fruitgrowers about the marketing of their fruit in New Zealand.

“It appears to me that the whole position has been allowed to drift too long.” the Prime Minister said. “The trade must be properly organised. We want the island growers to receive a fair price, and we certainly want supplies of their oranges. It is high time the subject was investigated on the spot.”

Mr Sullivan said ' the three selected members of the committee would leave on July 7. They will look into the actual state of the industry in the Cook Islands, and report back to the committee before it has framed its report on the petitions for presentation to Parliament.