Mr Nash Wants House To Debate Cotton Mill

Press, Volume CI, Issue 29725, 19 January 1962, Page 8

Mr Nash Wants House To Debate Cotton Mill

(N.Z. Press Association) WELLINGTON, January 18. Labour members of Parliament believed Parliament should be convened at once so that all the facts of the termination of the cotton miii agreement could be debated and given full publicity, the Leader of the Opposition (Mr Nash) said tonight when the Parliamentary Labour Party’s one-day caucus ended. Mr Nash said members agreed unanimously that they would welcome the fullest possible inquiry into the origin and text of the agreement to set up the cotton mill at Nelson.

Mr Nash said the matter was so grave and the effect so far reaching and damaging that Parliament should have been called together before the decision to cancel the agreement was made. “For a majority of one of the parties to determine a decision of such international importance to New Zealand is a complete negation of the principle of Parliamentary democracy,” he said. “The agreement was made for the future expansion of our productive capacity and it was imperative for the expansion and development of full employment,” he added. “No action is more important than the opening of new avenues of worth-while employment for our younger people. “The specially trained and skilled craftsmen, already engaged by the company, would have been the means for training young New Zea-

landers and would have provided opportunities for family employment, instead of the present system under which our youth have to leave home for other fields

“The general feeling of all members was one of indignation at the betrayal of the integrity of New Zealand by the abrogation of the agreement made 18 months ago for the completion of the mill at Nelson. “It appeared to the members in general that the Government had irrevocably damaged the prestige, integrity and high repute of New Zealand in the investing world, particularly in the United Kingdom. “It does not now appear realistic that those in control of investment finance will recommend its use in a country where any agreement is subject to cancellation by a change of Government,

“It looks as if our credit-

worthiness has been jeopardised for a decade or more. “The objective of all rightminded, thinking citizens should be restoration of our good name overseas at the earliest possible moment, and the best method is to call Parliament together at once so that our own people and those overseas should understand the feelings of all members regarding the decision of the Government,” said Mi- Nash.