GREAT IDEALS

Dominion, Volume 30, Issue 260, 30 July 1937, Page 12

GREAT IDEALS

New Zealand Capable of Rising to Heights MR. SAVAGE CONFIDENT “New Zealand is a small place, but it has great ideals. It has scaled the heights in the days that are gone; it will scale the heights in the days that are to come. There is no better way of helping the people overseas than to light the fires here, and if we can show a light to the rest of the world then the sermon on the mount will not have been in vain,’’ said the I’rime Minister, lit. Hon. M. J. Savage, when replying to a reception given in his honour by members of the Labour movement, at Parliament Buildings yesterday. The Minister of Health, Hon. I’. Fraser, who presided over an attendance of several hundred, said that the gathering was a truly representative one. If it had 'been possible to invite all the people who desired to join in welcoming Mr. Savage, Newtown Park would not have been able to accommodate them. The wonderful receptions accorded Mr. Savage since his return were ample proof of the high esteem in which he was held by thousands of citizens.

“Even a brief survey of conditions in New Zealand to-day means the best of all welcomes to the Prime Minister,” said Mr. Fraser. “If he looks around the country as a whole he will see the substantial results of the Labour Government’s reconstructive policy.” During the last year the wages bill of the Dominion had increased by £15,000,000, and it did not require much imagination to realise what that had meant in the homes of the people. Mr. Fraser said that the Prime Minister came back to a happy and contented people, and in their name he welcomed Mr. Savage most cordially. , Speeches of welcome were also made by Mr. J. Roberts, president of the New Zealand Labour Party; Mr. P. F. Walsh, representing the New. Zealand Federation of Labour; Mrs. A. Cook, of Auckland; Mrs. P. Dowse, president of the Hutt Valley Women’s Branch of the Labour Party; Mrs. Bentley, president of the Wellington Women's Branch; Mr. J. Cummings, of the Hutt Valley Labour Representation Committee; and Mr. O. A. Johnson, president of the 'Wellington Labour Representation Committee. Mr. Savage said that they had no idea of the joy they, had brought to his heart. He would never forget the wonderful receptions accorded him by the people. “If I go down to the grave trying to help the people who have worked with me for the common good I will have nothing to regret,’’ he eaid. • PARTY WELCOME Confidence in Mr. Savage The Prime Minister, Rt. Hon. M. J. Savage, was welcomed home from the Imperial Conference at a private gathering of members of the Parliamentary Labour Party yesterday morning. The Acting-Prime Minister, Hon. P. Fraser, presided, and after his health had been toasted, Mr. Savage gave an interesting address on his visit to the Old Country. The following resolution was carried with enthusiasm: “The Parliamentary Labour Party cordially welcomes the Prime Minister, Rt. Hon. M. J. Savage, back to New Zealand; it expresses its high appreciation of his capable and creditable representation of the Dominion at the Coronatiow and the Imperial Conference; it further assures him of continued, united, and whole-hearted confidence and support of the Labour Party in Parliament and throughout the Dominion.”