CIVIC WELCOME

Evening Post, Volume CVII, Issue 24, 29 January 1924, Page 9

CIVIC WELCOME

MR. MASSEY HONOURED

GATHERING IN CONCERT CHAMBER

REFERENCES TO WIRELESS . DEVELOPMENTS,

The Concert Chamber of the Town Hall was* filled yesterday afternoon, when a civic \velcome was accorded the Prime Minister (the Right Hon. W. F. Massey). Among those on the platform were his Honour the Chief Justice (Sir Robert Stout), members of the Ministry, Mr. A. D. M'Leod, M.P., the Hon. W. Snodgrass, M.L.C., and members of the City Council. The gathering was very cordial. The Mayor (Mr. R. A. Wright, M.P.) said the citizens had assembled to welcome the Prime -Minister, but not to discuss politics in any shape or form. Although New • Zealanders might not have a full /appreciation of the volume of work done at the Imperial and Economic Conferences, yet they knew from the newspapers that a great deal had been done, and that Air. Massey had not shirked his responsibilities. The British Press had paid high tributes to the work Mr. Massey had done, and the Duke of Devonshire had referred to him as the "Father of the Conference." Of the various Prime Ministers who held office before the war, Mr. Massey was the last survivor. (Applause.) "In fact, he is the last of the Mohicans," remarked the Mayor amidst laughter. A staunch Imperialist, Mr. Massey / had urged an improvement in the means of communication between New Zealand and the Mother Country, by the people of whom New Zealand held in the highest esteem. The good opinion entertained of New Zealanders by the people at Home was due very largely to the splendid conduct of the Dominion's soldiers, but Mr. Massey had added lustre to the Dominion's reputation. A Freeman of several British cities, Mr. Massey was the only Colonial Premier to exercise his right as a Freeman of assisting in the election of Sheriffs of.the City of London. On behalf of the people of Wellington, the Mayor extended to Mr. Massey a cordial welcome.' They were glad, said- Mr. Wright in conclusion, that Mr. Massey had done good work at the Conferences, and apart altogether from political differences all wished him well and hoped that he would long be spared to do as great Work for the Dominion in the future as he had done in the past. (Applause.) ' , ■ . STRENUOUS WORK. The Prime Minister, who was received with cheers, thanked the Mayor and the citizens for the cordiality of his welcome, and said he appreciated the good feeling extended to him. The work of the two Conferences had been very strenuous, and he had had but. one assistant, his private secretary (Mr. F. D. Thomson). Some of the Dominions had present a staff of a dozen, but it was only fair for him^to. Bay that he had had the assistance of the High Commissioner (Sir James jAllen) during the economic discussion?. ' , . Mr. Massey's first reference to the subjects dealt with at the Imperial Conference was to communications. He spoke of the rapid passages, made by the steamers in the Pacific when he was going to and from the Conference, and said that if, it'\were'possible'to make fast passages with passengers, .Ht should be the same with mails; and, along with the' Postmaster-General and' other ■ colleagues, he was going to see' if something could not ba done in the way. of speeding-up the mail services. But it was not so .much the speed of. the ships at sea that co.unted in getting the mails to London quickly as. co-ordination in other means of transport* They -wanted the railway time-tables of the different countries to fit in with the:time of arrival and departure of steamers. He had had a very long talk with the head of the Postal Department in England on the subject, and if something could be done on the lines he mentioned it would be something more to the credit of New Zealand as far as Imperial affairs were concerned. In recent years a great deal had been said of the possibilities of conveying mails and passengers by airships, but about this he had never been sanfuine. Perhaps. a ■ little mechanical nowledge he possessed had helped him 'to;make up his mind, but he could not forget the enormous wind pressure such vessels experienced at high altitudes'. He was afraid they would have to give up the idea of airship passenger and mail transit for some time to come, but there was one thing in which tremendous development was possible—wireless. DIRECT WIRELESS COMMUNICA-' TIONS. When he" was last in England the information then - available was that wireless communication with the Dominions would have to be effected by having-^ stations erected en route in order to send' messages by stages: "That is all gone," said Mr. Massey. "Nbw we are told of--ficially and plainly ithat there will be no. occasion for stages, but that messages can be sent direct from England to any centre in Australia or New,, Zealand so long, as we have a proper receiving station prepared to receive and transmit, the messages between the two countries. It is a tremendous step." The time he was Home he thought it would, be necessary to transmit wireless messages from Britain to New Zealand by;way of Canada and Samoa, but that was not now necessary.'' A powerful wireless station' was being erected in England, and the time..had arrived for New Zealand to consider when it was to establish a station sufficiently high-powered to send our messages direct to England. (Applause.) "We cannot afford to be left behind in these matters, and we are not going to be left behind if we can manage it at all," said Mr. Massey, "and I believe a transmitting station will be an accomplished fact without waiting very long therefor." "' The Prime Minister, after adverting to the Mayor's references to the honours conferred on him abroad, and saying that it was not the individual but the country he represented which those who conferred the honours had in mind remarked that New Zealand stood particularly well in the estimation of British people. "There may be a number of reasons for it," he added. "Probably there are, but there is no doubt about it that it is the favourite Dominion of the Empire with the people at the heart of the Empire." The people of Britain h. ad,, n°t for^ twJ thf,. high conduct of the Dominion s , soldiers. Tourists also told thoße at Home of the hospital; tv which they had received in New Zealand. OUR CANADIAN NEIGHBOURS. The hope that full opportunity would be taken by New Zealand manufacturers and producers to support the Empire Exhibition and thus display what this country could do, having been expressed by Mr. Massey, he then proceeded to speak of the cordiality of hi s treatment in Canada. We are jolly good neich hours," he,-said m speaking of Canada, "and I hope the different countries of tho Empire will wnti.nup vi . neighbours- There ax* only ibeut 8000

miles of salt water between us, and that is nothing in these times." Mr. Massey dealt at length wtth the question of developing the volume of the Dominion' 3 "exports, referred to the matter of Empire preference, and stressed the loyalty of the component parts of the Empire, his remarks on these topics being reported elsewhere. The gathering closed, as it had begun, with the singing of the National Anthem.