THE EUROPEAN TOUR

Evening Star, Issue 22805, 13 November 1937, Page 22

THE EUROPEAN TOUR

NASH VISIT COSTS £5,000 OPPOSITION CRITICS ANSWERED [From Our Parliamentary Reporter.] WELLINGTON, November 12. The expenditure of £5,000 to meet the expenses of Mr Nash- (Minister of Marketing) on his visit to England, Europe, and tho United States produced questions and criticism when the Internal Affairs vote was under consideration in the House. The total vote was £456,415. The Leader of the Opposition, Mr Hamilton, said it was a largo increase over tho previous year. Internal Affairs was becoming a good spending department. That was all right if tho monev was wisely spent. However, the Opposition was concerned about the way the amounts were mounting up. There was one item which appeared very expensive, and that was £5,000 for the tour of tho Minister of Finance and his staff. The country had not had any very great results from that trip abroad. The Opposition would like some explanation of the large amount spent. They could remember the' way the Government members, when in Opposition, had attacked the Government and almost censured tho House because two Ministers went abroad, but now three or four went on tours. , ,

Mr Barclay (Government, Morsdon) said the Leader of the Opposition had claimed that £5,000 was an excessive sum for the Minister’s tour, but years earlier the then Minister had £4,000 voted for the trip. Mr Coates (National, Kaipara): That’s not quite right, is it? “ Well, it is hero on the estimates of two years ago.” The trip two years ago had only lasted half the time of the last trip, Mir Barclay added. Mr Coates: Oh, no, merely a quarter. That made it worse, Mr Barclay said. He wanted to pay a tribute to the work of the Minister abroad, and to say the cost was not excessive.

Mr Coates: Are you sure it wasn’t £9,000? Mr Barclay said tho Minister of Finance had had to launch the marketing scheme when he was abroad. Mr Coates: Oh, nonsense! The marketing scheme had meant a return of £1,000,000 to New Zealand, said Mr Barclay, and to spend £5,000 to get that was good business. Mr Holyoake (National, Motueka) said it was very difficult to arrive at the full cost of Ministerial trips oversea. They were asked to vote various sums, but would tlx© Minister say what the total cost of the Ministerial trips was? Was the whole amount in the Estimates or had some been voted in the last Estimates? Was the full cost in the sums before them, or .were other items tucked away elsewhere? Was the £5,000 for the trip to the United Kingdom only, or did it include visits to Continental _ countries also? What about tho trip to Moscow? Then,there was £6OO for the visit of the Minister of Works to Australia. That seemed a largo amount for a short trip. I think we should set up a new department the ‘ Ministers’ Overseas Visits Department ’ because _ these visits are becoming quite a big item,” concluded Mr Holyoake.

The Minister of Finance, Mr Nash, said the Leader of the Opposition had asked for the results of his trip abroad. He did not think it would have been possible in the ordinary way to do more than had been done. There was no period during his trip that Lad been spent on pleasure. Every hour had been spent as far a spossible for the benefit of the Dominion. It would be difficult to say the exact cost of the visits to each country, and difficult to estimate tho results of work that had been ’done in every country visited, but he could say that there were beneficial results in every case. No member of the Opposition would question the necessity for the Prime Minister to attend the Imperial Conference, or that some other Minister was also required to he there. New Zealand had the least representation from the Ministerial point of view of any of the Dominions. Canada had had five Ministers, Australia four, South Africa four, New Zealand only two.

Mr Endean (National, Parnell) : Look at the difference in populations. Mr Nash replied that, irrespective of population, New Zealand still required representation on each of the committees. In one week, despite the work that the Prime Minister was doing, he had had to attend 22 meetings, and the sleeping hours of the party were comparatively few. “ I am certain that, in the main, if we are to get the results we should have from the Imperial Conference, more Ministers should go,” said Mr Nash. “ I think that, outside the agreements that arc still in course of discussion with the Home people, there are results that justify the expenditure.”

The department’s vote was passed, and during the day’s sitting the House approved Estimates aggregating £B,237,294.