HON. J. G. COBBE

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLIX, Issue 79, 2 March 1929, Page 2

HON. J. G. COBBE

COMPLIMENTARY DINNER. MINISTER CONGRATULATED. (Special to “Standard.V) EEILDING, March 2. A complimentary dinner was tendered to Hon. J. G. Cobbe, Minister of Marino, Industries and Commerce, by tho Feilding Borough Council last night, and also present as the guest of the council was Hon. H. Atmore, Minister of Education, who paid an official visit to Feilding yesterday. Others present were the Mayor (Mr E. Fair) and members of the Borough Council, Chamber of Commerce, Oroua and Kiwitea County Councils and the chairmen of the Manchester and Lytton Street School Committees and others, including Messrs W. A. Collins and W. H. Swanger, charman and secretary of the Wanganui Education Board respectively. The Mayor presided. After the loyal toast had been honoured, the Mayor proposed that of “Hon. J. G. Cobbe.” It was his great privilege, the Mayor stated, to express the congratulations of the borough to Mr Cobbe on his promotion to Cabinet rank. The citizens of Feilding had known and respected Mr Cobbe for many years, but it was an additional honour when the Prime Minister of the Dominion also recognised the worth and business integrity of a citizen of Feilding. It was a great honour that he had been promoted to Cabinet rank after his initial entry into Parliament. Although small in population, Feilding had proved that it could provide politicians of importance, and Mr Fair referred to the late Hon. D. H. Guthrie who had also represented the Oroua electorate. In concluding, ' Mr Fair paid a tribute to Hon. J. G. Cobbe’s colleague’s in Parliament and expressed the opinion that Sir Joseph Ward’s Cabinet would prove equal to their trust. MR COBBE’S REPLY. On rising to reply, the Minister was greeted with applause. It was very gratifying to him to meot so many of his old friends in such a friendly manner and particularly those who were politically opposed to him. Personally, the speaker could claim to be the silent member of the House for up to the present he had not so much as spoken there. (Laughter). Tho Minister then went on to refer to the moving of the Board of Trade under the portfolio of the Ministry he controlled and Mr Cobbe contended that this was an important office and as his friend, Mr J. G. Eliott, could state, it was one which carried a good deal of responsibility. It was not his intention, Mr Cobbe went on to talk politics—he did not think that his audience wanted that. Tile Government he represented was certainly a new one, but it was out to do the best it could for the country. It recognised that governing a country was a business proposition and should be tackled in a businesslike manner. He hoped that the people would not expect too much from -the Government in too short a time for his party could only carry out its programme in a certain time and manner. The opening up and development of land was the main item at present of his party and other important works were also in train.

Tlio toast of the Minister of Education was entrusted to Mr J. S. Tingey, the district representative on the Wanganui Education Board. The town was exceedingly-pleased to welcomo Mr Atmoie, and educational authorities throughout the Dominion were expecting big things from him in regard to improving the educational policy of the country. In this respect Mr Tingey considered that the Minister’s experience should stand him in good stead and, as a board member, the speaker felt sure that the education departments of New Zealand would benefit by his administration. MINISTER OF EDUCATION. The Minister also received a flattering reception on rising to reply. Mr .Atmore prefaced his address by referring to the legacy of the debt the Great War had left in New Zealand and how it had played a large part in crippling the activities and. development of the country. He had taken up the portfolio of education with a full realisation of the difficulties of the task before him and he could honestly state that he took an intense interest in the work of his department. He had had a fair grounding in the necessities of education and lie thought he could fairly accurately define a policy which would improve tli-e outlook of education in New Zealand. Through, out the whole world there was at present a revival in educational matters, and tile speaker went on to deal briefly with questions bearing on the point. He contended that the children of past days had not been trained along the proper lines or, in other words, in a proper relation to the primary industries of the country. The children of past years had mainly been trained for academic and secondary industries, and, although the fact remained that there were some very good craftsmen in the country as the result of this training, the point he wished to make clear was that for a country that depended entirely on its primary industry there had not been a corresponding amount of importance attached to agricultural education (hear, hear.) True, there had been a large increase in the primary exports of the country this year, but that had been due to a phenomenally good season and not due to .any increased individual production through better agricultural education. New Zealand people had to face the fact that ther© was not a single item of its secondary industries exported, and yet nearly all the children were being trained to-day for office positions and secondary industries. The fact was steadily being borne upon parents that these positions were no longer offering and there was only one way to get over a difficulty that threatened to become acute, and that was to introduce a strong agricultural bias into our national education. (Hear, hear). The Minister drew a comparison in this respect between what the Danes had done and what had been .accomplished out here, and surely, he thought, what the Danes had done, the British people could do likewise. He considered it a matter of congratulation forFeilding that it had established the first agricultural high school in New Zealand and. thought that the people of the district who had contributed £4600 to its inauguration had shown an example which other parts of the county could well emulate. When lit. erary and agricultural education were linked together as at the Feilding High School then New Zealand’s future would be bright and on the high road to economic recovery. (Hear hear). The toast of Parliament was proposed by Mr J. G. Eliott who traced in humorour vein the occurrences of a day’s work during the session of Parliament. Hons. Mr Atmore and Mr Cobbe replied. The toast of “Local Bodies” was placed in the hands of Cr. C. E. Taylor who paid a tribute to the services rendered to the country by local body officials. - Crs. L. T. McLean, (chairman of the Kiwitea County Council), 0. McElroy (Oroua County Council) and the Mayor replied. Mr L. J. Wild proposed the toast of the “Borough Councillors,” the Mayor and Cr. D. Pryde replying.