GOVERNMENT LEGISLATION EXPLAINED

Northern Advocate, 1 December 1936, Page 6

GOVERNMENT LEGISLATION EXPLAINED

MR MONCUR, M.P., AT HIKURANGI AND PORTLAND

With the idea of giving the people an opportunity to become acquainted with the ideas of new members of parliament in various distiicts. the

Government is encouraging a principle of interchange of meetings between members. Mr J. G. Barclay (Marsden) and Mr A. F. Moncur (Rotorua) worked on this basis at the week-end. the former addressing meetings at Matamata and Putaruru and Mr Moncur at Hikurangi and Portland. At Hikurangi on Sunday night Mr Moncur had a splendid meeting. The chairman of the town board, Mr R. Nesbitt, presided over an attendance c f 120 and the speaker received a particularly good hearing. Great interest was taken in his explanation of the legislation put forward by the Government during the past year. Mr Moncur said the man holding the most responsible position in the Government today was Mr Walter Nash, Minister of Finance. The legislation handled by him wa? the basic foundation of the Labour Party’s policy and Mr Moncur expressed the belief that the future success cr otherwise of the Government depended on the success of Mr Nash’s legislation, viz., the Reserve Bank, the State Advances Corporation, the Housing Scheme, Guaranteed Prices and the Mortgagees’ and Lessees’ Rehabilitation Bill.

Hopes For Reciprocal Trade. The Government, the member for Rotorua said, had very great hopes in Mr Nash’s efforts to encourage reciprocal trade agreements with the Homeland. It must be understood, he went on, that today, under the new system of finance, sterling credits received in England by the sale of dairy produce belonged to the people of New Zealand, and the only way those sterling credits could get back to the people of New Zealand was by an interchange of secondary goods.

It was Mr Nash’s objective, when in England, to arrange trade agreements whereby the equivalent amount of secondary goods would come to New Zealand for the amount of primary produce exported to Great Britain. Mr Moncur also explained the legislation put forward by the other Ministers and commented on how the members of the rank and file of the Government Party were greatly appreciative of the obvious sincerity which characterised the work the Ministers had done during the past 12 months.

Mr Moncur was accorded a hearty vote of thanks.

He spoke on similar lines at Portland last night, where Mr T. Curran ' was in the chair.

In the afternoon he was the guest of the management of Wilsons’ Portland Cement Co., Ltd., and was shown over the works. He told an “Advocate” reporter, who had a talk to him while he was waiting for his train this morning, that the works were a revelation to him. He considered that the men lived in. the best possible conditions and he paid a high tribute to the management of the company.

Mr Moncur caught the express at midday to return to Rotorua.