VICE-REGAL VISIT

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21827, 14 December 1932, Page 5

VICE-REGAL VISIT

LUNCHEON BY ROTARIANS GOVERNOR-GENERAL ENTERTAINED /Van interesting address , i ( 1 . His .Excellency the Governor-General j (Lord Bledisloe) was entertained at ] lunch by local Rotarians at the Somerset Lounge yesterday. There wag a very large attendance of members, and the president (Mr V. S. Jacobs) was in the chair. At the top table were the Mayor (Mr R. S. Black). Mr J. G. Dykes (vicepresident), and Mr H. J. Guthrie (past district governor). » _ , In welcoming his Excellency Mr-Jacobs said it was a very great honour tor them. By the interest Lord and Lady Bledisloe had taken in the Dominion and its affairs they had won a place in the hearts of all New Zealanders. _ His Excellency, who was received with loud .applause, prefaced his address with some humorous remarks, in which he said that the amplitude of their friendly welcome was characterised by the large soup plate, as a, badge, with which they had decorated him on entering the room. His Excellency said he had been repeatedly asked if he had visited Central Otago, with its wonderful climate, its magnificent lakes, unsurpassed throughout the world for their beauty, and its fruits, and he had to confess that he had never visited there though he had on no fewer than four occasions made arrangements to do so. He took that opportunity of telling his Dunedin friends, of whom be had many, that it was a real source of regret to him that a rather heavy schedule—or was it “skedule” (laughter) —of official duties in another place prevented his • coming to Otago as often as he should like. That day, said his Excellency, they had heard a reference.to an appeal by the League of Nations for disarmament, and he only wanted to say that Great Britain was setting a magnificent example to the whole of the civilised world) not only internally in the matter of her stupendous national debt and international obligations, but also in her persistent and strenuous effort to persuade other nations to make an equivalent of her sacrifices in order to ensure to a greater, extent the future peace of the world," and, incidentally, make an easier passage for the of those international obligations which were such a source of anxiety to all of them. His Excellency said that Rotary was a world-wide organisation. It was, if he visualised it aright, an international movement which was intended to promote amongst far-sighted and enlightened people a greater knowledge of the interests and outlook of other people and of other nations. One of its aims was undoubtedly to foster sound and sane internationalism, in the interests of true* world They were in these modern days, industrially and otherwise, one large family, whose, interests were dependent one upon the other. It was regrettable that during the past few weeks a controversy should have arisen between the two great English-speaking nations of the world, namely, Great Britain on the one hand and the United States on the other, and he was sure they would share with him the devout desire that at no distant date the representatives of the two countries would get round- the table and exchange views in friendly conference, re- ' adjust their international differences, and thus accelerate the wheels of industry throughout the whole world.- (Applause.) ■ \ •• - His' Excellency said there was overproduction to-day, not. only amongst the manufacturers, but particularly amongst the primary producers, but this would not be the case if only conditions were normal. The heavy burden of international war debts .represented means of destruc- ' tion, not of commodity production. It the monetary medium of commodity exchange were plentiful and the law of supply and demand were allowed freely to operate there would be no over-production 'of food or the raw material for:-(Slothing.. . Whereas in some parts of the world wheat and coffee and Ct»ttoh : were being destroyed _ as unprofitable to the producer, and their meat and wool were drugs upon the market one-third of the people of the world were half-starved or -underclothed and the other two-thirds 'were consuming substantially less than before the war. Eighteen months ago, when the world price of wheat was lower than it had been for-40 vears. the price of wheat to , more than 100,000,000 people in France, Germany, and Italy had been double the world price, and regulations had been. in -orce for stretching its use in the making of bread. If there were a plentiful supply of gold or whatever might be the token or medium of world commodity exchange, and it in ttte absence of national tariffs, bounties, and cartels cheapness were allowed free play, local surpluses would flow naturally to where' there was a scarcity and would be bought freely with a plentiful currency. The extraordinary factor —particularly marked on the Continent of Europe—was that with the fall in the open world market prices, the demand had not increased, as it inevitably would, have done under normal conditions and universal freedom of trade. But for man-made impediments imposed in supposed national interests the cheapness of food would have increased its consumption and tacintated the absorption of the world’s output Similarly there was said to be no actual deficiency of. the recognised medium of exchange—gold—but the aggregation of over 60 per cent, of what was employed in international exchange in the cofters ot two nations in the world not only reduced the commodity values, in terms ot gold, but clogged the wheels of international exchange, and incidentally the equitable settlement of old' standing international obligations. In the meantime the old-fashioned, clumsy system of barter of one commodity for another was being attempted in several countries, and bimetallism was being advocated m many quarters. His Excellency • remarked that he was afraid he remained an unrepentant bimetallist, and that he had been one for 40 -, years. International readjustment was pressing and inevitable unless economic adversity and a serious lowering of the general scale of living were to become normal instead of temporary world factors', and this needed to be recognised and acted upon at the forthcoming world economic congress. Such readjustment should dispel from the mind of the efficient and alert primary producers the bogey of over-production and the fear of their occupations becoming permanently unprofitable. , His Excellency said that the mam out-

come- o£ the so-called economic' congress j held at Genoa in 1927 was a recognition of “ the essential interdependence of agriculture,- industry, and commerce.” He believed that there was no document of world-wide importance which had been • put forward in recent years winch, to his mind, had carried more conviction, emphasising the views of all the nations assembled at that congress, than the essen- ' tial interdependence of agriculture, industry, and commerce. — (Applause.) Just as the gross demand for land products in Britain and other great industrial countries-was dependent upon .good trade among the industrial population — i.e., upon the free exchange of manufactured commodities —so conversely the gross demand for factory output was conditioned largely by the economic prosperity and purchasing power of the world’s rural population, which far exceeded that of its industrial inhabitants. So also, just as co-operation and market organisation Lad become vital conditions of agricultural and pastoral production, so also rationalisation. and with it the material reduction of overhead costs, had become vital ' factors in the sound and profitable ; conduct of manufacturing enterprise and in the process' of lowering restrictive fiscal barriers. Productive competition, said his Excellency, made for progress and enlightenment and put a discount upon mediocrity and reaction and stagnation in methods of production. This, said his Excellency, necessitated careful attention to the teachings of science and research as soon as their commercial value was clearly demonstrated. It -involved organised eflort for supplying overseas customers with products of consistent high quality and uniform description and meticulous cure in studying the exact requirements. If, for instance, they preferred wholemilk cheese of uniform consistency to skim-milk cheese, with holes or cracks in it-and lean pig meat to fat, it paid them to’ Study the oversea customers’ requirements and to remedy what these customers regarded as defects.

His Excellency concluded by saying that be did not suppose there was any Englishman interested in primary production who had travelled more over the world than himself, and he- had never found a country where there was such a variety—an economic variety—of climate and of soil and of good conditions generally as were to be found in this country. They should render scope for its primary producers to meet all the requirements of the British market from time to time, and to supply commodities which would leave some profit to the producer, if not in one direction, then in another.—(Applause.) -On the motion of Mr F. H. King, a vote of thanks to "his Excellency for his address was carried by acclamation. JAMES POWELL REST HOME INSPECTION BY THEIR EXCELLENCIES }- , ■ ADDRESS BY LORD BLEDISLOE Their Excellencies paid a visit to the James Powell Rest Home at Warrington in the afternoon. The weather was beautiful, and the Lower Harbour, bathed in the sunshine, presented a panorama which it would be hard to ecli|>se for beauty in any part of the world. Their Excellencies were met at the entrance to the home by his Honor Mr Justice Kennedy and Mrs Kennedy. His Honor is president of the Patients and Prisoners' Aid Society, and Mrs Kennedy is a member of the committee, and it is hardly “necessary to explain that the home is under the control of the society. On entering the grounds, the children of the Warrington School sang two verses of the National Anthem to an accompaniment supplied by a cornet player, and they were briefly addressed by his Excellency. In his official welcome to his Excellency Mr Kennedy said that the society would be greatly encouraged by the visit of his Excellency and the sympathy and interest he had evinced in the home. His Excellency said he was very pleased to be with them that afternoon. His respected predecessor, Sir Charles Fergusson, had visited the home three years ago and had opened a fete which was held on behalf of the home, and in this connection he might add that they were aware that Lady Alice Fergusson had recently been injured in a motor accident. For some time her life, he believed, had been despaired of, but he was glad to say that jusf before he had left Dunedin for the home he had received a reassuring cablegram from Scotland to the effect that Lady Alice was now making slow but satisfactory progress towards recovery. His Excellency said that-if they wanted to judge of the value of a work they should look at those who were benefiting by it. The proof of the pudding was in the eating, and he was perfectly certain that the.inmates in the home were receiving a great , benefit as a result of the enterprise and of the society in building and supporting their excellent institution. He understood that this was only one part of the varied and invaluable work which was being carried out by the society, which jiad now been in existence for something like 55 years. Dunedin appeared to possess, and to _ have possessed from the start, a community of pioneers in the field of philanthropic effort, and what he might call Samaritan enterprise. They had the Plunket Society, which had had its origin in this province, and the children’s rest home —which he thought was a unique institution so far as the Dominion was concerned. He now came to Barrington to. find another . piofteer effort, also, he believed, unique in the Dominion. The home was doing good work for the benefit of those broken-down in health and who were not fit for the moment to return to their normal activities. Ihe general work of the society was one, indeed, which evoked his admiratiop. It was a fine work, not only beneficial to those who received benefit, but to the whole community in which they lived. It “ blessed those who gave and those who took.” The location of the home appeared to be ideal, and it could hardly, to his mind, have been excelled, and the accommodation was excellent. The mattresses were excellent, and the enormous width-of the beds were, he was sure, a comfort to those who spent their nights in them.—(Laughter.) This particular accommodation was very much more comfortable than was to be found on some of their coastal steamers.— (Laughter.) The speaker paid a tribute to Mr James Powell and Sir George Fenwick for their work in putting this charity upon such a sound foundation. They had been peculiarly enlightened and far-seeing m realising that there was a real need tor providing an avenue to assist those in illhealth to recuperate and thus be able again to take up the duties of their everyday lives. His Excellency said that the society had been able to carry on the home without asking the Government for money. How it was done he did not know. He understood that Sir Geoi-ge Fenwick had prophesied a. few years before his death that it would be inevitable that the society would require Government aid, but that prophesy had not been borne .out. He ■hoped that the society would never require to ask for such assistance, and referred to the-need of people learning to depend more upon their own efforts and their own resources instead of looking to the State for assistance for every possible purpose. This, after all, meant the community in another form. He complimented the society on the fact that it did not look to the Government for support, and referred to the desirability of those who were in a position to do so to remembei the society when they were making thenwills. On behalf of himself and his wife, his Excellency wished the society all success, and he expressed the hope that the inmates of the home would have a rapid recovery.— (Loud applause.) . Mr D. Phillips referred to the value to the home of a gathering such as they had had that afternoon. Up to date they had had no fewer than 231 people in the home. They could not, however, take more than 11 at one time, and they stayed two or three weeks. Eggs, milk, and vegetables were produced on the farm attached to the home. Afternoon - tea was provided in a marquee erected in the grounds.