VIEWS SOUGHT

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 19699, 3 August 1938, Page 13

VIEWS SOUGHT

PEOPLE AS THE JURY TOUR BY M* SAVAGE CANTERBURY WELCOMES MINISTERIAL PARTY (I'it I'russ Association.) ASHBURTON, this day. Th2 Prime Minister, the Rt. Hon. M. J. Sa'vage, in concluding a goodwill tour of Canterbury, reached Ashjurton County yesterday afternoon, ...Ir. Savage was joined at Arundel by the Minister of Public Works, the Han. R. Semple, who conducted him an an inspection of the irrigation works at Klondyke. Under the guidance o." Mr. T. G aeck, engineer-in-charge of the irrigation works, and Mr. E. Smith, o! .Iva Klondyke scheme, the party . iswed the large mechanical units imported specially for the construeion of channels and later saw the alevating grader working near MethvTn. At Methven local bodies enter.ained the visitors at afternoon tea. alter which Mr. Savage was accorded a civic welcome at a gathering o(

100 people, including many children. The county chairman, Mr. J. H. Crother, welcomed Mr. Savage on his first official visit.

The chairman of the Mount Hutt Road Board, Mr. Marr, said that only once previously had a Prime Minister in office visited Methven. Mr. H. E. Herring, M.P., also spoke. Replying, the Prime Minister exhorted' the children to take advantage of every opportunity of qualifying to take up their subsequent reversibilities, individually and communally. Mr. Savage's request for a commemorative holiday was greeted uproariously. Referring to - irrigation, Mr. Savage mentioned his early job on simiar works'in the Rivcrina. contrasting the old methods of construction with those now followed. The Ministers were accorded r hearty, reception at Ashburton. The borough and county councils enter iained Mr. Savage's party at an jfl'.cial dinner at which the Mayoi .:.d county chairman and the respec- . ve clerk", and the-chairman of the fiiiwall lown board 'were present. Mr. Savage was received with cheers on entering a packed hall in .vhich a concert was being held combined with a social arranged by the \shburton Labour Party. On behalf of the town, the Mayor, Dr. Miller, '.-xtended a hearty welcome as did he chairman of the local branch of the Labour Party. Over 1300 people were present and the welcome was the most spontaneous received during the tour. Mr. H. E. Herring, the member for Mid-Canterbury, in extending a welcome, said that Mr. Savage was a man with definite ideas and aims, and knew how to attain them and how to go straight to them. It was better to be straight than to move in the best circles, said Mr. Herring. Replying to the speeches of welcome, Mr. Savage said it was not extravagant to claim that the present Government had established a greater degree of security than any other Government in history and it had not gone all the way yet. In spite of what newspapers said —and he wished that newspapers, as representatives of vested interests, would mind their own business—he was going to give his best attention to capturing the goodwill of the people. Tiring of listening to the Opposition in Parliament he had undertaken a tour to learn what the jury, the people, had to say, and from the receptions he had received he was convinced that Labour was on the right track. Social Security Dealing with social security, Mr. Savage said that when the scheme was first announced, weekly pensions were given as £1 10s each for a man and his wife, but since, it had been decided to add something to that. Details of the supplementary grant would be published shortly. The Hon. P. C. Webb, who spoke vigorously, said that 10,000 invalidity pensions had been granted and the Government had accomplished that in ■two and a half years. The Government should be given a mandate to continue its work. New Zealand was being examined by every country in the world, as evidenced by the Prime Minister receiving letters every week and he claimed that was the result of the benefit already evident. After partaking of supper in the supper room, Mr. Savage mingled with the crowd in the hill, receiving i-ound after round of cheers and the gathering also singing "For He's a lolly Good Fellow." Mr. Savage left for Christchurch amid further demonstrations. He sails for Wellington this evening. Prior to attending the reception Mr. Snvage visited the Technical High School' where he saw all the classes it work. He briefly addressed two of 'hem. He showed particular interest in the commercial room and the operation of hand looms recently brought from England, on one of which a rose path pattern, an old traditional English pattern, not used for hundreds of years, was being woven.