“LEGISLATIVE BURGLARY”

Taranaki Daily News, 21 August 1930, Page 13

“LEGISLATIVE BURGLARY”

BUSINESS MEN’S VIEWPOINT.

The Opaku endowment was a subject of discussion at the annual meeting of the Taranaki Chamber. of Commerce Jast night. It was introduced by the chairman (Mr. J. McLeod), who made the following reference in moving the adoption of the annual report and bal-ance-sheet:—■

“Members will have noticed during the past few days the proposal of the Parliamentary Education Committee that the Opaku Reserve be resumed by the Government for the general purposes of North Island universities. No doubt members will now be more fully awake to the necessity for vigilance, and strenuous opposition to the suggested legislative burglary. Mr. Benoni White said that the position of the Opaku reserve was one of interest and importance to Taranaki as a whole. The province needed it and was in complete agreement on that point. Other local bodies had moved in the matter and the speaker felt the Chamber should adopt a similar motion as one recently passed at a Farmers’ Union meeting. He moved that a strong protest be entered against any proposal to divert or confiscate funds set aside for the education of Taranaki children.

Mr. McLeod, in seconding the motion, said that no opportunity should pass without an emphatic protest. When the Education Committee passed through Taranaki no mention was made of a transfer of the fund, but since then unseen forces had been at work and the proposed “legislative burglary” now had the support of that committee on the floor of the House. This made the need of action even more pressing. Mr. A. F. Sandford felt that the time had come for concerted action throughout Taranaki. All the local bodies would bo moving in the same direction but the protests" needed organising until there could be no doubt but that it was a concerted Taranaki outcry against any move to deprive the province of its educational endowment.

Mr. S. Vickers, in supporting the motion, referred to the meeting in Stratford called by three Taranaki members of Parliament, Messrs W. J. Polson, H. G. Dickie and C. A. Wilkinson. The Hon. 8. G. Smith did not attend that meeting as other negotiations were under way which he did not want prejudiced. The feeling of the meeting had been most emphatic that the fund should not be diverted, in any way from ifa original purpose. The province had right on its side. Legislature already passed had placed this reserve at the disposal of the province, and now it was proposed to introduce further legislature to nullify the previous one. It was not right. If that were allowed no-one would know where he stood. Most of the Taranaki local bodies were moving resolutions of protest and it was only to be expected that the chamber should join with them. Co-operation was needed. The farmers, whom he represented, would follow any wise lead.

Mr. Eenoni White suggested that the resolution before the meeting embody also a reference to agriculture which would become essentially a subject for higher education as time went on. Mr. F. g. Johns supported this suggestion, maintaining that more agricultural education was required. A sub-committee comprising Messrs J. McLeod, L. M. Moss and the secretary, Mr. V. Duff, was appointed to keep in touch with the matter and frame a suitable motion. The meeting approved of the general principle of the agricultural “bias,” but the whole question was left to the sub-committee to deal with.