MINISTER OF EDUCATION

Taranaki Daily News, 16 January 1935, Page 3

MINISTER OF EDUCATION

CIVIC RECEPTION GIVEN RECOGNITION OF APPOINTMENT. HON. S. G. SMITH, NEW PLYMOUTH. COMMUNITY PAYS ITS TRIBUTE. Representatives of all sections of public life and of the public last night paid a tribute of congratulation to the Hon. S. G. Smith, member for New Plymouth, on his appointment as Minister of Education. The Mayor, Mr. E. R. C. Gilmour, presided at a civic reception organised in honour of the Minister, and representatives of every local body of major importance expressed confidence in Mr. Smith’s ability to undertake the responsibilities of the portfolio, and pleasure at his appointment. Unable to be present at the gathering, the Prime Minister, the Rt. Hon. G. W. Forbes, forwarded the following telegram from Wellington: “I am exceedingly pleased to learn that the citizens of New Plymouth are according to my friend and. colleague, the Hon. S. _G. Smith, the honour of a civic reception this evening. Mr. Smith has previously proved himself to possess in good measure all the qualifications for Ministerial office, and I have every reason to believe that his recent elevation to Cabinet rank -has been very favourably received throughout the Dominion. Personally I regard Mr. Smith as a very capable and useful member of the Government, and one who will worthily discharge his full share of the responsibilities connected with the administration of the country’s affairs, I cordially join in all the congratulations and good wishes which will be extended to him to-night by the people of New Plymouth.” “It is my very great privilege,” said the Mayor in his official address, “to extend to the Hon. S. G. Smith the sincere congratulations of the people of New Plymouth on his elevation to the position of Minister of Education. “OLD, ESTEEMED FRIEND.” “Mr. Smith is an old and esteemed friend of all of us and it may seem strange to some of you that we should accord a civic reception to one of our own citizens. But the position is that the Government and, through it, the people of the whole Dominion has recognised Mr. Smith’s great ability and conferred a very high honour upon him. “Under those circumstances the reception was arranged and opportunity will be given to the representatives of the more important local bodies and institutions of the town to voice publicly their congratulations and their pleasure at the appointment.” Mr. Smith had deserved his elevation to Cabinet ranlj, said Mr. Gilmour. He had long experience as a private member of Parliament and had shown ability, energy and determination in everything tending to improve the general condition of the Dominion and the welfare of its people. As a chairman of committees in the House Mr. Smith had been completely successful. He had, previously shown his competence to hold Ministerial rank when he was appointed as first Minister of Unemployment and whatever else he might be privileged to do in the future, the drafting of the first Unemployment Act must always be regarded as the work of a statesman, and the Act itself must always serve as a monument to his ability. Mr. Smith’s selection as Minister of Education, said Mr. Gilmour, had been particularly happy, as his association in educational matters went back to 1911, > when he first became the member of a school committee at New Plymouth. Since then he had been a member, and for 10 years chairman, of the Taranaki Education Board, as well as a member of the High Schools’ Board and president of the School Committees’ Association. The portfolio of education was one of the most important, if not the most important in. the Cabinet; it involved the control and administration of that great department established for the welfare of the youth of New Zealand. GREAT PROBLEMS, “Great problems will confront Mr. Smith,” said Mr. Gilmour, “and we are happy to believe that he will face them with courage and determination, and that his courage and ability will enable him to solve those problems correctly. We all hope that Mr. Smith will meet with every success and good fortune in his new office.” The Hon. James McLeod, M.L.C., supported Mr. Gilmour’s tribute to the purposeful energy and thoroughness which had fitted Mr. Smith for his appointment. Mr. Smith, he said, had studied politics as a science and there were few important subjects upon which he was not well informed. His acceptance of the portfolio at such a difficult time was a tribute to his character. Nobody in Parliament to-day was more assiduous in his attention to duty and, further, he was one of the most popular men in the House. Other speakers to congratulate Mr. Smith and enumerate the qualities which had fitted him for the responsibility of his position were Messrs. J. A. Valentine, chairman of the Taranaki Education Board, S. Vickers, chairman of the Taranaki County Council, W. C. Weston, president of the Taranaki Chamber of Commerce, C. E. Bellringer, chairman of the New Plymouth Harbour Board, F. Coleman, chairman of the combined school committees, and P. E. Stainton, chairman of the Taranaki Hospital Board. Nearly all referred to the help Mr. Smith had given the various organisations they represented and to his sympathy with their problems. Appreciative reference was also made to the personality of Mrs. Smith. Mr. Smith, rising to reply, was accorded .musical honours. He was deeply touched, he said, by the complimentary remarks that had been made about his work for the district and particularly to the references to Mrs. Smith. He was proud to have brought honour to the district in which he was bom and had lived and was fully sensible of the responsibility attached to it. He would do all in his power to discharge that responsibility conscientiously and adequately. It was up to him to make a success of the job. He complimented the district upon the excellent works of its local bodies, paying particular tributes to the work of > the borough council and Mr. F. T. Bellringer, the harbour board and the hospital board.