NORTHLAND

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLIII, Issue 20762, 24 June 1937, Page 5

NORTHLAND

A MINISTERIAL VISIT By Telegraph—Press Association WHANGAREI, June 23. Whangarei to-day is the centre of a parliament of local bodies, assembled to discuss with the Hon. W. E. Parry details of the local body amalgamation proposal. Practically all Northland’s 32 local bodies were represented. Mr Parry outlined the general provisions of the Bill, which, he said, was a good one, because it had practically escaped criticism. He had found most local bodies agreed to the principle, but failed to find one that favoured the scheme when applied to itself. Reconstruction was necessary to meet modem conditions and requirements. "It has been said that I am a Mussolini, and a Hitler," Mr Parry said, "but that is a mentally lazy way of disposing another man's arguments. It was a matter of indifference what Minister—what party —tackled the problem so long as a practical solution was reached, and the drift of the past 40 years halted.” Mr Parry then dealt with the scheme prepared for the North by Mr H. C. Hemphill, secretary of the North Auckland Counties’ Association. Paying a tribute to the author, he said it was one of the best schemes he had studied to date. Dealing with the problem of the North, one had to disassociate his mind from the old idea that the North is isolated, and an unnecessary part of the Dominion. That idea had prevailed too long. The North was rapidly developing into one of the most important farming areas in the Dominion, with just claims for regarding Itself vital to the prosperity of the country.