The Timaru Herald MONDAY, AUGUST 1, 1938 THE PRIME MINISTER’S VISIT.

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLV, Issue 21103, 1 August 1938, Page 8

The Timaru Herald MONDAY, AUGUST 1, 1938 THE PRIME MINISTER’S VISIT.

Regardless of party alignments, all sides of political opinion in South Canterbury will join in extending a hearty welcome to the Prime Minister on the occasion of his good will visit to this district. The people of New Zealand in general and some districts in particular, have become so politically minded within recent times that considerable interest will be aroused by the opportunity offered by the visit of the Prime Minister for them to meet the head of the Labour Government while others will read with increasing discernment the utterances of the Prime Minister. The people of New Zealand are well aware that this is election year and thousands of electors who belong to no party will welcome the opportunity the Prime Ministers visit will afford them of weighing up the qualifications and performances of the Parliamentarians who have been entrusted with the administration of the affairs of the Dominion over the past three years. Moreover, the good will visit of the Prime Minister will be welcomed by the people, not merely because Mr Savage is head of the Labour Government, but because he is Prime Minister of the Dominion of New Zealand. The people of New Zealand arc traditionally warm hearted in their appreciation of the work of their fellow-citizens who serve his young nation in the high ami perilous places in (he administration of the country’s affairs. And in this South Canterbury is singularly responsive, because the people realise that tiie burdens of office are becoming increasingly heavy, while the difficulties that seemed to be approaching from the distance are so great and so baffling that the stoutest hearts will be needed to carry (he national load. It is hardly likely, in face of the lowering clouds on the inter national horizon and the obvious signs of changes in the trend of the economic situation in the Homeland, to say nothing of the business lag that is so evident in the United States, that the leaders ami people of New Zealand in the near future will find those “roses, roses, all the way,” the Prime Minister delights to see. Hence the general interest that has been aroused by the Prime Minister’s visit, the cordiality of the welcome accorded Mr Savage as head of the Government of New Zealand, the attention that will be paid to his utterances and the careful and somewhat critical analysis to which his claims and promises will be subjected in view of the important decision the electors will be called upon to make through the ballot box before the end of the year.