ABERDONIANS GREET MR. FRASER

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 85, Issue 180, 2 August 1941, Page 6

ABERDONIANS GREET MR. FRASER

FREEDOM OF THE CITY IS FREEMAN 1N SEVEN BRITISH CITIES (Recd. 6.55 p.m.) London, Aug. 1. The Prime Minister of New Zealand, Rt. Hon. P. Fraser, yesterday received the freedom of the City of Aberdeen, and also the degree of honorary doctor of laws of the University of Aberdeen. More than 700 attended the latter ceremony, which was carried out with traditional ceremony and colour. The University's Promoter in Law, Doctor T. M. Taylor, in a speech before the conferment, said Mr. Fraser, like many who had risen to eminence in public life, bore a Highland name. His roots were in Scottish soil. Dr. Taylor praised Mr. Fraser’s association with New Zealand’s social legislation, which he said was designed to remove the spectre of unemployment from the masses of the people. He added that the New Zealand Government’s system of family allowances ensured that children were not recognised as the greatest single cause of poverty, but as the hope of the State. Mr. Fraser was lengthily cheered when the Chancellor invested him with cap and gown. Mr. Fraser, replying, said he received the degree as an honour to New Zealand. He recalled the part played by early Scottish arrivals, especially Dr. Burns, who was the poet’s n»phew, in establishing a system of education. Earlier, Mr. Fraser was a. guest at a civic luncheon. He declared that New Zealand’s pledge to stand by her kinspeople in Britain was stronger now than at the beginning of the war. He said that uncertainty for the fate of those New Zealanders left behind in Crete caused many heavy hearts, but that had not weakened the determination of the people of New Zealand. Determination was shining through the tears.

Referring to rebuilding after the war, Mr. Fraser said all democratic countries would turn their faces definitely and permanently to whatever changes might be necessary from any state of society that was chaotic and unjust and trampled the weaker under foot.

Freedom of the Corporation of Edinburgh will also be conferred upon Mr. Fraser. The date of the ceremony has not been fixed. This will be the seventh British city to confer such an honour upon him and that is believed to be a record. — U.P.A.