RECEPTION AT AUCKLAND

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 179, 16 August 1937, Page 6

RECEPTION AT AUCKLAND

.h.—Pcecu \o?ncintion i

The Prime Minister and Mr. Nash 'GOING WHOLE DISTANCE'

(Bs Teleyrn r

AUCKLAND, Last Night. • Auckland 's official wolcome to thej pPrinie Minister (Mr. Savage) and the| Minister of Finance (Mr. Nash) onj itheir retum from Britain was given at a civic reception in the Town Hall on jSaturday night. The hall was elaborlately decorated with flowers, greenery iand coloured lights and a most enthusijastic audience filled all the seating laccommodation cxcept in the top galjlery, and loud-speakers in the concert jchamber and outside attracted a num|ber of listeners. The proceedings were jbroadcast. I The Mayor (Sir Ernest Davis) preIsided and presented Mr. Savage with an address inscribed upon a scroll on be•half of the citizens, congratulating him upon the success of his mission to Britain. After expxessing heartfelt thanks for the welcome extended to himself and: ■Mr. Nash, the Prime Minister went on: , ! to speak briefly of his experiences at' jthe Corona.tion and the Imperial ConIference. He had come back convinced ;that there were many men here who icould coinpare with any whom he had ;met abroad. He took off his hat to New Zealand. Mr. Nash would agree. with him that they were both richer; from their experience in the Old Coun-.; try, and cspecially that of meeting meni iwhom they had been writing to and] (reading about. They had given tliesej [men an opportunity of understanding : [what New Zealand thought. • In a brief ref erence to party, politics, |Mr. Savage said the Leader. of the jOpposition (Mr. Hamilton) had express- . ed some fears for the prosperity of New; Zealand. "Our job is to distributej , prosperity," he added. "We haven'k jhalf-done Hhe job, but we are well on; jour way and we are going the wholej jdistance. The idea of a man in a highj iplace worrying about New Zealand 's' 'prosperity beats me to a f razzle.' ' Mr. Nash, who had an enthusiastic •welcome from the audience, said no one going to another country could have received a greater welcome than that lextended to Mr. Savage and himself in •England. He went there to discnss with our own people ways aud meaus of iuducing them to follow the lead ithat the Government of New Zealand . thottght would be good for thcm and good for- New 'Zealand. '.'I bglieve," 'said Mr. Nash, "that we have gone :somo aistance along the road. ' ' Mr. Nash said that no Government in the xecorded History of the British Common"wealth had^ever done so much in its first year as the present New Zealand 'Government had done ■ to help forward 'the life and health and happiness of the people of the country. In the Old .Country they wanted tc organise the ' mutton and lamb industry so that the price level would give the farmers iu iEngland and Scotland a de^ent standard of living and they said that must mean a restriction of imports. The New Zealand representatives said they would not agree to that, and he argued the matter at neariy 100 meetings with some measure of success. Tlife result watf that last year New Zealand sent Home the largest quautity of mutton and -amb it had ever sent. The striking of the proposed levy on produce, even in its most minute form, would have cost this country £750,000 a year, aud he siiccessfully fought this as being most discriminatory against the best little "member of tlie British Common--wealth; Pri'ces were such that no levy would have to be paid this year. "It is unfair, unjust and criminal," said Mr. Nash, "to restrict the production of any commodity that is heces* sary for human welfare. " He said he had' been greatly assisted in all his negotiations by the very high reputation that New Zealand had in the Old tCountry ' on. account of the splendid !spirit shown by the men who went to war and by our players on the field of -sport. It was now reeognised that Ithere was no dairy produce coming iuto 'England of better quality than that isent by the dairy-farmers of New Zea.land, and the Government 's new policy iof marketing Was most favourably spoken of by the authorities at Home. JWith the continued support of the .people the Government would continue 'to go forward along the road to the goal it had set before it. The meeting concluded with the sing;ing of the National Anth'em and hearty jcheera for the Prime Minister and Mr. ;Nash. A large number of invited jguests were afterwards entertained at isupper by .the Mayor.