MINISTER AT PAEROA.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXX, Issue 5403, 22 March 1929, Page 2

MINISTER AT PAEROA.

HON. E. A. RANSOM HONOURED.

INFORMAL DINNER TENDERED.

An informal dinner was tendered W tire Paeroa Borough Council and. the Ohinemuri County Council on .Monday evening to the Hon, E. A- Ransom, Minister of Public Works, on the occasion of his first official visit to the district. In addition to M r and ■Mrs Ransom and party the;rc were present the members of the Borough and County Councils. Full justice was done to an excellent meal provided at the Criterion Hotel, and a short toast-list was honoured. After the; Royal Toast the Mayor, Mr W. Marshall, proposed the toast to the Minister, and after he had responded the county chairman., Mr H. M. Cor-, bett pioposed a toast to Parliament, coupling it with the name of. Mr A. M. Samuel, M.P.

In proposing the toaet to. the; Hon. E. A. Ransom the Mayor recalled that it wa.s not very long ago that he had' had to do a sijimar duty to another Minister of Public. Works. Since then the wheel had turned and the efforts of the new Cabinet to get around the country to meet the people and see what was being done were much appreciated. This w&s the first, visit to Paeroa of the; new Minister of. Public Works, but his fine reputation had preceded him. The speaker said he was glad of the opportunity of extending a very sincere welcome to him and to Mrs Ransom on bejhalf. of the people of Paeroa a.nd the .surrounding district. The Dominion was fortunate in having men bf the calibi’e of the new Cabinet to come forward)' and offer their to their country. It. was generally felt that the Minister of Public. Works, and his col-, leagues would fill their, offices with credit to themselves and benefit to the, country-. The people of Paeroiu sincerely hoped .that Mr Ransom would shortly; be back in Paeroa to turn the first sod for the PaeroaPokeno railway.

In his reply tiie Hon. E- A- Ransom thanked the Mayor for his toast and for the welcome of the people of Paeroa. It was in> response to insistent demands by Mr. A. M. Samuel that he had visited! the; electorate, and now that he was here he did not see how he was going to get away aga.in—there was so much, to attend to. He intended visiting as much of tiie Dominion as possible befoft-e next session. His object was not picture—although the manner in which’ he was being received made his, tour very pleasant—but to take stock of his job. He recognised that, his job was very large anil very varied, and that it would take him some time to g.et a thorcfi’.glh grip of it ; but lie knew he would be able to gather the various, threads Into his hands, and that he could d'o this much better by personal inspections thali by correspondence. When he had been a member in opposition he had investigated the Government’s actions a,nd works in order to find and expose weaknesses, as was the dhty of the party in opposition. This had 'entailed investigation into the work of various departments where weaknesses might l be found and exposed. A member in opposition could speak much more freely than could a member. e,f the Government party, as Mr Samuel would no doubt find and enjoy doing. He hoped Mr Samuel would enjoy it, and would continue to do it for a long time. His investigation into departmental affairs had shown him what a fine type, the heads of. the various departments "vere. Thus he was now very thankful that it was not the custom, in New Zealand to change the de-, partmental officers with every change of Government. The present system made for a continuity of work and of policy. There w as at times a suggestion that the heads of departments controlled the policy of their departments, but this was not so. They were men who knew thqir particular, business, and Cabinet Ministers were guided bv. them. In his wide experience of local body affairs, and in almost al| cases he had beejn th© chairman of the local authority, he had found that he had been able to select good executive officers and by cooperation with them and' a complete mastery of the business he had been able to make the work a success. It was to be able to master the work of tiie Public Works Department, that he was touring the co : untry. Regarding the policy of the Govern-, ment concerning i.aihvays, Mr Ransom said that its alm .was, to complete tiie links in the present system that were naw under construction. In some c-ascs this enta.il.ed: stopping work, for the money available had to be made to go round and the; Government wanted to complete the links between the main centres. To overcome the motor competition and make the railways pay it was necessary for it to secure; the long distance haulage and make the changes attractive. The Paeroa-Pokeno railway conformed to : the Government’s policy, and the local representations on the subject Mould be placed before Cabinet. He wa.s impressed with the fact that the line passed through very fertile country, country which could be made to producqa great deal more than it was doing at present.

On the question of une|mployment the Minister said that the Government would have to recognise the seriousness of tiie position brought about to some extent, by the adoption of improved methods and the use cif machinery, as well as by other causes not entirely beyond control. If the matter was taken in hand in a bold way, and it was recognised that the Dominion should be able to hold double its present papulation, a remedy would be found. While the demand for primary products was not likely to, fail, it would be pleasant to think that the country could exist without importing goods. Legislatictn might be necessary to encourage men with the required capital and experience to establish manufacturing concerns in New Zealand, and if so the legislation would be passed l . The present company tax of 4s 6d in the £ stood in the way, felr it was not economically sound to hinder the estab-

lishmejit of industries by taxing them on the highest scale.

Not only were the secondary in-> dustries, to be encouraged but th® vast mineral wealth of the Dominion, should be tapped. New Zbjaland shoflW export marble and valuable building stone instead of importing it. New Zealand marble had been acknowledged by men from 'other countries as among the best in the; world, but it was neither worked praperly nor ap-

preciated; j Continuing, the Minister said that he ha<f long ago heard of the Hauraki Plains, and had, long hoped to see the district where it had bepn said that the Government had been pouring money away. As with tlie railways, which at present didi not pay, but' which, without much further expenditure on the existing lines, would serve for a much greater population and would then pay handsome;.' ly, an immediate return on the money invested by the Government on land drainage- and settlement should not be looked for. The bulk of the Hauraki plains works was now done, and in time; a much greater population would be carried, and then the investment would pay interest and pay well.

Dealing with hydio-electricity the Minister mentioned that when three; of the units at 'Arapuni were in operation sufficient would be earned by them to pay 7% per cent, interest on the cost of the whole undertaking. The return from the remaining units would be clear profit, and the Government would be able to reduce the price of electricity and perhaps still make sufficient, profit to enable taxation to be reduced.

Concluding his reply, which had lasted considerably over half an hour, the Minister said that he had found on his tour of the country that there was a general feeling on the part of tiie people ta give the present Government. a fair trial out. He hoped that its turn at the wickets would be a long one, and that it. woulfl> serve the country faithfully and we(ll.