“NO INTERFERENCE”

Wairarapa Times-Age, 9 June 1938, Page 7

“NO INTERFERENCE”

GOVERNMENT AND PRIVATE INTERESTS STATEMENT BY PUBLIC WORKS MINISTER. RECEPTION IN MASTERTON. “There have been all sorts of stupid statements that the Government is going to confiscate, socialise, nationalise and revolutionise everything in the country, but it is not going to do anything of the kind,” declared the Minister of Public Works, the Hon. R. Semple, when replying to a welcome extended to him by the Mayor, Mr T. Jordan, at an afternoon tea gathering yesterday afternoon. “The Government,” he added, “is not going to interfere with the private interests of the people of New Zealand except where vested interests conflict with the general welfare of the nation.”

At the invitation of the Mayor, there was a large attendance of representatives of district local bodies at the afternoon tea at the Midland Hotel. Among the ladies present was Miss P. Jordan.

After expressing pleasure at the opportunity of again meeting one of his Majesty’s Ministers, Mr Jordan said he had heard it said that the Wairarapa was on the outskirts of Wellington, the seat of Government, and for that reason they saw little of the Ministers. There was also the Rimutaka Hill forming a barrier between them. The Rimutakas should be a link and not a barrier and he hoped that during the Minister’s term of office something would be done to make it a link.

Mr Jordan said that in his opinion, the portfolios held by the Minister were the most important in the Cabinet. He felt it must be a source of gratification to one who had toiled' and moiled in the ranks to be in charge of the Public Works of the country. Observing that the problem of transport was the most important and burning question to be faced in New Zealand today, Mr Jordan said he hoped that something would be done to co-ordin-ate and rationalise the transport services. At present they were spending too much money and wasting too much money on transport. Public works, Mr Jordan continued, were the concern of all present at the gathering, practically all of whom were giving their services gratuitiously on local bodies. They were all anxious to co-operate to the fullest extent with the Minister and considered that they could also rely on his cooperation. Mr Jordan thanked the Minister for the assistance he had given in putting the Waipoua River protection scheme in hand. The river had been a menace to the town for years and it was pleasing to know that the problem was now being tackled successfclly and correctly. He had no ulterior motive in saying that and his thanks were genuine and sincere. The Minister, who was greeted with applause, expressed thanks for the sincere and warm welcome to Masterton. He regretted that it was his first official visit to Masterton and was at loss to know why he had not been there before. With a view to obtaining an intelligent conception of the developmental work that lay ahead, however, he had been visiting nearly all the remote nooks and crannies in the country. It was a big job preparing a plan of work that would be of benefit to the country. Perhaps the reason why he had not visited Masterton before was because there were no works requiring his immediate attention, except probably the Mayor's pet baby, the Rimutaka Hill.

Even if they could not agree politically. Mr Semple said, he saw no reason why they could not be friends. There was no reason why political issues should separate men’s and women’s friendships. They were living in a changing world, a restless world and in view of the developments taking place none could afford to be dogmatic. All they could do was to try and understand the problems which faced them from time to time. They could not expect everyone to look at those problems through the same spectacles, for probably their training had been different and forced them to hold different views on life and its problems. No matter how much they might differ in the political world, he thought they all had the same objective —-the building up of New Zealand to make it one of the safest and securest countries in the world. Those were the ideals of the Government and he thought they were the ideals of everyone.

"We are living in an uncertain and restless world." the Minister continued, “and the time might come —and God forbid it ever does —when we will have to bury our ideals and strive for the protection and perpetuation of our people. If that time does come I am sure that no political issues will divide us.”

Mr Semple said that transport was one of the mainsprings of our economic and social life. Any country that was not up-to-date and efficient as regarded transport was behind scratch. He agreed with the Mayor regarding the necessity for co-ordinating transport services, but pointed out that there was so much over-lapping of interests and cut-throat competition that at times the problem seemed almost insurmountable. The Government, however, was doing all it could to prevent overlapping and was moving along as vapidly as it could to create that necessary degree of co-ordina-tion.

After dealing briefly with efforts by the Government to co-ordinate road and rail transport services and refer-

ring to the former “cannibal competition," the Minister said it had been suggested that the Government was going to take everyone’s trucks and even their go-carts. They were, however. not going to do anything of the kind. "In this hurly-burly political battle of life,” he concluded, “do not forget one thing—goodwill towards one another —that's all.” (Applause).