THE PRIME MINISTER

Wairarapa Times-Age, 20 June 1938, Page 7

THE PRIME MINISTER

RECEPTION IN THE OPERA HOUSE

Enthusiastic Public Welcome

THE RIMUTAKA RAILWAY PROJECT

MAYOR’S ADDRESS

DESIRE TO SEE MINISTERS MORE OFTEN THE VALUE OF IMPROVED TRANSPORT. SCOPE FOR DEVELOPMENT IN WAIRARAPA. The Opera House was crowded to the doors on Saturday evening when the Prime Minister (the Rt Hon M. J. Savage) was accorded a civic reception by the Mayor (Mr T. Jordan). The assemblage gave Mr Savage a particularly enthusiastic welcome. .He was cheered loudly at his first appearance, cheered and applauded freely when speaking and cheered again on concluding. The Prime Minister was accompanied by the Hon P. C. Webb, Minister of Mines. Others on the platform were Mrs Jordan, Messrs J. Robertson, M.P. : B. Roberts, M.P., members of the Borough Council and the Town Clerk (Mr T. T. Denbee). A framed photograph of the Rimutaka Incline was displayed on the stage. The Mayor said it was their pleasure and privilege to welcome the first citizen of the Dominion, the Rt. Hon M. J. Savage. About three years ago, Mr Savage had paid his first official visit to this , town, coming then as Leader of the Opposition. Since then the wheel of fortune had turned full circle and Mr Savage was now Leader of his Majesty’s Government in New Zealand (cheers). Offering the Premier his congratulations, Mr Jordan said he had been “in the chair of this council” for thirteen years (a voice: “The devil’s ln those thirteen years, the Mayor they had not, until that evening, had a visit from a Prime Minister except in the course of an election. When Mr Savage had accepted an invitation to visit Masterton some little time ago he was unfortunately not able to come. They hoped he was now fully restored to health. The demands of high office were very exacting indeed and a man needed all his health and strength in meeting those demands. . It had been said, Mr Jordan continued, that one of the reasons we had not received visits from Prime Ministers was that they did not know our address. Some people even said they were afraid to come over the hill (Laughter). There was an old saying: “The nearer the church the farther from God.” He wondered whether that might be paraphrased: “The nearer the capital, the farther from the Prime Minister.” They were honestly glad, in any case, to have Mr Savage there. A BENEFIT ACKNOWLEDGED. The Mayor said he wanted personally to thank the Prime Minister for the benefit he had conferred on this district in promising to remove the barrier known as the Rimutakas. (Hear, hear and applause). Mr Jordan observed that he had said he would be prepared to give this seat to get the Rimutaka job under way. When the Prime Minister had sent him a message stating that Cabinet had decided to do this job he had replied that he believed the tunnelling of the Rimutakas would remove the shackles from this district. Mr Jordan said he had heard one whimper of discontent at the decision to do this work. If the Prime Minister required the name and address of the originator of that whimper, he (Mr Jordan) was prepared to give it to him. “The announcement of Cabinet’s decision was the best news received in this district for years,” the Mayor added, “and the honour is yours, Sir.” He went on to observe that he did not think a railway deviation or tunnel was an end in itself or that the benefit to the district could be measured in pounds, shillings and pence. He believed that a beginning was about to be made of a new development of this wonderful district. Ninety-nine years ago, a man named J. C. Crawford, the father of Miramar, visited most parts of this young country and said of the Wairarapa: “Altogether, I doubt if there is any part of New Zealand which has equal advantages in soil, climate and eventual communication with a market.” Mr Jordan said he believed there was no finer district in New Zealand than this, but it contained fewer people in its rural areas than it did thirty years ago. They should be able to devise a scheme for improving on that condition of things. By rail alone, this district sent out each year a train seven miles long loaded with wool, a train forty miles long loaded with sheep—in the year ended March 31, 1937, the total number of sheep dispatched from railway stations in this district was over half a million. The district annually loaded with dairy produce a train five miles long, and a train four miles long was loaded with meat. These figures related only to what was sent by rail and that was not everything. The output of this district in the year before last was valued at three and a half millions of money. He hoped the decision of Cabinet to remove-the last barrier between us and oux- port would mark the opening of a new chapter in the development of this district. “I hope,” the Mayor said in conclusion, “that your welcome here may show you that this district appreciates your coming here. On behalf of the

district and the town I express oufpleasure at having you here.” (Loud applause). MR. ROBERTSON’S TRIBUTE. Mr Robertson, who was next called upon to speak, said he did not wish to occupy much time because he knew they were all there to hear the few. words the Prime Minister might be able to give them. He wanted to assure Mr Savage of the appreciation of the people of this district of the wonderful work he had already done for New Zealand and of the wonderful work he had put in hand for the Wairarapa—the Rimutaka deviation. Mr Robertson said he had been rather astonished to find the morning daily in Wellington actually beginning to throw cold water on the scheme. Things were, coming to a very bad pass if political prejudice and bias could make people so blind as to raise opposition to a project such as that for-which we had all been waiting for about forty years. As the Prime Minister had said the job would go on, he thought they all believed it would go on. (Applause). Welcoming Mr Savage on behalf of the whole electorate, Mr Robertson said he believed he was right in saying that the last Prime Minister who had visited the district in a purely official capacity was the late Mr Seddon. If he was right, in that respect as in many others, Mr Savage was following in Mr Seddon’s footsteps. Mr Robertson said he believed Mr Savage’s qualities of heart and head marked him as one of the greatest, if not the greatest Prime Ministers this country had ever had. (Applause). He hoped Mr Savage might long continue in that position. (Applause). THE PREMIER’S ADDRESS. Received with cheers on rising to reply, Mr Savage said he had been greatly disappointed at not being able to come to Masterton on a former occasion. His voice perhaps was not as musical as it should be,* since he had been speaking sixteen or seventeen time a day for the last week, but he would do his best. He was pleased to say that his health was Al. The Mayor had said something about the Rimutaka deviation. Mr Robertson and Mr Ben Roberts had been at him for quite a long time concerning the boring of a hole through the hill. He noticed that somebody had suggested that it was a matter of catching votes. Whether it was or not, there was going to be a hole through the hill. (Applause). Unlike a lot of other governments, there were at least ten or a dozen men in the present Government who could put a hole through the hill themselves. The Minister of Public Works was not the least of these. (Applause). He pledged the Government to keep the hole through the hill going, and that meant that it would begin the job at the earliest opportunity, and at least put the onus on somebody else of stopping.it. He did not want anyone to think this was a pre-election move. It was a desire to do the right thing. It was not only a question of making figures on books, it was a matter of the development of the Wairarapa. RAILWAYS AND LAND VALUES. In a true balance, the Premier went on to contend, the railways capital account would have been paid two or three times over, because millions in land values had been created by the railways. He made that definite statement after allowing for all other forms of transport. They had analysed the Rimutaka project, had reports about it and come to the conclusion that it must be looked at from the development point of view—that it was a form of insanity to have to scramble over that hill. He would like to have a photo of the man or men who put the railway where it was now. If it was a Parliamentary affair, these men had not been in the right kind of Government institution and should have been in another one. (Laughter). THE INDIVIDUAL’S JOB. Land settlement, said the Premier, was one of the things he wanted to go seriously into. There had been some talk about the Government socialising farms. Disclaiming any such idea, he said a man'working a farm for himself would work it better than if he were working it for wages. All they wanted was the fullest possible economic production. When the individual was doing the job, the State was not going to step in. Anyone who thought the New Zealand farmer was not doing his job today had a lot of thinking to do. The New Zealand farmer- was second to none in the world. Our exports of primary products, chiefly to Britain, were greater, in proportion to population, than those of any other country on earth. The Government was out to give farmers the assistance they were entitled to expect. He wanted to see Robert Semple, with his “bull-dozers,” preparing land for occupation, and John Lee putting up houses and other buildings, so that as many men and their families as possible might be able to earn a decent livelihood. Observing that it was delightful “to meet such an inspiring audience asthis,” the Prime Minister said he had no desire to get up on a pedestal. That was one reason why he wanted to drive a hole through the hill. “I want,” he said, “to keep down on the level with you.” Going on to enlarge on his. desire to begin “where Seddon knocked off,” Mr Savage said it was essential that the Prime Minister and other Ministers should keep touch with the

people if the Government was to understand its job. He was a believer in men who put theix - soul into their work. The man who always had his eye on the clock, thinking he had only ten minutes to go, would not make a success of his job. As an outstanding example of a man who put his soul into his work, Mr Savage instanced the noted painter, Mr Frank Salisbury, whom he met when he visited Great Britain fox' the Coronation and the Imperial Conference. Speaking further' of his faith in human nature. Mi- Savage said he had lived during a political campaign in the houses of his political opponents and had received from them the most perfect courtesy, and they had not asked him “to sell the Labour Party.” Mr Savage expressed his thanks fox' the speeches of welcome and fox- the reception given to himself and his colleague, Mr Webb. He was loudly applauded and cheered on concluding and the audience sang “Fox' He's a Jolly Good Fellow.” The gathering ended with “one more cheer for the Mayor.”