TIES WITH SCOTLAND

Wairarapa Times-Age, 2 August 1941, Page 4

TIES WITH SCOTLAND

MR FRASER IN ABERDEEN

GIVEN FREEDOM OF CITY.

AND HONORARY DEGREE. (British Official Wireless.) RUGBY, July 31. When the Prime Minister of New Zealand, Mr Fraser, received the Freedom of Aberdeen today he declared that the pledge of the people of New Zealand to stand by their kinsfolk in Britain was stronger now than at the beginning of the war. Mr Fraser said the uncertainty of the fate of those New Zealanders left behind on Crete had caused many heavy hearts, but that had not weakened the determination of the people. Determination was shining through tears. Referring to the problem of 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 or unjust and trampled the weaker under loot. Mr Fraser also received the honorary LL.D, degree from Aberdeen University. The Press Association states that more than 700 people attended the ceremony at which Mr Fraser received the honorary degree of doctor of laws of the University of Aberdeen. The function was carried out with traditional ceremony and colour. The University’s promoter in law, Dr 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 greeted with prolonged cheers when the Chancellor of the University invested him with cap and gown.

Replying, Mr Fraser said he received the degree as an honour to New Zealand. He recalled the part played by the early Scottish arrivals in the colony, specially Dr. Burns, the poet’s nephew, in establishing the system of education.

Earlier the Prime Minister was the guest at a civic luncheon.