It is my Minister's intention to proceed with the implementation of
this policy among Government employees when the Committee has
submitted its report and a way found to overcome any difficulties that
may arise.

It is proposed to place before you measures designed to revise the
Scaffolding and Excavation Act 1922, and to amend the Apprentices'
Act 1948, the Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Act 1954, the
Shops and Offices Act 1955, and the Workers' Compensation Act 1956.

The well-being of the Maori people will be advanced by all practicable
means available to my Government. Provision for expansion,
consistent with the economic position of the country generally, will be
made in the construction of homes for Maori ownership, in order to
meet a situation which is still a cause for some concern. Land development
and welfare work will be continued and special emphasis placed
on the training of Maori youth for skilled and professional occupations.
My Government gratefully acknowledges the valuable contribution
made in social work by voluntary Maori organisations.

Large and complex tasks face us in the field of education due both
to the very rapidly increasing numbers of students, and to the vital
importance of ensuring that the quality of education at all levels is
maintained and, where possible, improved. Facilities are being
developed to meet new social and economic needs.

My Ministers are pressing forward their policy of technical and
technological education. The erection of a new building at Seddon
Memorial Technical College in Auckland will free the existing buildings
for use as a polytechnic, while at the Central Technical College in
Petone a new full-time course for the education of pharmacists will
open in February next. My Ministers envisage that the Technicians'
Certification Act of 1958 will be brought into operation towards the
end of this year.

The expectation that the number of students attending our universities
will double within the next few years has prompted my Government
to set up a Committee, which will include eminent university
administrators from overseas, to inquire into the whole question of university
education in New Zealand. In addition a vigorous building
programme is under way, including current work on a new dental
school for the University of Otago and a new school of engineering
for the University of Canterbury. An overall plan for the future
development of the University of Auckland is in course of preparation.
My Government has approved the establishment of branch university
institutions at Hamilton and Palmerston North.

My Ministers propose that the Commission on Education which
is to investigate generally the working of the education system in this
country, and which was forecast when I last addressed you, should
not begin the hearing of evidence until the Committee on University
Education has completed its deliberations.

In fulfilment of the undertakings that had been given, my Government
has increased benefits payable under the social security and universal
superannuation schemes. In addition, improvements in the
operation of these schemes are being progressively introduced as they
become administratively practicable.

My Ministers regard family welfare as a basic principle of their
policy, as is evident from the recent launching of the scheme which
enables family benefits to be applied in the acquisition of homes.
Advances in necessitous cases are being made for the repair and maintenance
of the homes of social security beneficiaries. By the establishment
of a guidance and counselling service my Ministers are concerned
to ensure that social, as well as economic, welfare is extended throughout
the whole community.

You will be asked to consider a Bill designed substantially to remove
certain discriminatory provisions in the nationality and citizenship
law which hitherto have operated to deter some new settlers from
seeking New Zealand citizenship.