OOMFRMn NO' V OP ORARY DMRUN ( W DOCTOR OF LAWS ( M U3
PRINE NMIUTR BY THE CHAJ$ CRUR9 THE PRInCES8 ROYAL,
AT UNIVERITY OF" LENS. ON 2US VAR( N, 1961-8P3U= BY
TE RT. HOW, R. G. MNZIBS
Your Royal lighrnses, and Chance"' o
Have 1I W daam. your permission to address this conglegation
without nW hat on? 1 know that Is very well established
that one addresses you capped. but a long life of politleal
spe@ h-fmkiflg has ijersuaded me never tc spea" with my hat ce
I don't know why# because somvetU-nes It might have been a
protection, when I was listening to that ! wre-thask~ nd and loso-than
trw. speech mde about me earlier tod. ay, nVy mind ran baox over
some of the occasions on which I've beeni given a degree not a
degwe0 that T ' d oarned in the nor. ia1 arduous fashion, but degrees
that have since been given to me sometimes I ' ve thought in a
rather light-hearted way. I didn' t know what I had dons fie
rdaensgerev er lgthtetm , a robtuint a ththeye awreo rldv. o ry Yaogu, r ee( atob lel ooakl l att hme e) s aynoau; wtohuelyd a'I
believe that I am a g'raduate of' ct~ ll or that I am a graduate
of Laval In Q~ uebeo where Indeed I made Vy speech, partly in
what I believed to be P'rench; but was regarded,, f subsequently
dieoovered, by the raench Canadians, to be a brilliant rendering
of one of the lesser-know dialects of the Arunta tribe in
Australia. I was on'-e ,' Iven a degree in Malta and I've always
remembered that one, beenuse Jlust at the last moment I was
presented with a long oath In Latin that had to be taken It
was a very long ano, it woulk~ i haive weighed heavily on rrW' coaciene
in any language, I t ran to about 20C~ % ords and I had no time to
discover what went on in Maltap whether you spoke In the old
pronunciation or the new, or In wha3t T call " law-court* Latin
which Is quite diffarint from any other. And I had to sk-the
VieemChancellor about It at the last moment the Vie-
Chancellor or any university being. the fount of all wisdom* lie
saidt ' 1 wouldn't worry about it, if I were you none of thai
will un. Ierotand It ainyhow. Mumble it'.
well, I'aam# here today of course I experenced, amcing
other things, a double pleasure. ' rho first to that you, yourself,
your Royal Iiighnonaa z'iecile over this University. Thisn Is a
wonderful thing, T think, for this i~ nimersity, And the seeand
i9 that your Vloe-Chanoellor has coat aore money ( or nW
Government , av money) than any other person now In this roam,
or for all I know now in the whole city of Leeds. Beeauase
not long after I came back into office after a well-deserved
JourntW in the wilaerness ( these things happen, you know) the
spirit moved me to have a look at the universities position In
Australia; and very unsatisfactory It was We haves unhappily,
not had as some American universities have had enmous
private benefactione. There have been some but not so ninn, and
the result In that the difference between the foom that are p& 14
and what it woets to conduct the university beame gweateffiabd
ber ws sr heavily on the revenues of the State. Well, I've been
a Treasurer a~ self p and I know how difficult it Is to defeat
the Treasury In a straight-out contest. You mst let mes give
and greater/
this aftles to you 9 those of you wbe will semw~ boes
Pime Miaister or a miister for omethiaf Novo onS0 In
hea-emeglisemwith the Tes~ r row re b~ 10 IUeS.
Bulk you nost go about It oiwing1 you mast meek on WhM
from the flank you nMet ag thir atteRtiM In ethe
dlaeslein Zile. you got the cod work done In the direstim
thatr habe soles ted. This t tictlyv sWdmUl I
Wo~ nvtmat It to be gonorall known. And so haTIng looke
at the problem,# and having made up sW aind that, thov%* the
a % biltt self the Counvet of Australia# had s
dirot resposbility rot universities ezest tWe alvere
which was establishted in Canberra the time had om when we
must do sonaetbia, about it, Be I went o" t to Hnnland an
other inatters and# while he" e# t had a talk with airi Keith Uazay,
I Persuaded the then Chancellor of the . xehoquerv Mr. Hlarold
Uacmillan, to lot me borrow him for' a while. wAn I " neas the
Obaaoellor seemed very agreeable on that oceaslon . sst Anlim
to say: ' Certainly, qW dear follows whatever yma ask'" until~
of ecare, I realised that the more months tfAt Murray me out
of Eagland. the loss oppor'tunit~ y would there be of getting
reoumnudatioue in from1 University Grants Coiguisin, of which
he was the Chairean. And so I got Sir Keith Murray* I~ o
Sir Charles mIorrIs and than I got some distinguished mn ii
Australia aid established a Committee of enquiry, and it me
only just its it wias about to " o announced that I broke the neos
to the Treasury. A-* sn I & ida t Ynxow what a shattering blow
these people would inf lict on ffs. Itere we were@ we had in miami
ways been Making grants to the Otates on university acounmt,
relatively smll grants totallInly perhaps up to a million or
a million and a half a year. AnW this Cordttes of disomn
people all Vice-Chancellors are dlisarmaing ( they have to be
they disarmt their opponlents carletely iiado a imgIfleault
report. I t raised tho priae that I would have to pay on behialf
of the Conunoalthg tran ( let us say) 3j -nillion, in 3 years,
to 21 million in 3 years. I took it to the Cabinet; we sat
all foorning, we, sat all the afternoon, we sat until midnight,
and by sheer exhaustion I got V. own way. And the 21 million
went down on the record.
Ra~ w this, you rmiih% think, was a great enough shook few
anyone to ousta& in. But not at allI one of their reommuendations
was that we should a~ ppoint a Jaiversities CcnIsuseien of
our own, So we didj anid I picked outp oi' * ourse, the most
frugaly-minded non of standing that I could find in Australia*
AMd they have Just brought In their report for the second
TrIannium -the first# rernenber, was 21 million -this one Is
11I. There's a little moral In all this theres a moral, Ad
It's a good ome. Before the war the numbor of people mating
a Uiveseity traiin,-was not urilimited. Universities wmo
relatively smll. But sine this last war# what has been
happening here, has beew hao'pening in Australia as wall*
Thousands of people come. alons. 9 wanting to have University
training whether this Is due to Irrproved financial cicumstaowem
or whether it is due to a now conception of the need fow
higher training, both,, I needn't determine. All I know Is
that whzen Sir Charles was sitting on this Coim~ tte and wrift
a report@ only a few years ago very few estimaztes were mde
for them for future po,, ulm. tions, under-graduate populations In
various univereltles. They've all. been falsified since*
It's quite clear that wherever someobody thought ' Well there'll
be 5CpGOC an: ergraiuates a oertain titse' there'll be
And if somebody t1hou'-ht thait there'l1l be 7U 000, at some time
there'll be 90, ' he demand iio risi,! so repidly. My own
University of Nelbourne ha., about 1J430 uncioxrgraduates in rWn
dajr and now has about VCOO. I t hus been found necesary~ ini
the ' Itate of ',' ietorla to establish i second university, knrown
an i: onash nivertmIty,, n'iiod & a'tevth e -roat Austg'sllan general,
and that :" niversitj already hno wht you : niiqht call advanced
entries runznin;-in. very larg~ e fi-ures. Investigation is in
1hand about a thir-d. ' he Univeietity o' Jyaney le. now Lacmpanied
by wha; i was tht ivrnt of~ rwolo -y and Ia, no-. i a fu~ ll
UlnlverRity i'ew ' outli * alee. Anti ao you can go rouind
Aua: rali!~ aj. In: thIn enorttiou.; . lornnd=. It -, rsents :-an~ y
i'reat -roblonn, bccauiss tL create i i.' niveraity you r~ eed : nOre
than c: pital -LT~ jiin. and equi -iont those thinro
of' cc've Pin mntt ' in~ tns. tie L'ifr howt yro. need saaff Ono
0' % Lhu g. r* 341 L ,, roblt.-u;, o.. olit view, Ini how we are to
Cop) e W~ ith this~ vury , v'o~ or eu:. irv., o~ n for -iniversity
adavation, with t3achin: avv~ retn wve thirv. we can seo In the
. aturo. ) ltraeadc. io43 tisk! " 1QJ. th' 14n.. WO C: Af get them
1rioth r-coin vi.; s * tn p e, c.. re, 3, every now nifli then a
. Univavaity heve uni'i'n Itooli', J'Aveus itei. 1f by etting
eorieabody frol rP j~ av~ t t~ oibody iroi ., uzLtU_. ia, But
roally, the viul.~ o,' ; i in. :, iiiveiit.' telrcheru the
nense., a y oranco taW Loi,; 0111 inL in tur'n, will be
among the ; 7reit : 1L~ i fic. t rnowledgajq i , t J think,
even a i'* reate:-.; vobilan that, 41 nroblarm of brickse and !. vrtar,
and of, fin-iij& thu K~ jor-; wit., wv! i) to ay iXor all tee things.
I don' t tt, h -k t. ata.. i dc feel 2-athe.-a:.: iulled
byr the utheu-. o ha~ ve in Aaz3t -tia ju~ st beg,, n, throug. h our
* ni1Ver& 3tI0Et IJO a r,~ iI'( i8 LEtflintu the -Cuture
because lu m on;, it :. iotit of* our ' nivez'eitioo ar,, on
the 19th :(-ntury ' ioacl. Ahey i!-Ii ; tCO. L-An elorient of'
orthodloxy -: tlwat tJh-o:-i; it ias vevy t~ cCo thin,.-none of
us wilt o 1 tin at it bat ." erhuitna the ti:, io ha come when
the wh'olo ' tu ttu o" tertiaiy e-juentlon will havo to be divided
P9looku!: at In a new way; looko] at nrha. s Ina a Garica of
diffñ erenit typos o, icho; la, vv anivor. A tics ' or colleges, or'
wihatever they be, nd ; e . tP ktvIn-a look at that; and
I belie-vo, J tha, Y. eith * aWily 10 G0T1mtt4e itDC~ p Or
so ; tc coiilto a! 3L. Th. Jhui it# lcokini at it here*
h6ut TI on' t 01Ari LCo WeUPiY Yo0. On this -mitter, I merely
want to uay that i'ro-v own oii ; view, I've beeni iivlleged
tc have been : ri* ni i-tei-of ' ustralia. at a timie when so much
coula be jolu for. . uivaraitiau. 1 fa'iit confeseq proud of
having ndi t. nrwi e all have t, dL. 18 to
direct our -' inois ars to hov? c~ iL , iaintain tlis wroithp and
how tie o'* n , vilintain It im the hi * htlevel oil colln etre-ne.
Thoro Is nothln:! vioruo than a seck~ nd-rate liniveraity, unless
It be a 1, hird-rate omiversity,.' e -nust ail, at the highest
possible Btantiar. A& a, anai tho Aront raon for that ie a great
il. tional ao well an individual, reason. Thu) Is a -" rotty hard,
Coo. tptitivo worltl. have a lot of' people in i t who all~ y
teohnolo.-, cal sill take an exrnple to ideas we won' t care
fr; anti i~ jeao, thrit rather frighten us# In tho Cfturo oV the
wauld. Under all these circustances we imst Incesmingly oak*
up our minds9 that nothin' seord-rate will do* We = uat aim at
the beat* Ns won' t all achieve It,, but we ant all have the
oplportuaity of' achieving the bFAt In whatever field we "" be
engaged Lao I think that Is the great lesson of this VonA
this Poet-war world* You can' t at , oa'd to be seonmd-rate. 8Son
other country may be bigooe; some other couuntry my be rioher;
some other couintry maj hakve more bombs, more entlinees, or more
somuething; but IIn spite 01f a1. that, we you in yourointryp
I In mine am't afford to be second-rate; because it Is
(" wlity that is eounting? more and moro in the world. Thorofare
I regard this i-, roat Influx of atude3ntat this i" reat stirring of
demtand for hl", her education# as a c-ooo Viin,-, because to ins It
expresses that inn& Anctive feeling ( we ad'o r'ather an ' InstinctivO
race), that inistinct~ ive fetilin.-that we -n be seoad-rate.
We -must do bottur. and better-, and better. It will be the duty
of efstemef ( no we cul~ l the-" for this ' urpoa.), it will
be the duty of staltc-orn Uc. -Oliy tt. eir !. art, It will be the duty
of the ' niversitico tharsielves to lay thoir iart. Neither of
them, wil., be a. hle to ' lay thzir irt tnlecat~ our people who
are in the long ruin o~ ur -inaters are iore; and More conscious of
the challenge and coneoloue of the iscet that that challonge
In ca~ ning i'iore '-articul. jily In placese this, in the univeroities
oif the t1; nlish-s3 ea. ir., world than perhaps in any other'
xI oid. And no, your : 7uyal Aii:! hnos, akrn( Chanellor, J ' i vory
proud to be here. J haven' t been In Leaids oinn-c 1948 when I
ca.. i-s here will be sur:) rised to Know) tco hz'Lve a lock at
the Test ' latch. ' 4nd It wvit a very -o olt-a be auty down
at Fea-Aingilsy. T -, itjChje. i thusq excltin,-Toat * atch with the
, reatest cil intorttrt .1.' izt on one occas~ ion durin:-It the Sr.;! Ish
cant~ xn a Ycrkshire-ign -ado n bow2lin -ohanro which I
uid1n't aineretand. ith atli -bt Ctalin, or deepaiw I walJcd
I At bac 1' ro-1 where i iattlng. und uncoanteml 1; erbort
., utl~ fe who winL iuttt,-in. to himself an It turnea) out
about thc a~ n -r-oblemn. I -iontion that ( not that I need tell
you wht,. orhert Lu1' e la, becau~ e ueli : hted to say
that as I lookced dora) cn -ohla audienice sittiriv in thin roomt
h i2%! is mrrnin5, tho f'irst faial'r face 1, saw was hie.