Spec made by the Rt. Hon. iR. G. Menzies
Prime ' IV. inister of Australia, prior to
Unveiling the "' irjG orgeHolland Plaque
H. . L. National Headquarters, Canberra 9/ 5/ 61.
" Mr. President, the ieap-ue has of course done a
remarkable piece of work in its history in Australia. It
has succeeded in doing somethiing qiite Darad ical; it has
never become a p~ olitical party, it alway~~ d g * reat influence
with rolit1c t t,. ink has b * en an
excellent thing.
You have b-en able to meet rolitdcal people of all
shades of opinlion fair terms, not as irolitical p. rsoris
but as neople who have and feel gre: at responsibility for
the welfare of Ex-servicemen. it's, been a wondierful record,
an: d I think perhaps the bCest nrooC ot' the nuality of the work
that the iteague has ( ic-. e it thant has had 4.-n itct; history
so few Federal ireside-t,-r-remar. rihly few ith long records
or srvie, become q-uite Ouiliax friends with the
Prime Ministers and inisters of the day. D have been singularly
fortunate because by :*, ome r. lracLe I was 1Prime Minister
of the country all the time that .' ir George Holland was
Federal President of tne 1jeague ,-each of them a miracle in
its own fashiona but a very ~ py thitru, for mie, and whenever
he ) as come to Canberra he ycaine to see me. 1 must say that
he4 n-, 6ever q., ite succeeded in coming just to say " I1 just
wanted to have the nleasu-re of looking at you, old man"-oe
has usually a few thOliW, YiOU Know, in ' Ade r'ocket, and
when he has left me . I have nuad a fe'. iesis Lhin,. s: ieft in my
hip poc.-et Aut we ; ot on very weLL iride'-d. I have always
had great respect and a-ffection for himi and of course in
addition to that, in the last ten years we have had an
Ex-servicemen's Commttee of Cabinet th. at has had direct
discussions with the members of' tne i ' ederal E~ xecutive and
with the officers of the Ljeague) the f ' ederal ecretary in
part icular, This I. think has made for great mutual understanding.
it is not to be supposed that the Leag : ue will
cver entirely agree with the cGovernment,! 6'_ t might as well
go out o siness it' it entirely aurees with the Goverruiinentb,
It is no~ spposed that the Governrment will always entirely
agree with' the League,, Tere ight be some letuitimate complaint
by the reasury, but we have got along, We have always
met each other and discussed t* e-1Aingsthi b~ n each side
we have done our br'st, arid the whole matter has been conducted
on a high level, and I believe in that. doni't t~ nkthat~
l gn ptt -the pzti~ fs~ bi
-arourn-A the~ zte ought to be able to meet each other
as responsible people and do thle best that we can about what
is after all not just an individual problern, but a W-tional one.
Now Sir George Holland has I think, been a perfect example
of how these things should be conducted. I want to teLl you that
so far as my 1irinisters and I are concerned we thought so highly
of him that when he came to retire from office we had him along,
with his successor Mr. Ulee, and gave him a dinnerM Tt takes an
awful lot to get roliticians to pay for a dinner out of our
own pockets. I would not want that to go any further but we did,&
.3 e even enriched him with a piece of silver to commemplorate
whnt for all of us has been the happiest possible association,
-2-
and all I can say George is that I hope that now you are
out of office, they will allow you to come to Canberra
occasionally. It would be equally pleasant for me and
probably less expensive if you are not Iresident of the
League , d tach time you are here I hope you will be able
to look at this lanue which I hope to unveil in a iiinute,
with -leasure and with leritimate pride, because this is
a proud day for you ft ought to be, and we all would lie
to share in your pride with you.
Now I h, e ben told to a-T s d thi T will
hannpn, it r. omet. ine. , oe2; o 0o 00