PRESENTATION TO THE PRI12 MINISTER,
SIR ROBERT M~ ENZIES, BY THE INSTITUTE
OF BUILDERS AT THE GROCERS' HALL,
LONDON JULY,_ 1964
Speech by the Prime Minister, the Rt. Hon. Sir Robert Menzies.
I was told by my staff that there would be no
speeches. So far the prophecy seems to be wrong. But I am bound
to tell you that if I once got going and developed some of those
themes of yours, you would all be here a long, long time.
I want you to realise what a versatile fellow I am.
( Laughter) I am a gynaecologist and obstetrician, as you said.-
I am a surgeon, I am a physician, I am an arc-hitect I couldn't
be relied on to design a hen coop ( Laughter); I am a plumber,
a builder. The gynaecologists, like you, were good enough to
give me a -tie, here in London quite splendid and the last
time I wore it, I was going out to Government House with a couple
of new Ministers to be sworn in, and the Governor-General said to
me, " That's a rather decorative tie. What's that?" I said,
" That's theGynaecologists' and Obstetricians"'. , He said, " It's
a very odd tie to wear". I said, " Not at all I ye just been
giving birth to two new Ministers". ( Laughter ( Applause)
But you know, Sir, I am grateful for this. I have
always admired builders and, at the same time, envied them. My
line of country, as you have courteously pointed out, has been
heavily involved with politics. Dear me, when I look at my
respectable days at the Bar and I now realise that I have been a
Member of Parliament, one way or another, for about thirty-five
years and a -rmMei nister for sixteen or seventeen of them, I
realise that my lines have been cast inevitably in that field.
And, of course. you know, poli'iicians are neve-r given credit for
building anything. Indeed, there is no evidenc--. risible that
they7 have. Everybody knows if the country is gc-Lhg well, that
it was his fault and not the fault of the politician. Everybody
knows if the country is going badly that the politioians are lousy
and that the Government ought to be changed. So we lose both ways.
I suppose we do have to write a great deal on water
or on sand and that's inevitable. Those of us wuith enough vanity,
occasionally conso le ourselves in the still watches of the night
by saying, " Ah, well, when history comes to be written you know
that frightful platitude when history comes to be written, old
boy, you'll get an honourable mention, ( Laughter) even if it is
only in a footnote." I'm never too sure of it, all the same.
The historians can't be relied on, and therefore one never knowa,
but at the same time, you have your monuments all about you.
I was talking this afternoon about Mannie Hornibrook,
whom some of you know in Australia, a great bridge-builder. We
now have a lake in Canberra I make bold to say we wouldn't have it
if I hadn't been advocating it like mad for a long time, persuading
the Treasury and having the item struck out in my absence and
having it struck in again when I came home ( Laughter) but really,
the man who has got a memorial in relation to the lake is Sir
Manuel Hornibrook. He built two magnificent bridges across it, a
great credit to him and a great credit to the city of Canberra.
And so you will understand why I really feel this afternoon I am
in company that is a little too good for me. ( Laughter) I feel a
little above myself because here you are, mortals though you be,
v e.* e/ 2
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you occasionally produce the stuff of immortality. People like
mqe, we just hope for the best.
But anyhow, whether it is the best or the worse,
politics is a most interesting business, frustrating, sometimes
terribly amusing. I'ni. at a Prime Ministers' conference now which
is very amusing because I am the only fellow who makes speeches
that are speeches anid not written out, so mine are the only ones
that never reach the newspapers. ( Laughter) ( Applause) We meet
in private, great frankness is to be observed, you know, this is
the theory of it, and if I haven't heard too clearly what somebody
is saying, it's all right, I open a paper the next morning and
there it is, because I know it's gone out.
When I first attended a Prime Ministers' Cdonference,
I wasn't a Prime Minister. I was there representing my then Prime
Minister, Mr. Lyons. That waa in 1935, so I'm the senior
inhabitant. At thattime, there were four of us. Ramsay
MacDonald was the Prime Minister, Geurge Forbes was the Prime
Minister of New Zealand, I think R. V. Bennett was there from
Canada and I was representing Mr. Lyens, and I am not sure that
at the same time, sitting discreetly in the corner, there wasn't
Godfrey Huggins from Southern Rhodesia. We've been arguing today
about Southern Rhodesia. Things have changed. Godfrey used to
turn up. He wasn't invited. ( Laughter) He had no right to be
there because Sou~ thern Rhodesia wasn't a member of the Commonwealth
but he arrived, very sensibly and sat there and we all liked him
immensely. Now there is a terrific argument going on, of course,
as to whether Southern Rhodesia is to be given certain orders or
not. When I look back over those thirty years, it seems a little
hard to believe, doesn't it, that a country which has been sitting
with us should today be the subject of dlebate, and somewhat
acrimonious debate at times. Still, I think we got through that
one pretty well. We w-ill resume again next week. I am now sitting
there looking at the representatives of eighteen countries,
including. my own, eighteen, all sorts and condi. tions, all sizes
and shapes. I will just tell you one simple remin-iscence of two
days ago. At the last Prime Ministers' Conference, the Prime
Minister of Sierra 1Leone, Milton Margai, was present. I don't
know whether any of you ever met Milton Margai, but he was a little
chap and he wore a cap such as my old Scotch grandmother used to
wear, you know, with Leads. ( Laughter) And he was a splencd
chap, wonderful chap. He delivered himself to one representative
whom I didn't care for very much, one day, in the most spirited
fashion. It would have done great credit to an Australian in a
bad temper. ( Laughter) I admired that very much indeed. Well,
he's dead and his brother, Albert Margai, is now the Prime
Minister of Sierra Leone, and he arrived. He's a huge fellow.
He's about six feet five and he's large in every conceivable
direction. He's a terrific fellow. And I being the oldest
inhabitant and therefore entitled to a certain amount of privilege
and impudence, walked across to him and shook him warmly by the
hand and said, " Now tell me, are you a brother of Milton's?"
He said, " Yes". I said,' " Don't think I'm being offensive, but
same mother and father?" ( Laughter) He said, " O0h, yes, same
mother and father" and then he gave a great hearty chuckle and
said, " Mind you, Milton was the only little fellow in the family."
( Laughter) 0 .0a / 3
3-
Ycu know, Sir, it is not what emerges from a Prime
Minister's Conference, because I lay odds that, as usual, the
communique at the end of it will be the greatest collection of
cliches that the world has ever seen. It always has been in the
past, because you see, we have a unanimity rule. ( Laughter) There
are aighteen vet oSE and it is only when a proposition is so
harmless, such as the accommodation was gcod, or something like
that, that it gets into the oommunique ( Laughter) and then our
friends of the Press write scathing articles about it. Very
properly. It is a most awful, dreary collection of platitudes
in the world. But the real point is not in the commuaique, but
it is that round the table are all sorts of fellowB, some of whom
may poop off in their own countries and make fiery speeches and
breathe threatenings and slaughter. But when you are sitting
around, chatting with them at intervals, or across the table,
you find that they are all, basically, people you can talk with
and get to understand, and this is what distinguishes the Prime
Ministers' Conference, or one of the things that distingu shes
it from the United Nations because in the United Nations, pecple
haven't time to sit down and have little friendly conversations
breaking the ice. They are all round the corner cooking up
an amendment or lobbying for something. ( Laughter) Well, we
don't go in for that.
Therefore, long mar we survive and Sir, long may you
survive. In spite of this accident that has happened to it
today ( Laughter), I hope the Institute goes on and flourishes
for a thousand years, aiid all I need ada is that I am most
greteful to you azd to your members for the honour you've done
me.