Royal Commonwealth Society - Australian Capital Territory Branch.
Inaugural Dinner - Hotel Canberra Wednesday , 4th February 1959.
The President Sir William DUNK, C.B.E in the Chair
SIR WILLIAM DUNK:
Mr. Prime Minister, Dr. Evatt, Mr. Casey, Your Excellences and Ladies and Gentlemen:
It is not my purpose to make a speech tonight but I do want to speak for just a few minutes about the A.C.T. Branch of the Royal Commonwealth Society. First of al1 I would like to express the thanks of the council of the branch to all of you who attend this Dinner tonight. It gives us the encouragement we were looking for and we know now that we can go ahead with the assurance of the support of this most important cross-section of the community of the Territory.
I am sure that you would want me to convey to the Prime Minister’s to Dr. Evatt, Mr. Casey, Mr. Black, who is President of the Branch of the Society, aid to Sir Horace Robertson, who is President of the Victorian Branch our pleasure that they have been able to accept our invitation to this function. Unfortunately His Excellency the High Commissioner for the United Kingdom, Lord Carrington, and Lady Carrington and His Excellency the High Commissioner for India, Mr. Menon, and his wife have inescapable commitments for tonight and are unable to be present. They have asked me to convey their apologies and I am sure that on our part we would express to them our sincere regret that they are unable to be with us. Dame Pattie Menzies as you may know, has recently acquired new family responsibilities and we would like you sir, to convey To Dame Pattie our congratulations on the acquisition of another grandchild and express our regret at not having the pleasure of her company tonight.
I would like to say a word about the work of the Branch and What we expect will be the pattern of its future work. Live hope through the years to develop a programme which will, through addresses; through film medium and other means bring closer to us all the Countries of the Commonwealth and increase our understanding of them And their ways of life. It's a point on which we are assured we will have the support and help of the Missions of the Commonwealth countries In Canberra. Additionally we would hope that we would be able to Arrange for members to meet here visiting people of importance in The Commonwealth. The first of those will probably be Sir Gilbert Laithwaite who, as you know, is Permanent Secretary of the Commonwealth Relations Office in London, and we hope to arrange a reception for Members of the Society for him early-next month. I hope that other Speakers will touch on the Commonwealth in its present relationships. Its future will rest very largely on the statesmanship of its Leaders, on the skill of its diplomats, but much as I think this to Be true statesmanship and diplomacy is not enough of itself;
Underneath it as a foundation we must have the good" homely touch of frienailiness and I kindly understanding. Now that to me is the main purpose of this Society and to the extent to which we can Foster it we are improving the cohesion of the Commonwealth and It we are giving the statesmen something on which to build, something on which the Commonwealth will grow. That is the task, the signature tune if you like, of the Canberra Branch and I would like
To think of it that way.
It's my privilege tonight to introduce the toast of the Royal Commonwealth Society. The Prime Minister, DR. Evatt, and Mr. Casey have generously agreed to speak to it. Ladies and Gentlemen, the Prime Minister.
THE PRIME MINISTER:
Sir, this is a very remarkable occasion for DR. Evatt and Mr. Casey and myself because we are supporting Sir William Dunk.(Laughter). As a rule, in our various experiences we do our Best to get a little support from him, but tonight he has reversed the process. Now I have had a look, not at the clock but at my watch and I have looked at the programme and 1 realise that you are now going to have six speeches of an average length of 91, minutes each. And I am bound to say as one of the speakers that I find it most satisfactory. But if I might begin with a discordant note there are one or two people here tonight who in other fields of activity advice me and one of them is a great expert on flags. And rightly or wrongly because I would not know, honestly, I wouldn't know, rightly or wrongly, he tells me that the Union Jack is upside down. (Laughter). Which I am also told is a signal of distress. And, therefore, sir, it is Perhaps very appropriate that you should have got the better of this ill-omen in advance by having us come here together to a dinner of the Royal Commonwealth Society which continues to show that SO far from the Union Jack being a signal of distress it is a signal of the most remarkable community of peoples and of the greatest hopes for the future. (Applause).
I suppose, sir, that there is no more remarkable story in this century: a century which is otherwise disfigured by many evil and indeed horrible events, there is no more remarkable process in this century than that by which, to Put it in the Particular, the Royal Colonial Institute became the Royal Empire Society and later the Royal Commonwealth Society; colonies became self-governing Colonies, then became independent member countries of The Commonwealth, and in one or two cases ceased to be in the Commonwealth but became self-governing countries with all their hopes for the future. I am not at all sure that in a century in which the home of the race of most of us has been lettered And almost broken from time to time, I am not at all sure that The most remarkable thing has not been this superb process by Which people have moved from dependence to independence and Have remained bound together by friendship and by ties that Are not easy to define, but certainly not easy to break. As DR. Evatt will remember, there was a greatly celebrated legal Historian who once described the history of one of the processes Of the law as the history of the development from status to Contract, and without being too technical the whole point that he was making was that some centuries ago peoples' rights depended upon where they were born, how they were born, what dues they owed to other people and if you wanted to determine their rig.-hits you asked# "what is his status, what is her status", and as time went on people moved away from that into the era of contract in which free people uninhibited by status governed their lives by free bargains they made one with another. And here we have a perfect analogy. I remember well before the war going To a Conference. I was not a Prime Minister then. 1confess was later on and they found me out. But I mean that this Time I was not the Prime Minister but I went to what was then Called an Imperial Conference representing my then Prime Minister and at that time there were as few people, as few nations, at the table at No. 10, and beyond those and well outside of them there were literally hundreds of millions of people who were not speaking for themselves but bye' others. And in this short period of time of a quarter of a century later I now find myself walking into the same room and meeting on equal terms the representatives of India and Pakistan and Ceylon, The representatives of Ghana and before so long the representatives of the West Indies this is a very, Nery remarkable experience. And if we are to ask the reason for it, it is this we have not been afraid of the consequences of our own policy. The whole Genius of British colonialism, if I may say so this rude word "1colonialism", the whole genius of it was that people should come to govern themselves, to become t ear own nation and their Own people, an (- what has happened in the last 25 years is the clearest proof of it. I am not one of those who think that it has not been revolutionary because in some cases it has. This is a Royal Commonwealth Society but the relationships of Australia and the Crown acne the people of Australia with the Crown are not precisely the same as the relationships between, say, the people of India and the Crown because while we all acknowledge the Queen as the head of the Commonwealth some of us have the Queen in our own country in the processes of our own law, while others have felt it necessary from their own point of view to Have become republics and, therefore, this is in a sense a revolutionary movement. But in everything that matters it is a movement of an evolutionary kind, because, if you look And see what has happened in the countries which are now independent, proud, free, members of the Commonwealth, what do you find you find within them a respect for the law and Its administration which I venture to assert is one of the greatest gifts of Great Britain to the world. You find in them a belief in Parliamentary self-government, in true democracy, in the right to rule yourselves by your own chosen people which again has been the great contribution of Great Britain To the world. You find two other things, and this goes for every country represented here tonight. You find first of all no spirit of aggression it is a very proud thing to be able to say in a rather nervous world; in a world that is wracked by divisions; in a world that wakens up occasionally with fear and Goes to bed with fear; it is a wonderful thing to be able to say with no reservation that there is no country in the Commonwealth which offers a threat of aggression to any other country in the world. Here is a great common element, an element which has moved through the whole of our joint history from the time when Great Britain herself was the greatest colonial power in the World. And finally, sir, because I remember my own rule People will occasionally say to me what the difference is Between sitting in a Conference with what we would call Foreign countries under some friendly arrangement of alliance and Sitting at No. 10 Downing Street or wherever it may be with the Representatives of 9 or 10 countries of the Commonwealth. And the answer to me, who am now almost an old hand in these matters, is quite simple we have, whatever our, differences might be Whatever the distinction between our cultural histories, one from the other whatever differences we may have on current politics or affairs, we sit down together in a spirit of companionship. We are friends. 1e understand each other; we can speak our minds to each other. But we come out of our conference still as friends, still as companions, s till as members of the greatest Commonwealth the work has ever seen. And, Sir, it is because those things are so true and sometimes so overlooked that I give myself the enormous pleasure tonight of supporting with you the toast of the Royal Commonwealth Society, and as I propose it Ana as you listen to me proposing it you will know, as I know, that we are thinking not of our differences which are small but of our unities which are enormous an as I believe, immortal.
SIR WILLIAM DUNK:
Thank you sir. Ladies and gentlemen, Dr. Evatt
DR. H. V. EVATT:
Mr. Prime Minister, You’re Excellences, Ladies and Gentlemen. It is a great honour to support this toast and I think that the Prime minister r has adopted the correct And philosophical approach to this problem not so much by speaking of the successful work of the society which under the difference of names has been continued by your resolution, but In the story that lies behind the Commonwealth; because if lectures are given, as they will be given in the Society and its various branches, about conditions throughout the Commonwealth and elsewhere, there is nothing more important than an understanding such as the Prime Minister has depicted of the nature of the Commonwealth itself and also, if I may say so, of the men who helped to build it, because it is not the work of a few years. Great men have put their minus together to create the Commonwealth, the British Commonwealth of Nations it was called. It is called the Commonwealth today but its association with Britain is close. Indeed Her Majesty the Queen is the head of the Commonwealth and of course the Queen occupies an even closer relationship with some of the members of the Commonwealth. But just think of some of the Men of the Commonwealth. Take your minds back to the First World War and the settlement of that war. At that time, Australia, like Canada and New Zealand and South Africa, was a self-governing Dominion; it was not recognized as an independent State or a State with independent rights throughout the world, but at the conclusion of that war efforts made by the Prime Minister of Canada, Borden, by the Prime Minister of Australia, W. M. Hughes, by the two leaders Of South Africa, the then leaders of South Africa, Botha and Smuts and by others, resulted in the self-governing dominions becoming signatories to the Treaty of Peace itself an extraordinary and enormous development. But the matter having been taken that far, these nations given by Britain The right of self-government in local affairs, were determined to have similar rights in international and external affairs and those rights were not given reluctantly but given freely. And so you come to the new period, some 8 or 9 years after the war, when what is called the Balfour Declaration was made and the dominion status was then defined as indicating something belonging to the self-governing dominions which gave them equality of status with the Mother Country herself, equality Of status with inequality or differences of function. And that period was gone through. The Statute of /Westminster was drafted which removed all technical legal obstacles in the way of self-government in internal or indeed in external affairs being exercised. So you had the Statute of Westminster passed in various parts of the Dominions. ;.nu then in the Second l'orlo 'Jar it showed Further developments of the character I have mentioned and the Commonwealth of Nations developed from the British Commonwealth of Nations. I think it is right always to remember that it Was and is, British in origin, not only because of the association of the Queen but because the whole conception dates from the Balfour Declaration and is really one of the greatest triumphs of the British contributions to civilization and democracy throughout the world. Then, of course, there
Have been further developments.
There has been the emergence the Prime Minister Indicate, of new members of the Commonwealth, not only the old Commonwealth, so to speak, of the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, but new members of it, Such as India and Pakistan and Ceylon; Ana now nations such as Malaya, Ghana and no court the west Indices, Ana the list is by no means complete. And there are differences and Difficulties throughout the Commonwealth which arise from time to time; differences, acute differences, in internal affairs anc. quite a few differences in international affairs. But what of it 1 As the Prime Minister says, the Conference takes place, there is an exchange of views, and whatever the Members of the Commonwealth do about it, they don't fight about it, they consult about it and they indicate an example which could well be followed by the United Nations itself. The conferences are completed and they all go about their work it is a noble conception. I don't think there are any limits to the possibilities of the British Commonwealth of Nations, so long as we remember what its objectives are. Its objectives are, of course, the advancement of the members, also the Advancement of democracy throughout the world and the welfare of all peoples. It is the same objective in essence as the United Nations. It is the parallel boy. .'Hen Ghana came into The Commonwealth, Ghana was almost simultaneously admitted as a member of the United Nations and they had the double status there. Similarly with r: .allay, and it will go on. And I Want to see the Commonwealth supported and I know it will be supported in Australia and not merely by the Government but by all peoples, by all political parties and all the people of Australia. Good luck to the Society for continuing in this way and congratulations to you, Mr. Chairman, on your initiative In getting this movement started.
MR. CASEY.
When I received an invitation from the Chairman to attend this inaugural function of the Australian Capital Territory Branch of the Royal Commonwealth Society, I was Very pleased it was a very tactful letter, a very pleasantly worded letter. As sometimes happens, the sting was in the tail, because after having said all the nice things that Sir William Dunk is frequently, but not always able to say (Laughter) he then got on to the question of the time during which I was supposed to speak and he told me that, as he did not have any intention whatsoever of putting any limitation on the time for which I would speak, he would hope an6 believe that I would fine myself able to say what I had to say within a period of 10 minutes. (Laughter). And I have got some reason to believe that he put something in the way of a limit, the same very tactful time limit on Dr. Evatt. The Prime Minister, may-be through his Office, was given the run of the tide but I noticed when I put the clock both on the Prime Minister and on Dr. Evatt, the Prime Minister spoke for minutes and Dr. Evatt for 10 minutes so I would expect that the whole thing has adopted a certain pattern at the instance of Sir William Dunk and quite rightly too. It reminds me of a short time ago in Sydney when I was speaking at a luncheon gathering and in rather polemical fashion I asked the chairman how long he wished me to speak and he said, very genially that I could speak for as long as I pleased, but added, "Of course, we have to go at 2 o'clock". (Laughter). Well, Mr. Chairman we are here tonight, a great many of us, a very great gathering, I think one of the largest gatherings I remember attending in Canberra, to pay our small parts in the launching of the Australian Capital Territory Branch of the Royal Commonwealth Society. And it is very right and proper, I would believe myself, and I think you would all believe, that there should be a branch of this old, traditional anon famous Society in its various phases here in Canberra, the Seat of Government in Australia. Because here in Canberra as distinct from the other capital cities in the States of Australia, you have the High Commissioners of all the component parts of the Commonwealth; indeed I think it is very right and proper and appropriate that too is place Canberra should be the seat of what I would hope Would in use course be, the major Bochy of the Royal Commonwealth Society because here should (be and I think one can say there is, the inspiration as far as Australia is concerned. This is the capital of Australia; here is the diplomacy, here should be I think the ideas that should radiate out on behalf of Australia to all parts of this Commonwealth so far as Australia is concerned, and I would hope and expect that this Branch in Canberra would become a powerful Branch, would take the initiative in this business of binding and holing this Commonwealth together. As the Prime Minister has rightly reminded us the Royal Commonweal (lth Society is under a year old. Thirty years ago the Royal Empire Society was founded, and I think it was 70 or 80 years ago that all this business had its beginnings in the Ro/al Colonial Institute; each one of those three names, titles, reflecting the state of affairs and the composition of this curiously proclaimed association of countries that we now call the Commonwealth of Nations. An so far as Australia is concerned, I think there is probably no man more advanced in the matter than Mr. Daniel, the Secretary of the Sydney Branch and, I would expect, his Chairman, Mr. Black. Those two men, I understand, fought a fairly lonely battle a few years ago in an effort to have the name changed from the Royal Empire Society, which had become in the effluxion of time a rather outmoded description, a description that was not agreeable by any means to all the present cay members of the Commonwealth. Mr. Daniel I remember, netted me in for a gathering in Melbourne of the Royal Empire Society as it then was. I had myself fairly strong ideas that the old name Royal Empire Society had become an outmoded name. It was as I say disagreeable by reason of its assumed connection to some of the newer members of the Commonwealth, and so I went to this gathering and I saw Sir Charles Ponsonby a figure and a man of consequence whom I believe in my mine was probably allergic to these new, modern names. So I moistened my lips and, thought frightfully hard and got up and make a speech for the change in mime, expecting to be cut in half by this rather formic able old gentleman from London. But that didn’t happen and I may have had some hand in the changing, in cue course, of the name from Royal Empire Society to the I.oyal Commonwealth Society. But in the course of that, over a period of twelve months, I received a considerable number of insulting letters and I was called a Communist and all sorts of things by those people who had, understandably, very nostalgic feelings for the old name which had become enshrined in men's hearts and minds. I asked Mr. Daniel as to his experience and he said he was called something worse than a Communist and he and I were branded as people that other decent people did not really go along with at all. Anyhow logic had its way in the end and it became the Royal Commonwealth Society and here it is. Now without taking up much more time-I am watching the clock and Sir William Dunk in the first war I was connected with Sir Thomas Blamey who was then Colonel Blamey and vein I used to growl about things to him he inevitably used to say to me "we’ll all right, what are you going to do about And I have tried to remember what he said and what he meant on a number of subsequent occasions. And I just say to myself, well here we all are in this room at the inauguration of the .royal Commonwealth Society in Canberra and what are we going to do about it. I think there is a lot to be done about it. There is a lot of linking still to be done in this Commonwealth things are not all rosy in the Commonwealth, there is still a lot of linking, liaison work, and getting together to be done and I think probably this Branch in Canberra is the one to take the lead with the other branches in trying to do some of these
Things. I think the links between each one of us, the component parts oi the Commonwealth and the United Kingdom, are all pretty good but I think myself that the links between the other members, between Australia and Canada even you might say Australia and New Zealand, Australia and f'ialaya, Australia and all the other component parts, those are the things that need to be strengthened. They are not easy to strengthen. I ask myself how that can be cone in actual practice. One of the ways it can be done is by direct press representation between the various component parts of the Commonwealth which is much more lacking than the average person would tend to believe and I believe that is probably, or I would think it is probably, the most important single thing that could be done, if that could be achieved. If the great 'rests barons of this country and their opposite numbers in other parts of the Commonwealth could be induced to have direct press representation between the various component parts, then I think a great, a considerable step forward would be made towards the further linking up of the component parts of this Commonwealth. Now, Mr. Chairman, I will say very little more because I think I am just about on the 9th minute, although there is a vast %eel more to say. The Prime Minister gave; as he al', ayes comes, an inspired address as to the origin and the history and the importance of the work of the maintenance and the strengthening of this Commonwealth. 1r. Levitt took it on another line but still make, if I may say so, a most useful contribution. And as there are many people still to speak I don't want to speak .e much longer except to say, that I believe it is inherent in the hearts and minx of all of us here tonight to do, each one of us individually and as a Society, everything that can be possibly done to keep this grand conception of the Royal Commonwealth Society and of this Commonwealth in being and growing for the future and for myself, as one of the sponsors of this motion tonight, I would wish every good fortune and vigorous good fortune at that, to ties new and, I hope, powerful Branch of the Royal Commonwealth Society.
SIR WILLIAM DUNK.
Ladies and gentlemen I give you the toast The Royal Commonwealth Society.
SIR WILLI'AM DUNK.
I would now ask the Deputy President of the Branch, Mr. Newman if he would be good enough to propose the toast to the visitors.
MR. NE'JMAN.
Mr. Chairman, Mr. Prime Minister, Your Excellences, Ladies and Gentlemen. Tonight it is my privilege, on behalf of the President and the members of the A.C.T. Branch of the Society, to extend a welcome to our guests. The programme indicates that the next toast is that of the "visitors". I think there is a marked difference quite a fundamental difference, between visitors and guests, and I prefer to refer to you all tonight as the "guests" of the Society. Visitors may be welcome they may not for instance I may go home to lunch and say to my wife, "I had a visit from the bank manager this morning" quite a possibility and she might say "well I had a visit from the wireless inspector", and so on they're not welcome but as guests we do welcome you all to this inaugural function of the Australian Capital Territory Branch of the Royal Commonwealth Society. I wish to refer, briefly, to a remark of the Prime Minister's when he spoke of the conferences he has attended at No. Downing Street, of representatives of the various Commonwealth countries and to the good that stems from such meetings. About 12 months ago, or a little more, it was my good fortune to attend a conference in London of the opposite numbers to myself in the other British Commonwealth countries, of which there were 10 represented at the Conference including Ghana we didn't meet at No. 10 Downing Street, but at the Commonwealth Relations Office just opposite, and the good that flowed from r: eating the representatives of those other countries; discussing their problems with them; realising what some of their difficulties are and the fact that older countries like Britain, Canada and
Australia could very materially help the younger Commonwealth Countries in their problems, I found it very inspiring indeed, and it fired my enthusiasm for the formation of this Branch in the Australian Capital Territory. Since my return from England I have had a lot of correspondence with the representatives of the other Commonwealth Countries and they have freely acknowledged the help we, in Australia, have been able to give.
Now tonight the toast is, as I say, that of our guests. The Chairman has already extended a welcome to the Rt. Hon. the Prime Minister, the Rt. Hon. Dr. H. V. Evatt and the Rt. Hon R. G. Casey, I would like to ace to that list, Mr. Ivan Black, the President of the Branch, and Lt. Gen. Sir Horace Robertson, President of the Victorian Branch. are also fortunate to have with us Mr. Rigby, the Chairman of the Council of the Branch and Mr. Daniel, the Secretary of the NS W Branch to whom reference has already been made.
In referring to those gentlemen I would like to express, on behalf of the A.C.T. Branch of the Society, the thanks we owe to them for the assistance they gave us in the formation of this Branch in Canberra. The way to go about forming a new Branch of the Society is rather unusual we were required to have 100 members of the Society residing in the area in which the new .ranch was to be formed. :Well we scouted around in Canberra and found, I think, that we had 5 or 6 members of the Society, but with the co-operation of Mr. Black and the branch.. we were able to enlist members in the A.C.T. and have them registered and enrolled as members of the N.S.W Branch. :then we had our requisite number, something over 100, we made application for the Royal Charter, which was granted. A matter of the greatest importance to the A.C.T. Branch was that the New South :ladles people were good enough to refund to us, all our nomination fees and all our subscriptions that Sir was a very fine gesture on their part and one which we greatly appreciated. ‘! without that We really could not have got going. We have had a lot of assistance both from Victoria and from New South '! Ales. Mr. Rigby and Mr. Daniel came to Canberra initially to help us when we held our first meeting with the idea of forming a Branch and we are very grateful for the assistance we have had from them.
In welcoming the guests tonight, I cannot individualise amongst the many who have come along, but I would like to mention that we extend a special welcome to the Hon. Gordon Freeh, the new Minister for the Interior (applause). As many of you know, Mr. Freeh is now a resident of the
A.C.T. and we are hopeful that after this meeting is over, or in the very near future, we will be enrolling him and Mrs. Freeh as members of this A.C.T. Branch.
Ladies and gentlemen, there is not much more I need say. It is very gratifying to the Chairman, to myself and to the members of the Council to see such a wonderful attendance here tonight. The response from our own members in bringing along guests has been really excellent; it gives us a lot of encouragement for the future and I would now ask those members of the A.C.T. Branch of the Society if they would be good enough to rise and drink a toast to our guests.
MR. NEVlMAN:
Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen, Mr. Ivan Black, President of the Branch will respond to the toast and will be supported by Lt. Gen. Sir Horace Robertson, President of the Victorian Branch.
MR. IVAN BLCK. M.L.A.
Mr. President, Mr. Prime Minister, Dr. Evatt, Your Excellences, Ladies and Gentlemen: May I thank you all most warmly on behalf of the visitors or should I better say for the very warm way in which you have honoured the toast proposed in such kindly fashion by Mr. Newman who sits on my left. I am particularly grateful to Mr. Newman for making some reference to the part played by the N.S.W Branch in the formation of this Australian Capital Territory Branch and I am most grateful to Mr. Newman for referring to the work done by the Chairman of my Council, Mr. Alex. Rigby and the Secretary of the Branch, Mr. Daniel. I must admit quite frankly that although I was most enthusiastic about the formation of this Branch, for reasons which were not within my control the spade work was done by those two gentlemen, and I want to take this opportunity of paying my tribute to them. Now I know that all the guests here tonight will be as delight as I am that a Branch has been formed in the National Capital of Australia. Y/e have the headquarters of the Society in the capital of the United Kingdom, we have Branches in Ottawa and in Ellington, but it is a matter I think of some regret that it is only now that in the National Capital of this third senior nation within the Commonwealth we have been cable to form a Branch. However, this inaugural dinner has been a splendid function. The splendid speeches too have maintained a fair average, and I assure you that if it is up to about minutes I will be bowled very early in my innings and reduce the average back to the 9 !which was referred to earlier on. But in passing May I say this we have a situation now where we have a Royal Commonwealth Society, and there are some anomalies connected with the name. The plain fact being, Sir, that there is confusion in the minds of some people as to whether we are a Commonwealth of Australia organization or a Commonwealth of Nations organization. And now it is that I want to look, not pleadingly, but coaxingly, towards the Prime Minister, because I believe it is now appropriate since we have emerged as the Commonwealth of Nations that we should speak always of Australia, not as the Commonwealth of Australia, but just as Australia It can be done without constitutional amendment simply by introducing the use of the word Australia as a matter of common parlance. We are one of the free nations within the Commonwealth of Nations, and as such I believe we are Australians.
Well now, my thanks on behalf of the guests is most sincere; you have entertained us right royally and before I conclude I want to make a small presentation to this new Branch on behalf of the Branch of this great Society. It is rather a common experience for all of us, in fact it has been a common experience for many years that especially around the time of the Loan Council or the Premiers' Conference it is very frequently said, sir, that Canberra in particular gives N.S.W. nothing. Well now let me assure you that so far as the N.S.W Branch of the Society is concerned, whether we feel you give us nothing or not, we want to give you something. I've S been very interested tonight to see you displaying the flags of the various Nations of the Commonwealth. The only two missing are Ghana and the Central African Federation. Some years ago we decided in Branch that we would keep up to date with the flags of the Nations of the Commonwealth and we bought a large number of these, and mounted them on a bridge as we believe that there must be a bridge among all the Nations of the Commonwealth if we are to prosper and play our proper part Sin the world. So that is the reason we mounted them on a bridge. And here we have them with the flag of Australia naturally taking pride of place, that is, strictly according to protocol, sir, with the Union flag on the right and the Canadian flag on the left and so on. We always display these flags at all our functions and I do hope that you in this Branch within the Australian Capital Territory will always do the same thing. But now may I formally thank you, Mr. Newman, for so kindly proposing this toast, And on behalf of all the guests may I not only thank this Branch for their extremely kind hospitality to us all but also on behalf of the guests may I wish this most important Branch every success in its efforts to strengthen the ties which bind the nations of the Commonwealth together.
LT. CENERRL SIR HORACE ROBERTSON.
Nobody said anything to me about a time limit
And as Tim the last speaker i presume the rest of the evening is mint Ladies and Gentlemen, several speakers mentioned the flags which are around this room. They take my min (. Back to about 10 years ago, when it was my lot to be concerned in a Joint Commonwealth Venture, and when we had very many difficult problems to face. In order to try and get the various members of the British Commonwealth together I was in the habit of giving dinners to which I invited my various Navy, Army and Air Force Commanders from Great Britain, Australia, New Zealand, from Canada and South Africa, from India and Pakistan and from any others who happened to be about. And we used to identify them by having the flag of their own country placed where they were to sit at the table. We made the dinner a little more "Commonwealth" by getting some Toheroa soup from New Zealand, some Canadian salmon from Canada, and appropriate food or drink from each of the countries, and the South Africans somehow took unto themselves the role I've no doubt because they thought it was the best of supplying us with brandy. Whether the bandy had anything to do with it or note got to a stage among ourselves in which we became very closely welded together (laughter) and I recall the effect on my friend Colonel Pretorius from South Africa, a direct descendant of the first President of the Boer Republic against whom the British fought he was an Air Force officer and a most likeable person of whom we all were very fond. But one night he was move to such an extent that he got up and said that he had lived in the British Empire all of his life and that he had always felt an inferiority in that he was not treated as other than a colonial. Now for the first time in his life in Japan, in Korea, at these dinners and among the others he had felt at last that he was an equal among equals, that nobody claimed superiority over anyone else and that we were all one family working together. I always look back on that mordent as one of our greatest triumphs. Of course, it is natural with a family for them to get together because the family has something which binds them closer together than any bonus can be among friends. And it may be that one of the factors wildish pushed us even closer together was the fact that we were somewhat overshadowed by a very large and very powerful ally with whom we were all very friendly and although we got on famously with our ally, we all felt that he was a bit big and it was a little difficult to talk to him as an equal. I had at times to try and present Australia's views to our ally, a nu the replies I received while always friendly, did suggest that Australia had only about the population of New York and that the views of all the small nations, while interesting, could not carry much weight alongside those of the big nations who shouldered most of the burden.
But I have also had the privilege of speaking on behalf of the whole British Commonwealth, with the whole might and weight of the British Commonwealth and of this family together, and our big friend ha,, had to listen and to give serious consideration to the views that were put forward. Therefore, I suggest that not only for the good that comes among ourselves, not only for the friendship that comes among ourselves, but for the furtherance of our own individual and collective efforts it is wise for the British Commonwealth to speak as often as possible with an agree and unific voice. That is why when I came back to t-Australia, I have taken an interest in the Royal Commonwealth Society and now fulfil the role of President of the Victorian Branch, which I think am I right Mr. Black?- is, next to Great Britain, the largest Branch in the world (laughter). But it's no use just belonging to a Branch and having these pleasant dinners with all these distinguished people here unless we do something, and I can only tell you of two things that we are trying to up in Victoria. The first one is that as the London headquarters provide such a wonderful meeting place where members from all over the world can stay and meet and are provided with all sorts of facilities we have taken a similar step with our premises in Victoria, and we have a residential section where we welcome memb.rs from all over the British Commonwealth, and we have already had a large stream from Malaya, from Ceylon, from Africa, from India, from Pakistan, from Canada, ruin New Zealand and from the United Kingdom. They come and stay there and it gives an opportunity for us all to meet together. The second thing is education about our Commonwealth, and of course what we used to know in the past as jingo, is no longer popular. But there is nothing to be ashamed of in knowing something of the history and of the peoples and resources of the various countries of the British Commonwealth in fact there is a lot to be proud of. And so we have approached Headquarters in London, where they have a Commonwealth Studies Committee and asked them if they will produce a book describing each country of the British Commonwealth, and in view of the startling changes that occur from day to ay, that it might evil be a loose-leaf book so that the new members of the British Commonwealth can be
Incorporated as they grow to equal status with us.~ The Education Department of Victoria has undertaken they will adopt that book throughout the whole of their schools as a textbook. I believe that if we can get that book then all Commonwealth countries may want to use it because it is a rccor6 of great achievement, great things to be proud of, and of the great future which still faces us in this British Commonwealth. Mr. President, on behalf of the Victorian Branch, I wish all success an6 good fortune to the Australian Capital Territory Branch, We are delighted that a Branch has been established here as we feel that the National Capital of Australia is not truly the National Capital unless it also has its national representation of the Royal Commonwealth Society. Thank you for your welcome