OFFICIAL OMIING OF * IZZU WING" ST. JOHN'S ( IDLLI4
Spoodi t' the Prime Nlaisterg the Rte Haon* R. Ge NenS1q 0.11.
Verny Revs Father, Your Minenoe I
I can't remember the sequence an the Premier did* I shell
theroftore start agein following my usual practice and say " 610" fteb
I think always dives you a good beginninge
As a matter of fact in the Courts of Cuiminal Awuviotian I
believe It in not unknown f'or a man uftor su4ffering~ the œ ndipity of
convistion to have a few words said for him by way of an appeal f6w
. erqi~ I am ,, o: nd to reverse the process 1 appeal for mrqW betor*
you find me guilty. Im iltat ing in early,
Firs3t, I apologise for my inability to follow the routine#
iSit lin the second place I vant to :-ay this to you, that the Reotol
made rather a point of direotin,& attention to the presence here this
afternoon not of my old friend the k'remier, but of my present
opponent, 141. Iwhitlan. He seemed to think that this was a rather
good thing, that ir, -4hitlwn should be here as an old friend of this
college* want to tell you that this man 1hltlams if I way s
refer to him, has been pr'isent at each of the fbur speeches I1 have
mab in the last four days on a University occasion, And each time I
start the next ono he in stratesoaUy placed and his eye boomes
glassier, and glassier, ( Laudhter) However 1 am very ; lad, Sir
that you ahould remember him, lkat I am going to forget him for the
rest of the afternoon. ( L~ aughter)
now 51r, vhen T was being baad I think that to the
right vord Into coming here this afternoon I was sent the history of
the College, and in prticular a fascinating document tiat was
prodseed on the 100th Annivosrsary. I wrote down one sentence from
this history, ' If a poorly endowed minority of less than 90,000
could build ate John's what might we expeat from the Cktholies, of
todoy7' Now that, I thought -m~ s a very pungent 3onenoce I an not
going to use it in an accusing sense, Any accusations that I have to
make are, of aoi'rsot directed exclusively to the Presbyterians*
( Laughter) ~ at thore is in that single simple sentence a ' oMu of
significance. Whenever I have travelled in the world and have fbId
myself looking at some great Cathedral built back in the Uth .12th,
13tk century a fireat Cathedral rising from the middle of a ;" lS
andq at the time ti-at it was built, rising from the middle of a tfV
clusters of hamlets or perhaps the old monastic foundation itself,
whenever I have seen these miracles of beauty, these & ar Ml9 f
worship, not miserablo, hungry things, but generous thins wAM
remembered how fey people did them, I have been reminded that upon us
there tlls a responsi bili ty never to do less than the past domands9
but always to do more if we can*
That is of ourse , articularly true if you are dealing
with sae place like thi * his is part of a University -aa Osilepe
withina the University. It Is also a place of religous learning
It is in a real sense, a place of worship* And when it cams
vorsl9pq as these our ! orefuthers have taught us, there ts no room fft
the nea approaa ohno room for what Wordsworthq you remeber
desaribed on lookig at the Xing' s College Chapel at CambridI9 as
the % ioly calculated loe or more". " A ma's reach should emee
his gaspt or what's a Heaven for?"
Ro, Sir I have a particular pleasure in oans here
in suma I th ith most thougtfual people I feSl that " to
hasult been a noble centry. It has, beuen a clever am., a hWUIMSa
oneq It has pushed back the boundaries of knovledpq prtilawly in
sqieaeeq to an extent never dreamed of before but it has bela
disfigured aso other century has for a long tieby vans M veise
than vars9 by bitter inhumanity by barbarim9 by an senS
of rsponsibilitky for others9V Poo bys pressures W'_ ter is
only oft correction for this and that to t hat education should never
lose sight of its ethical rosponsibilities. We are not 11o psoftes
clever barbarians. We are to produce educated Christian people as
suchi as we can. ( Applause)
Sir, one might elaborate on that theme for -leag time.
1 don't need to elaborate It in your presence. U~ nless yuap both
Church and 3tats r' 3, preaented Iliere today, believed in these things I
have boon mentioning this College would never have boon establishedl
and It would never have been extende If a highly aultivated
barboxism is enough you don't need Jte John'ts. But i. f the ultimte
responsibility of man is tia thing that matters, if the true values
of elvilisation are -, he thin tnat matter, then you not * ni~ j noe"
one St. John's,
heatvhei cathl ast tabnad.. aanrdceys o, ub wenthweieecedhn , a isfhc uhenodlxarierssdth iniItnpg aawznild l nrroeaultinigodin o. tu hse Brvoeocasrltpdisogo nwhsoeiubreli ldityyo9u
elimte war more rapid&. j than all the United Nations that were
ever established, ( Applause)
Sir, I don't propose wo detain youg but before I
conlud Ithink pei~ ftap T. should say that when I found qyself, k
reason of the inscrutable judipent of the electors onob mor" irMe
XInistev at the end of 149 decided to 6ile me a second chance
oe of the fisttingthat Idid was to have aComaitte Well
befdo the Xurray Comittee, which eximined the then urgent needs of
the Universit~ ies, The reoasons for that vere sound, a a result of
the enolmous pressuras that came after the war, as a Sequel te the
tal roonstruation training schesme that my preo. essor established
after the warp there was a alamant demand for maom~ 4ation ift tkw
Univerities, far more clamant, far more rapidly growing in terms of
groportion than in any primry system of eduoat'. on, or the lie,
he Uivesitis ehibted every sign at that time of incuar~ fl
either a strong risk of' bankruptqy, or, at the beed, of 4 fAdeu&. ww
or of involving for State Governments burdens which it wa" AN" t
reasonable to suppose that any State & overnment could eaMr unaided.
So this 00mitte, pt to work. It vas a coonittee of
people who bad, tor the most part, praotical experience of
Universities and of University affairs. About two-thir'ds of the Wa
tthhreo uhg~ eha thoef ior ned eolifb ethrea tiroenssi dIe nwtaisa l Incfoolrlmegeed, s awti thth ep rUeant ivvIpamiwir9 or
Mlbvowrn that this Caittee had decided that residential $ Ueg
were a firill a priviate and personal luxury, and they did not am
within their charter of reference. That was really the onW poed
deed I ever did for ybu. Because I suw the members of the Casmittee
and I said that unless there was some sum provided specifieally for
resiftntWa oolleges their report would carry no vight whateer.
( AV9lause) And a little bit-of money was put in. When I leek back
an It nowadays I think " How little it was" until of couMs I
remembered that the greatest technique in the world is to put ywa
ftot In the 6oor. ksvery time I see the Prmier he smiles ed miles
aeots tslweew Bbee'sc auas ev etrhye oroodo t friise nidn othfe mdinoeo ritoog but occasiona a
Whenever I see your brilliant and mueholoved Anehbishap
at Canemt Arbhbishop O'Brien for whom I have an unqualifid
tahdea ifreaettie itni, athned dheo osr. i ts Adnodwq n aws he awneo 9u ld1 csaqn walmit. o stt hstmees ehIM a puttinth
has Of language, one thins leads to another.
rbmrefftw 1 do osirm Just a little bit of wev. 4 fm
UZ% a not boastins. Bt I think the fbot in the dew at that
time did Ito An6 of oourse sines thong as you knows the" have bon
isoasing and now qite substantial1 reoan natiods wth I beeve
will transform the face of lniversity eduoution.
Wherever I p in itustralia and viit a Qniverstif I sea
peat Welldings in hand. I au very delighted to find that In te
wesidential oolleips whiob in a true sense are the heart of the
University, the same sijpo of groVth are to be seen*
Sir Iwazit c~ o tell you that whatever little I way have
been able to do I have done with a very varm heart and a pad Aiii on
this matter. I take it as a jx-: at om iment that you, in thim
groat and famous Collee, should have thought fit to allow v nm
to be inscribed an the wal, This 1 think, Is something that
certainly I had no'er expected. It ame to me as a edat surpriSe.
I wiant Z tell you that 1 shall remenber it for my life with reat
graVtitude and with u tue sense of pride.
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