CIVIC WELCOME.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume I, Issue 247, 21 November 1914, Page 2

CIVIC WELCOME.

MR AND MRS SNOWDEN. The well-known English Socialist M.P., Mr Philip Snowden, and Mrs Snowden, who are at present in New Zealand for the purpose of taking part in the No-License campaign, were accorded a civic welcome at the. City Council Chambers this morning.

His Worship the Mayor, in introducing the visitors, referred to Mr Snowden as a member of the British House of Parliament, and paid a tribute to that great institution and to Mr Snowden's work. In welcoming him, ho said, he was received as a representative from that great and glorious country which gave many New Zealanders birth, the country which even those born in New Zealand were proud to call "home," and/ referred to her sense of duty to the'world which caused her rather to go under than sacrifice her honour. 'He then. called upon Mr L. M. Isitt ~to speak, as representing the New Zealand Parliament.

Mr Isitt said it was a real honour to him to be called upon to welcome the visitors. All New Zealanders were, glad to see Mr Snowden in his place in the British House of Commons, because he was there to voice the n«eda of a great section of the British public, whose conditions required attention more than anything. When he had first met Mr Snowden in England, he had had the honour to cross swords witih him on the temperance question, aud found him an opponent worthy of his steel. Mr Snowden was then not quite so advanced in his advocacy of the Prohibition cause, but he was glad that he had how joined heart and soul in the movement which he believed was going to do more for the advancement of the world than any other movement. Mr Isitt,also refeired to the,propaganda work carried on by Mr and Mrs Snowden, in wnich they were fighting to abolish the evils \of slum areas, and conditions bf life ; which would be insupportable \ to' New Zealanders^, Mr Snowden, in replying, said he felt the reception aa ■• a very great honour. Everywhere:else in New-Zealand he had been asked if he had seen Christchurch, and had been told it was "the. most English city in New Zealand," and he was especially, glad to be welcomed in a city so essentially English. He understood that it was not because of his personal merits that tie was welcomed, but because he,was a member of the British House of Commons, and though the House of Commons had its; shortit was undoubtedly the greatest institution of the;world, the mother of Parliaments. It was also, he said, the most democratic of institutions, for a man in the House of Commons was valued not because of birth or wealth, but because of ability. He belonged to a small group in the House, some of whom had education, but not one of whom had gone through a university, yet no section was listened to with greater l'espect and courtesy than the Labour group. The reason was that the-members spoke, they spoke not -as Scribes and Pharisees, but as men with the authority of actual experience. He ah?o referred to the outbreak of tlie war, and the, utter unconsciousness of its coming at the time when he left England, At that time Mr Lloyd George had said, that the European situation was so very satisfactory that it was believed the country could afford, to retrench, on, armaments. When they -entered the Rocky Mountain district of, Canada there was not a whisper of war, i and when they came out the world was j full of it.r They had felt under, an obligation to their friends in New Zealand _ whom they had promised to help,. and; after much exchange of cables they | had come here. They had now been in , New Zealand for two months, and on , every side they had been received with splendid hospitality. They had often been asked what they thought of New .Zealand, and their answer was that they thought a great deal,of it, and the impression was that for 1 its 50 or 60 years of* life a great deal of work must have beeH* >; accomplished. Its. past, though briefjj was one'of which to be proud, and there was a greater future before it. In speaking of municipal government he said that he had begun his career as a, member of a small parish council, and had gradually risen to become a member of larger bodies I—it 1 —it was his education in | politics—and he placed a very high j value on municipal work. Parliament' made laws, but the municipality ad- j ministered them, and many of the great j social problems would, he believed, be eventually solved.by the municipalities. Christchurch seemed to be a very well governed city, and that was his general impression of all the cities in New Zealand. When they returned to England they would carry with them pleasant memories—New Zealand, which before was something of an abstraction, would be a pleasant reality, and he believed that in the future there would be here—in this Southern . Ocean—a nation as great as England now is.

Mrs Snowden, who was asked -by the Mayor to speak, made her remarks forcefully and with considerable humour. Although she had not desired to speak, she considered the request must be due to the natural courtesy of the New Zealander, desiring to give the woman the privilege of the last word. Her husband had, however, spread all over the subject and had left her nothing to say. She made reference to her propaganda work in the cause of Women's Suffrage and> other matters, with many witty illustrations, and said she could only echo her husband's words in speaking of the many pleasant experiences they had had in New Zealand. One thing had struck her particularly in this country, and that was that it seemed so largely inhabited by people of British birth, in distinction to Canada, which had many large areas of other European peoples. One bad thing she had noticed in New Zealand, and it existed in England and elsewhere, and that was that many of the newspapers suffered from the taint of commercialism in that they permitted the publication of articles as advertisements whieh might distort a man's utterances, and then, when the man demanded the right to reply he was' told he might do so, by paying for it. as an advertisement. As a wife she felt the injustice keenly. In conclusion, she expressed her gratitude for the splendid reception they had had everywhere, and remarked on the magnificent loyalty of this remotest part of the Empire, a loyalty which they had learned of at first hand, and woidd speak of at first hand'on returning to England.