LIVING IN PERFECT EQUALITY

Bay of Plenty Times, Volume LXXVI, Issue 14656, 27 April 1948, Page 4

LIVING IN PERFECT EQUALITY

TWO RACES IN NEW

ZEALAND

MR BEVIN’S BOUQUET TO DOMINION

Mr Bevin, the Foreign Secretary, praised the character and tolerance of New Zealanders when he spoke at a dinner of the New Zealand Society in London. The country, he said, was one of the first in the world where people had lived with those of another* colour in perfect friendliness and equality. The unity of the Commonwealth was indefinable, said Mr Bevin—something which made its members move together to resist tyranny or anything that interfered with liberty of mind and conscience. He had told the Americans and the Russians and others that, when they talked about democracy and freedom, they should never forget that this old Commonwealth had been mobilised in man-power and effort to achieve it one day in every three during the last 30 years. “And what has been the result?” asked Mr Bevin. “Bankruptcy in material wealth but the salvation of the soul of mankind.” Referring to the proposals for establishing a Union of Western Europe, the Foreign Secretary said: “Together may we have the chance of saying: ‘You have been broken up in small divisions. You have been narrowed in your conceptions.’ “We are coming along with a policy which is bolder, bigger, and wider, and in our presentation of it and its development you may be sure that, with our bigness of mind, historical developments, and great opportunities, our Commonwealth will be behind this great effort for peace and stability in this old continent of Europe.”