EMPIRE EXHIBITION.

Press, Volume LVII, Issue 17315, 29 November 1921, Page 8

EMPIRE EXHIBITION.

THE PRINCE'S APPEAL GUARANTEE OP £1,000,000 NEEDED (IROM OPR OWN - COItMSPONDEXT.) LONDON, October 14. In order to begin the work in connexion with the .Empire Exhibition which is to be held at Wembley in 1923, a substantial guarantee is needed. Already the Government has passed a Bill guaranteeing the enterprise up to a certain sum, but the remaining support must come from private sources. When the Prince of Wales, as president of the General Committee, took the elixir at a meeting in the Mansion House in support of the Exhibition his object was threefold—to ask for, a million pounds guarantee against loss, with the fervent belief that there will be no loss; to encourage British trade in these difficult times; and to start work on the buildings at once, to provide emp.oyment for "mv old comrades, ' the exService men. A country worth dying for, he said, was worth living for. The Lord Mayor of London was the head cf a company of over CO civio heads of cities and* towns of Great Britain, including those of Bristol, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Glasgow, York, Belfast, East Ham, West Ham, Halifax, Huddorsfield, Liverpool, Oldham, Newport (Mon.), Cambridge, Oxford, Portsmouth, Salford, Swansea, Stafford, and Perth. . Before the meeting began, his Royal Highness received and had a talk with, the Lord Mayors of Liverpool, Manchester, Belfast, Leeds, Birmingham, Bristol, Bradford, and Cardiff, end the Lord Provosts of Glasgow and Edinburgh. A happy augury of success in the raising of the required guarantee was brought to his notice in the form, of a telegram from Liverpool, stating that the business men of that city would take.a full share in the completion of the fund, and that with this 6nd in view a committeo had been formed to set out to raise £IOO,OOO.

The Prince's Speech. "I am very glad indeed," said his Royal Highness, "that my last public duty before sailing for India and the Far East should be in connexion with the British Empire Exhibition. As president of the General Committee, I feel entitled to explain just a few points underlying this great 'lmperial enterprise- Itis not so very long ago that I returned from my last two Empire tours which brought me into direct touch with three of our great Dominions and several, of our Crown Colonies. I feel that I have been very fortunate in visiting Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, and my overseas experiences are still very fresh in my memory. -I learned practically everything of the experience I gained from personal intercourse with peoples, and there is no one from whom I learned more than from the late Mr John. Storey, who has just died; I moura with New South Wales the loss of their Premier. In him the Empire has lost a very big man, I think, and a, very good servant, and I have personally lost a very good friend whom I valued \ery much indeed.

Premiers of the Dominions. "Now, during this summer we have had the Premiers of the Dominions and the representatives of India in London for the Conference, and _ I have been very much struck and very gratified by the unanimity with which, they have welcomed this great Imperial project. They, at any rate, do not doubt the wisdom of the gospel which they preach—that it is to the interests of an Empire such as ours,to develop its great resources and exploit to th# utmost tjje possibilities of Imperial and national, improvement. I am quoting these words from Mr Hughes's speech at the luncheon, given by the General Committee, -which set the seal of Dom> inion and Indian approval on the exhibition. I personally share with Mr Hughes and. other Premiers the vein of optimism which ran _ through their speeches* on that occasion, but I also share the under-current of anxiety that we in the Old Country shall be fully alive to the possibilities of what a quarter of a century ago Mr Joseph Chamberlain oalled our vast undeveloped estate. Mr Hughes also referred to sport. I look upon sport as one of the greatest assets that we have throughout the Empire. One of the great features of the exhibition will be the record biggest sports ground that is to be constructed. Healthy recreation leads to healthy minds, and fits us better for our work and to tackle the big problems of national life.

An Empire Worth Living For. '.'What I want to do in this exhibition is to take stock of our British assets, whether it.; be people or raw material, or manufactured goods. We want to explore ©very avenue which may lead to fresh markets for what we can make) and fresh fields whence to draw" materials of industry. We want to invest both men and money in the different parts of the Empire which call for investment, and which promise # an early increase in wealth for our, British nations, and an early growth in the prosperity and happiness of the individual. We want to encourage commercial, industrial, and scior.tific research, and we wai* the different nations of the to get to know each other betterj and to help people to realise that this Empire of ours, which was worth dying for, is also worth living and working for." It was fairly easy to have high ideals when one was not in want onself, continued the Prince, but it was very hard to have high ideals when one was out of work, and consequently hungry —and probably hungry for a long time. It waa still harder when,, besides being hungry onself those who were near and dear to us were also hungry. The terrible problem of unemployment which was facing us at the present moment was the real reason why they were gathered there that afternoon from all parts of the United Kingdom, and the Empire as well, and the real reason why he was so very keen to preside himself. A Practical Suggestion. "I have a practical suggestion to make. Here on the one hand you have thousands of able-bodied men who offered all for\their country in the Great War. On the other hand you hove this great enterprise, which I hope i have proved to yon is solely in the interests of the future of our Empire. Why delay with the work? If this British Empire Exhibition is to portray adequately what it sets out to do no time must be lost. A large work of preparation has to be done, and this would be a cause of immediate employment, for thousands of men who nave already served their country well —my old comrades, the ex-Service men who I, as president of the General Committee, say must be given every possible chance. For this I want at least £1,000,000 guaranteed' for the British Empire Exhibition, and I»want

it guaranteed now. I cannot believe that if one asked .for a million in cash for such a splendid national purpose one would seek in vain. But I am not asking for a million in cash. 1 am asking the banking, commercial, and industrial interests of the country to-dis-play their faith in our common future by giving guarantees on which the banks are prepared to lend money which can be "spent now in constructional work at Wembley. We do not think these guarantors will ever be called upon to make good their guarantees, because we believe that the British Empire Exhibition i 9 a v business concern which can pay its way. But even if a deficit should result, .spread over such a large fund, the individual liability of each guarantor must be relatively small. The Dominions are already taking their part, and will provide at their own expense their own pavilions and their own exhibits. It would indeed be a sorry thing if this great heart of the Empire could not also do its share. "I shall be away eight months, ana I- hope to get further experience of what the British ■ Commonwealth of nations means, and to secure first-hand information of some of the difficult problems of the Far East. But it is not pleasant for me to leave these shores, realising the bleak outlook which faces so many thousands in the coming winter. Nothing, I can assure you, would give me a better_ send-off than the knowledge that you will tackle this problem of guarantees forthwith, and that in this way there will be, at all events, a few thousand happier homes, due to your efforts."

Foundations of British Trade. j Mr Churchill (Secretary of State fir the Colonies) afterwards addressed the meeting. In lie course of. his speech he said: "We may hope that trade depression has passed its worst point, but there is no.reason to suppose that difficult and adverse conditions will not continue for many years, as, they did after the Napoleonic wars. We have to take temporary steps to alleviate the unemployment, but we must also look ahead and lay broad and firm the foundations on which British trade can be prosperously erected., We must look. forward and consider the condi- | tions which will secure a solid basis I for the industry of/this country, not only this year and 1 next year /but five, ten, and twenty years ahead. I was looking this morning in my room in! the Colonial Office over the maps of the British Empire—the great Itominions in stately the long "array of fertile iCrown Colonies, the multitude of islands in every quarter of the globe. ... "I could not help wondering whether it was not for some such period'as'this that the genius.of our island race, had] by enterprise and daring in. good times and bad, through so many centuries of strife and effort, laid up this treasure and inheritance to be the means of continuing the life''-and' power of, our nation, and to ensure its being-able to fulfil its task in human history. Is it not a sure instinct that has led his Royal Highness thA Prince'. of Wales to devote the opening years of his public life to studying this great subject and ■ proclaiming this grand idea- of which he may increasingly during his •life witness the fruition P This Exhibition of all the resources and products of the Empire to beheld in 1923 is a project which has been sustained and driven forward by his personal, energy, activity, and<entnußiasm." ~, After referring to the Prince's kindly thought for those who are suffering at the present time; Mr Ohurohill concluded': "But it is not the-effect which may be produced- oh the immediate situation which invests this enterprise with its main importance.. It is in the influence this exhibition may have upon the future that tlje-true-significance of the work wevare gathered to. do resides, by stimulating the interest'of all classes in the practical advantages-of Imperial development, by spreading knowledge of the potentialities of-inter-Imperial produOtionj 'm joining hands across the sea, in uniting and combining forces which divided are ineffectual, but winch concentrated are irresistible, in knitting together by everstrengthening ties the structure of our free and peaceful community of nations; In doing this through'the agenqy, of "the British Empire Exhibition,-;we are hot only dealing with the emergencies of the present, but we are creating.while time remains the means for the future survival of our race and name, and Cor the ultimate fulfilment of our mission in this world."

([By C»M»—Pie»s AMooiation—Copyright.) (Australian and N.Z. Cable Association.) LONDON; November 23. A commission headed by Mr E. A. Belcher, assistant-director of the British Empire Exhibition, 1023, will start a tour of the Dominions on January 21st. The visit to Australia will extend from April to June, and the commission wi)l then proceed t6 New Zealand. Six weeks will be spent in the principal towns to discuss arrangements with the Prime Ministers tend business men. The commission will propose a limited scheme of free passages' to be granted at the option of Chambers of Commerce,