POSTAL UNION.

Press, Volume LXV, Issue 19675, 19 July 1929, Page 19

POSTAL UNION.

- e ; —-» v ; IN LONDON. l!| PRINCE'S WELCOME TO - I DELEGATES. r I f I {FSOi: 0~2 OWN COaRESPOKDEXT.; I LONDON, May IS. i The Prince of Wales welcomed the . | 200 delegates from 80 countries who - J have come to London to attend the 1 j World Postal Conference. Mr George ' j McNarnara (secretary of the Post and Telegraph Department, Wellington) is representing New Zealand. j The opening ceremony was held in ' the Royal Galleries of the House of ! Lords, and took place in the presence of the Diplomatic Corps. The Post-master-General spoke first. I The Prince of Wales, who spoke in French, which is the language that will be used throughout the conference, expressed his great pleasure at welcoming to London delegates to the ninth Congress of the Universal Postal Union. "I am deeply touched," he said, "by the sentiments expressed by the Post-master-General in the name of all the delegates and of his hopes for the restoration to health of his Majesty the King. The universal sympathy which has been shown to him during his illness has been a source of comfort not only to his Majety but to all the members of his family, and we cannot sufficiently express our gratitude. The last congress, which was held at Stockholm five years ago, celebrated the jubilee of the Postal Union. The Congress which opens to-day marks a new and most important stage. Your meeting now recognises that that universality which it has made its ideal for more than 50 years is completely realised. "The Postal Union has the right to be proud of its past and of the continuous progress which it has realised. In the maintenance of postal communication its aim is universal cooperation for the well-being of humanity, and there is no country in the world which cannot be grateful to it for the benefits which the Union has conferred upon it. Not only is the work of the Postal Union essential to the development of external communications and of trade in general, but it renders possible that direct personal intercourse on which international understanding so closely depends and which, indeed, cannot continue without it. First Meeting in London. the formation of the Postal Union, correspondence with a foreign country was a luxury. It is now within reach of the poorest. It is effected with a constantly increasing rapidity, thanks to the employment of the constant improvements in methods of transport by land, by sea, and, in recent years, also by air. This is the first time since its foundation 55 years ago that the Congress of the Postal Union has met m London. This event gives me the greatest pleasure. I am convinced that its labours will be crowned with success, and that the great work begun half a century ago will be carried on with undiminished zeal and efficiency. I am sure that the present Congress will mark an epoch in the history of the Union. I hope that your stay in England will be a pleasant one, that your strenuous labours will not prevent you from finding some time to admire the beauties of the country, and that when you return to your homes in every part of the world you will retain a pleasant recollection of England and its capital." The Congress is sitting in the Civil Service Commission building in Burlington Gardens. Government Dinner. A Government dinner to the delegates attending the Universal Postal Union Congress was held at the Hotel Cecil. Sir William Mitchell-Thomson, the Post-master-General, presided. Proposing the toast "Success to the Universal Postal Union Congress, 1929," the chairman said that the Prime Minister himself would have been there that night to welcome them but for the General Election. The Postal Union was a most remarkable gathering—no other body could even begin to compete with its universal internationalism. The Post was world-wide, and its activities permeated every part of the globe. To those who were responsible for the working of the machinery which rendered possible so complete a system of communication, this was perhaps almost a commonplace. The outsider equally never stopped to think what made the wheels go round. Both of those views seemed to him to do less than justice to a great service, and they could not be charged with undue self-satisfaction if they felt a certain pride, when on such an occasion as this they were obliged to contemplate the inner working of that vast machine for which they were responsible. One of the really important advantages of a meeting of this character was that it brought together the heads of the Postal Service in every country. After such a meeting correspondence was no longer a matter of dealing with some invisible and unknown personality hundreds of miles away. It had been transformed by the invaluable factor of personal intercourse. Concluding, he extended to the delegates a warm welcome from the Government and particularly the Post Office, j M. Hubert Krains (Belgium), speak- | ing in French, expressed the pleasure ; of the delegates at being received _ at the Palace of Westminster by the Prince of Wale* and their gratification at being , honoured by the British Government that evening.