Disruptive Forces In Commonwealth

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30443, 18 May 1964, Page 7

Disruptive Forces In Commonwealth

(N.Z.P.A.-Reuter—Copyright)

LONDON, May 15. Earl de la Warr, chairman of the Joint Commonwealth Societies Council, said yesterday “1964 brings us very close to the culmination of our appointed task of transforming Empire into Commonwealth.”

In a message for Commonwealth Day on May 24 he spoke of forces which were trying to disrupt the Commonwealth:

“Some are external though powerful but it may well be that they are ultimately the easiest to deal with.

“Others are certainly internal, such as the gaps between the ‘haves’ and ' the ‘have-nots,’ between those on

the one hand who are embarrassed by their surpluses and those who are hungry; between those on the one hand who are proud at achieving their sovereign independence and those others who think only of the seeming ingratitude of those who forget the benefits of colonialism that was based on giving as well as taking. “In the past, Commonwealth Day messages have stressed mainly points of unity. “Today I believe the price of unity is to face the probable causes of disunity. “If that is so, however unpleasant and difficult the process, then let us assert loudly and strongly that the Commonwealth is worth it.”