“Hopeful Future” Of Commonwealth

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31755, 12 August 1968, Page 12

“Hopeful Future” Of Commonwealth

In a small but significant way the Commonwealth Foundation had helped bridge the divide between the awkward present of the Commonwealth and its more hopeful future, the director of the foundation (Mr J. Chadwick) said in Christchurch yesterday.

Already he had found the Commonwealth becoming more an organisation of educated human beings than an organisation of politicians, he said.

try, travel to overseas conferences was an expensive item, and the foundation had been able to provide aid in some cases. The secretary of the New Zealand Law Society had been sent to London for a conference, and assistance had been arranged for a member of the Education Institute to attend a conference in Dublin.

“The foundation has shown, in spite of its youth, that it is beginning to fill the gap. The further we go, however, the more ways we find of helping in a practical fashion, and on the basis of personal and professional links,” Mr Chadwick said. The Commonwealth Foundation was founded early in 1966 under terms of reference approved by Commonwealth prime ministers at their meeting in July, 1965. Its basic tasks are to encourage and strengthen links among the learned societies and professions throughout the Commonwealth. Twenty-five Commonwealth countries subscribe to the foundation, which has an annual budget of £250,000. Its 25 trustees meet about three times a year to consider applications for assistance, but a small sub-committee can also meet at short notice to consider minor grants. Mr Chadwick said that although New Zealand was a comparatively wealthy coun-

New Zealand was also being helped to help its neighbours. A grant had been made for three years to enable one doctor each year to come to New Zealand from Fiji, Samoa or other parts of the western Pacific for six months study in a teaching hospital as a start to specialisation. The first holder of the travelling fellowship in medicine, a Fijian doctor, was expected to arrive here soon. Mr Chadwick said the trend in developing countries of the world had always been for law and medicine to be the attractive professions. “We have to show there are other honourable ways of making a living which can be of service to the community. “We have to preach the gospel for engineers, architects, surveyors and supporting technicians. If there is no support the whole thing will grind to a halt.” He said a grant of £25,000 had been made to help nurses from throughout the Commonwealth to attend a conference in Canada next year. Another sizeable grant, of £20,000, had been made for university staff in developing countries to attend the Commonwealth Universities Congress in Sydney this month. A grant of £12,000 had been made for doctors in developing countries to attend a series of conferences in Canberra and Sydney. Mr Chadwick said funds for the foundation came from Government grants from the 25 member countries on a sliding scale determined by the country’s size and capacity to pay. From these, grants allocated in a little more than two years amounted to £400,000. The greater part of this sum was allocated in the last nine months. While in Christchurch he will visit the University of Canterbury and Lincoln College, and will address the Royal Commonwealth Society tonight