Warm welcome delays Duke

Press, 25 February 1977, Page 19

Warm welcome delays Duke

3 A Auckland The Duke of Edinburgh was received enthusiastically as the guest of honour at the 75th jubilee dinner qf the Employers’ Federation. The warmth of his reception in the balmy corridors behind Trillo's was such that he left for Government House one hour behind schedule. The Duke’s address was also later than planned. With guests livelv and expectant by 11 p.m., the first few minutes were, spent indulging in light banter.

Ironically, it was the common refrigerator that formed the backbone of Prince Philip’s speech on “the changing industrial society.” The thermostat that switches a refrigerator on or off, the Duke explained, was similar to the negative feedback that operated in situations among employers, unions and governments. “It is tempting to see the Employers’ Federation and the unions as the limiting switches in a fridge analogy.” he said, “while the Government provides the climatic conditions in which the whole system is required to operate. But in the analogy of the fridge, it would be more accurate to suggest that the federation, unions and Government are really more like mechanics responsible for the operation of the fridge, rather than parts of the fridge itself.” In practice, the Duke

said, we might well be forgiven for gaining the impression that the mechanics were more inclined to squabble with each other than to look after the machinery. “But a lot of suspicious, self-centred and squabbling mechanics will never get the fridge to work,” said Prince Philip. “If the contents are to be preserved, the need is for genuine co-operation between honest and competent specialists willing to trust each other and to work together freely to set the limit switches and to ensure that the motor runs smoothly and efficiently.”