FREEDOM OF BATH

Dominion, Volume 14, Issue 257, 25 July 1921, Page 5

FREEDOM OF BATH

CONFERRED ON MR. MASSEY, MR. HUGHES, & RULER OF CUTCH DOMINIONS’ SHARE IN THE WAR Alk> OF IMPERIAL CONFERENCE By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright (Rec. July 24, 11.5 p.m.) London, July 23. The Freedom of the City of Bath was conferred on the Maharao of Cutch, Mr, Hughes, and Mr. Massey. Tho Mayor and councillors welcomed the visitors at tho railway station, and three little girls presented Mesdames Hughes and Massey and Miss Massey with bouquets. The visitors then went in procession through the gaily decorated streets to the Grand Pump Room, where the freedom was conferred. The guests^included tho Marquis of Bath, and Viscount Ullswater (formerly Mr. Speaker Low-' ther). The Mayor, in conferring tho freedom, said it gave him infinite pleasure to welcome the overseas representatives not only on account of tho statesmanship displayed during difficult years, but also because they were representatives of the great nations beyond tho seas. The freedom symbolised tho fact that though we were separated by thousands of miles, vet all were of ono stock, under one Empire, and one Sovereign, with the same ideas, policies, and hopes for the future. "We desire to remember the heroism and eelf-sacrifice displayed by our distant kinsmen during the war. Tho time S 1 long past when the colonies were regarded rather as a burden I han a bulwark of the Empire. Mr. Lloyd George recently reminded us that the Dominions’ forces turned the .scale in the war. and 1 did their share in saving the world from Kaiserism.’ Australians on Gallipoli. Addressing Mr. Hughes, the Mayor said: "When we recall Anzac and Gallipoli, we may well ask whether anything is impossible to such a nation after the great deeds those names recall. Nor do we forget that an Australian ship destroyed the Emden. We also remember what you have done during your Premiership, not only in advancing your great Dominion, but in helping forward the great desire for permanent peace throughout the world.” Appreciation of Mr, Massey’s ServicesAddressing' Mr. Massey, the Mayor said: "New Zealanders, like their brother Australians, showed us the stuff they were made of during the war. It is difficult to express in a few words our appreciation of your services in the cause of th® Empire. You have always been a fighter, and it is largely due to your efforts that the people of the Do'minion threw their weight into the war for freedom. We are glad to show in a. slight measure what your people have done for us." ~ . , Mr. Hughes and Mr. Massey thanked tho city for the honour paid through them to their respective countries. Mr. Massey highly eulogised Viscount Jellicoe’s services as Governor-General. Vast Problems of tho Moment At a luncheon in the Guildhall at Bath, Mr. Frederic Harrison, the wellknown litterateur, proposed the healtn of tho visitors. Hb said that all who had watched the incontestable events ot this annus mirabilis knew that the present moment was fraught with vast problems, on which the peace of the kingdom and of the world depended. Tho occasion which brought into conference the Prim? Ministers of the. Dominions was in itself one of the most remarkable crises in our time. It: meant an entirely new reorganisation of the Empire, or rather the consolidation of the allied commonwealths under the Crown. As an old historian he remembered how vast and rap was the progress in which their time was oast. When he wae a grown man India was still governed by a com P a “ y of merchants. Now it had! a tional Government. In his youth the great Australian Commonwealth and Canada were colonies. When he F a 3 schoolboy Melbourne, Sydney, and Auckland were first built. Now they W seen what those powerful nationalities had done in war and' peace—how glorious their deeds of arms, how much they could teach the Old Country, no merely in cricket, but in every form of industry and civilisation.. M progress so vast had) been achieved in the bfetime of eno man, what might not the future have in store for them and for us? He described Mr. Hughes as an unsurpassed orator in tho English tongue, and Mr. Massey as a man of great experience, both in peaco and war. Future qf Overseas Dominions. Mr. Hughes, replying, eaid the Australians were endeavouring to build up m tho far-off land a civilisation saturated with British ideals. The overseas Dominions had, he believed, as great and glorious a future as the British rave Sould look back upon. Against the institutions of tho British Empire to-day all the forces of anarchy and destruction were gathered; but so long as they stood firm together neither the forces of anarchy and destruction nor of hell itself would prevail against them. (Cheers.) Empire’s Power for Good. Mr. Massey said tho Empire had been a tremendous power for good, spreading enlightenment in every corner of the earth. The Conference had. done good work.’ Some people thought of the Empire as the United Kingdom, but besides India and the Dominions there were forty-three Crown colonies. It was the aim of the Conference to. make these separate entities speak, with on® voice as one nation. Notwithstanding the League of Nations he could not help thinking war had not ended. We must prepare against attack and be strong enough to protect the chain of nations of which ths Empire consists.— Aus.-N.Z. Cable Assn.