PRESIDENT MASARYK

Dominion, Volume 23, Issue 141, 11 March 1930, Page 11

PRESIDENT MASARYK

GREAT CZECH STATESMAN i ENGLISH TRIBUTES TO LIFE AND WORK (British pfficial Wireless.) (Rec. March 10, 5.5 p.m.) Rugby, March 8. Innumerable tributes to President Masaryk, of Uzecho-Slovakia, on the occasion of the 80th birthday of the great statesman and patriot, have appeared in the English Press during the last few days, and last night the event was celebrated in London at a dinner of the Czech Society of Great Britain over which Sir Samuel Hoare, Minister in the late Conservative Government, presided. The Foreign Secretary, Mr. A. Henderson, and the American and French Ambassadors were among the speakers who paid tributes to the life and work of President Masaryk, and messages eloquent of his greatness were received from among others, the Prime Minister, Mr. Ramsay MacDonald, and two exPrime Ministers, Mr. S. Baldwin and Mr. Lloyd George. Thomas Masaryk was born in a small Moravian town, his father being a coachman on one of the Imperial Austrian estates. After being taught at a small Czech school his parents decided to make him a teacher., but he actually became first a locksmith’s apprentice and then a blacksmith. Some years later, however, he took up teaching, and after many vicissitudes, due to his rather rebellious spirit, he became Czech Professor at Prague University. The professor roused considerable controversy by some of his books, and he got into hot water by criticising the national programme and denouncing the national leaders. The Archbishop of Prague tried to get Masaryk exiled for undermining religion, and the Australian authorities hated him because he hid disclosed certain forged documents in connection with Austria’s annexation policy. Masaryk’s sound philosophy and statesmanship brought him to the front, however, and he has contributed much to the progress of his loved Republic, of which he has twice been elected President.