BRITISH TRADE

Evening Post, Volume CII, Issue 62, 10 September 1921, Page 5

BRITISH TRADE

PRINCE OF WALES ON COMMON-SENSE

PLEA FOR CHEERFULNESS

THE MAN OP THE MOMENT.

(MOM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)

LONBON, 28th July.

One of the Uast public functions, at i -which the Prince of Wales -will be appearing before lie takes his holidstf-^and a very well-earned one—was the annual •banquet of the London Chamber of | Commerce. It was a brilliant occasion. .Dominion Prime Ministers were to have been present, but a- meeting of the Imperial 'Conference prevented them. Nearly GOO gue6ts were present, and amongst those at the bead table were the Ambassadors of Italy and France, the.Ministers of Norway, Sweden, and Denmark, Lord Blyfch, Mr. ¥. G-. Kellaway (Post-master-General), Viscount Birkenhead (Lord Chancellor), Lord Inchcape, Dean Inge fDean of St. Paul's)^ Sir James Allen (who sat next to Mr. J. H. Clynes, the Labour member of Parlianfent), Mr. J. H. Thomas, M.P., Bear-Admiral Sir Lionel Halsey, Mr. Reginald M'Kenna, Major-General Sir F. H.1 Sykes, Sir Thomas. Mackenzie, and Lord ■ Strathspey. It was the first occasion of tlie kind at which Labour leaders had been present. The popularity of the Prince of Wales grows apace, and even by this assembly of 600 politicians, public men, and men of the city, the tremendous enthusiasm shown for His Royal Highness is stimulating, to Bay the least of it. Amongst a galaxy of brilliant speakers he holds his own, for even though the limited time at his disposal may mean that the subject matter of his speeches may sometimes be served up to him by .others, on no occasion is there missing that peif sonal touch which marks his own Wide versatility 'and his sympathetic and in.telligent interest in all the great questions of the day. . His special message on this occasion was to "keep cheery" and make the best of things. During the forty years of its existence, said the Chairman (Mr. Stanley Machim), In proposing the toast "Our Royal Guest, the London Chamber of Commerce had entertained many distinguished visitors, but that night they were accorded a special honour in having as their chief guest rHis Royal Highness the Prince of Wales. It had been said, and 'truly said, that in the time of our greatest difficulty the moment had alwayl*produced the man. They had that man in their Royal guest, the greatest asset the Empire possessed—sailor, soldier, sportsman, statesman, and friend. EMPIRE AND BRITISH COMMONSENSE. . It is ths Prince's custom in public speaking, if he has his speech written, to carry the manuscript in his hand beTiind his back, and he seldom even refers to it.% The stress of so many1 public functions during the past months manifestly has been a severe tax upon him, and he apologised for diverting from his usual practice of making extempore re-' marks^ "After-dinner speaking," he said, "is a curious thing, and I know if I see a man get up with a great many notes that he proceeds to read I probably do not listen to him. (Laughter.) But I have been rather, rushed lately, and I am going to ask you if you do not mind listening to me while I read a good deal of my speech to-night." Everyone realises that the strain of public engagements has severely told upon the Prince of late, and the guests at the dinner well understood the reason for tjhis departure. When he had commented upon the multifarious activities of the London Chamber of Commerce, the Prince went on to say: "The transition from war conditions to peace-time conditions has been, as we all know, a very trying time indeed. After the exhaustion of the war a very rapid restoration to normal health of industry and prosperity could not have been depended upon. I often think that when people complain nowadays—when people criticise—a very good answer is very often, 'We have had a freat war.' Something spasmodic must, suppose, be expected in tlie recovery of trade after a great war like the recovery of a body after some serious illness. I notice that for the moment there is a serious business depression hanging over us, but I sincerely hope that the experts will soon see daylight. At any rate, there is one thing I feel it is our duty to recognise at the present moment, and that is cheerfulness. ; I think all of us—from the Old Country and the Dominions—managed, in spite of everything else,' during the war,, to keep cheery. lam sure it went a very long way to help us to win through. I think it is in some ways harder to keep cheery now than it was during the war. (Laughter.) We have that great unity of Empire\ It is going to help us. I am sure, in the long run, the opportunities for British trade are" bound to expand and multiply. Our powers of. production and the,inherent qualities of our race, as well as in plant, in reorganisation, invention, alertness, and efficiency, are enormous. I understand difficulties that have been created by the enormous j rise and fall of prices,- by the fluctuations \in the foreign exchanges, by the poverty of some of our customers abroad, by the temporary lack of stability in governing conditions, but I am quite certain that British enterprise and , British goodwill will recognise a com- j mon interest, and will overcome them. Looking round me here at this assembly, representing so great a variety of business interests, I think that we can take the enterprise for granted. Perhaps the' reminder to give to-day is that we are really a people of great common-sense, and common-sense implies, I think, a frank recognition of facts-, a spirit of give-and-take and making the best of things. If Jt were my business to call a toast to-night, I should give you 'The Empire and British Common-Sense.' " LORD CHANCELLOR IN LIGHTER VEIN. In replying to the toast of "His Majesty's Ministers," .the Lord Chancellor made a refreshingly humorous speech, yet one which contained a good deal of commonsense and a lesson for those whose chief object iv life is to change the existing Government, whatever that Government might be. He said, at a gathering not long ago, an eminent man had described himself as being sick of politics, and he supposed others were too. Just as well might they say they were sick of1 post-war conditions. Yet how was it proposed to effect a mpdir fication of those democratic conditions as without the intervention of politics? They might change the politicians, and get others who would be even worse. (Laughter.) He was not one of those who believed that the men who to-day sat round the table at No. 10, Downingstreet had been, happily selected as a manifestation of the solicitous care of the Almighty for this country. (Laughter.) It would ba a singular coincidence if twenty-eight such men were'nil collected in one room. He often looked round and marked the wisdom and knowledge [>f his colleagues, but lie had never entertained that view. If he had, one glance round that room would correct it. (Laughter t )~ There were many statesmen

there notiincapable, and.if rumour was. true, not unwilling—(laughter)—to take the place of the present Ministers. In r a spirit of sincere respect let him select two of the most worthy. Suppose Mr. M'Ken^ na were sent for by the King to form a~ Government he might obtain other' desirable men but he would riot get rid of politics. He. was sure that Mr. M'Kenna who had had much experience of statecraft would be the first to realise that the popularity and admiration which many men enjoyed in a private station in life was apt to undergo evaporation when they entered" the Ministry. (Laughter.) Again, suppose His Majr esty, in the advancing fortunes of that great party in vrhich Mr. Thomaß was a-great believer, sent, for Mr. Thomas to form a Government, he should like to hear the critic expound himself after «x months of that Government. (Laughter.) Do not let them make the mistake of thinking that such substitution would get rid of politics, or avoid, perhaps, a more acute class of argument and debate than we had yet had in the whole political history of these islands. If the Ministry for, the time being was entitled to the support of every assembly of constitutional Englishmen it was, if for no other reason, because they were.the King's Ministers,, pledged to cany on -the King's Government. ■ (Hear, hear.) He respectfully shared the hope and belief of the Prince that the cheerfullreess of our people would overcome the difficulties with which we were now faced/ ~ Nothing was to be gained by repeating that aU was well, when so much was wrong. The three years passed since the Armistice ha,d been years of constant disillusionment and disappointment, much of which, might have been anticipated with the exercise of a little more prescience. Looking at the problems presented in the industrial world, in Ireland, Egypt, India, Silesia, and Europe generally, fair-minded men would be willing to admit that if the Government had failed they had largely failed because minds very finite had been.' confronted by problems of such magnitude. But he was not conscious that the Government, as a. body or individually, had failed, and he felt refreshed by the fund of generous allowance and good feeling shown to them by such a tried body of men as composed the London Chamber of Commerce. SLOW STABTERS. Mr. Stanley Baldwin, M.P. (President of tho Board of Trade) said England had been less quick to i-eadjust. herself to the circumstances of the.- time than other countries on' the Continent. The English were always slow starters. We hatt always gofc" through, and we should get through this time. We were not first oft- the mark, but we might be "first at the tape.. Other countries had learned the lesson of war more quickly ' than England, but to-day it was sinking into the-, minds and the hearts' of the , people. Our succeiss in trade and industry had been-built up on three things. The first was the cheapness of our goods, the second the quality of our goods, and the third tEe character of our people. It meant, as the Prince of Wales had said, trusting 'to the common-sense of the people.