VISITING STATESMAN

Evening Post, Volume CXXII, Issue 74, 24 September 1936, Page 9

VISITING STATESMAN

MR. R. B. BENNETT

WORK FOR EMPIRE

PEACE OF WORLD

The need for the outposts of the British Empire to present a unified and dauntless front in the interests of peace was stressed by the Rt. Hon. R.B. Bennett, Leader of the Opposition in the Canadian Parliament, when he addressed members of the Travel Club and the English-speaking Union last evening. A large number of members listened attentively to the eloquent address of the guest of the. evening. At the conclusion of the addresses supper was served and a social hour Giijoysd. The Mayor (Mr. T. C. A. Hislop), president of the Travel Club, welcomed Mr Bennett on behalf of members, and said that he was sure they were all glad to welcome one who had played a leading part in the affairs of Canada and the British Commonwealth of Nations. He went on to refer to the histors °f Canada and to the great men that Dominion had produced and those who had laid the foundation of the industrial life of Canada. The work of the men who drove through the Canadian Pacific Railway was an inspiration to all, he said, and New Zealanders could take pride m the blood brotherhood of the people of Canada. For 30-odd years Mr. Bennett had been identified with the public life of Canada, and as a young man he had distinguished himself in Alberta. !He had served Alberta until 1927 when he became Prime Minister of Canada, and later still did work that led to the Ottawa Conference, a conference that had meant much to the British Commonwealth of Nations. In conclusion Mr. Hislop, on behalf of the club and the citizens of Wellington, extended a welcome- to Mr. Bennett. MINISTER'S WELCOME. The Minister of Industries and Commerce (the Hon. D. G. Sullivan) spoke on behalf of the Government, and said he felt privileged to be present to join in a welcome to Mr. Bennett. Mr. Hislop had talked of the great land of Canada and its great statesmen, and he had been inspired by all that had been said, but the personality of Mr. Bennett had reached him more impressively than anything else. No one could meet and know Mr. Bennett without becoming his friend, and that showed why Mr. Bennett had attained to the position he had reached. Because of that he welcomed the opportunity to welcome him. Mr. Sullivan said he had been present at a State luncheon that day and had listened to a most eloquent address from Mr. Bennett, and could understand what Mr. Savage had meant when he said that after hearing Mr. Bennett he felt like offering him a job in the New Zealand Cabinet. Mr. Sullivan said he hoped Mr. Bennett had seen some of the beauty sjgots of New Zealand and had realised just how warm a spot Canada had in the hearts of New Zealanders. Many New Zealanders travelled through Canada on their way to Europe, and he hoped Mr. Bennett would persuade more Canadians to visit New Zealand. Mr. Bennett was most welcome to New Zealand, and the only regret was that he could not stay longer. Mr. Sullivan expressed the hope that Mr. Bennett would be able to pay another visit either in his present capacity or in a higher one. NOTE OF INTERROGATION. In reply, Mr. Bennett said it was difficult for him to find words to express his appreciation of the welcome extended to him. He felt, he said, that he was a note of interrogation to some Departments in New-Zealand, and that might account for the welcome extended to him on the eve of his departure for Australia. He had had a delightful time in New Zealand. Before leaving • Canada he had interviewed Mr. Collins, the New Zealand Trade Commissioner at Toronto, who had convinced him that New Zealand was the first place on earth. He had been given every opportunity to meet the people of New Zealand and to see the beauty spots of the country. He had seen the farmers at work, the development of electric power, the highways, the railways, and he could not help but think that nowhere else in the world had a million and a half of people achieved so much. If New Zealanders would catalogue their achievements and compare them with the same number of people elsewhere, it must be agreed that it was a wonderful achievement and without parallel. Tasman had not even landed in the country and Cook did not visit the country until one hundred years later. With him had been a man named Vancouver, after whom Vancouver had been named. He had been present at that city one hundred and fifty years after Vancouver visited it, and he was now in Wellington when the citizens were thinking of celebrating its centenary. HISTORY OF DOMINION. "Think it over, friends," he said. "You do not count your history in centuries, but in decades." Mr. Bennett referred to the. age of places in Canada and to the youth of New Zealand, and said the two Dominions were bound together by intangible ties and the tangible ties of trade. Intangible ties had led men from both Dominions to fight in Flanders and the same ties held the. Empire together. Forty per cent, of the citizens of Canada were descendants of the early settlers who had been loyal to the Crown. So loyal had they been,that their descendants were still a factor in the life of Canada. Those settlers of the Eastern Provinces had hewed homes from the wilderness in the way the settlers of New Zealand had done. The life of the settlers of both. New Zealand and Canada was transient. They did their duty, lived their day. and worked that their children's children might be safe. What he had seen of the present generation in New Zealand and Canada convinced him that the settlers need not be ashamed of them. Nation building in Canada had been difficult. Not only had' they to com* bat climatic difficulty, but also the magnetic pull of a new republic that was growing by leaps and bounds to the south of them. Canada was a great country—very great—with half a continent that had grown slowly and had builded cities, harbours, and bridges, but they had not been built any sounder than those of New Zealand. The building of the Canadian Pacific was an epic, largely due to the Scot, for Canada and New Zealand both owed much to the Scots. Another Scot had built another railway with the result that Canada had too many railways. New Zealanders might complain, but they had not made some of the mistakes that Canadians had made. New Zealand had provided her people with electric current at a lower rate than most, and he was proud of what had been done, but if New Zealand was to go forward a larger population was necessary. THE FUTURE, In conclusion, Mr. Bennett said he represented the ninth generation of

his family on the American continent. He had seen wonderful changes take place during his lifetime, but he had never seen the luxuries of life extended to people in small communities as he had seen them in New Zealand. He went on to refer to his political career, and said that he would always regard it as a great privilege to have served his country.

Mr. Bennett also referred to the high name New Zealanders had won in the Great War, and said they were comrades with the Canadians in sacrifice. Was it in vain? he asked. Was all the struggle of the war years for naught? Only twenty years after the war there were armed forces in millions ready to spring at each other's throats and all the forces of science were marshalled for the same purpose. "How are we going to do our part to preserve the world's peace?" he asked.

Democracies could not live without peace. Democracy was -the negation of -war because its very foundation was peace. What were ;they going to do about it? he asked again. He felt he would not be doing his duty if he did not direct the thoughts of his listeners to the serious question of achieving peace. He could not say how peace was to be secured, but he could say it was essential to the future of civilisation.

From New Zealand he carried two profound convictions. One was the profound loyalty of New Zealanders to the Empire, and the other was that New Zealand was rearing a race of men and women of whom the Empire could be proud. He had visited New Zealand schools and had seen sturdy boys and girls of whom any nation could be proud. Napoleon had said that God always struck on the side of the strongest battalions, but that was not always so. Britain had saved the world on four occasions, the last being during the Great War. when victory could not have been achieved without the Empire. Yet the greatness of Britain did not rest on her victories but on the ability of Britons to mete out justice. No one could talk to the Maoris without realising that. Britain had kept her word; she promised disarmament and had disarmed, only to find all nations armed around her. He hated to think of the Empire arming again, but armaments were necessary, not for offence but for defence. The British Empire was the..only decentralised empire the world had ever, known and those who were outside the centre could work for the peare of the world. If Britons showed a unity of purpose and dauntless courage the rest of the world must see "that whatever comes from the four corners of the world England stands."