OVERSEAS LEAGUE

Greymouth Evening Star, 25 March 1922, Page 2

OVERSEAS LEAGUE

NEW LONDON HEADQUARTERS. . The remarkable growth of the Overseas Club movement during its eleven years of progress will be familiar to many readers of this paper. The Overseas League, or to give it its full title, the Overseas Club and Patriotic League, is a non-party, nonsectarian, democratic society of men and women in all parts of the British Commonwealth of Nations, who believe in the free institutions, the just laws, and the good government which have been responsible for the progress of the British Empire during the past sixty years, and who pledge themselves to work for the common weal by every means in their power. For some time members of the Overseas Chib and Patriotic League the world over have contributed to the Overseas Alemoriai Fund, whose object is to provide in the heart of the Empire a building dedicated to the men from overseas, to be devoted to the interests of British subjects from across the seas for all time, and to draw closer in the bonds oi comradeship British subjects in al) pails of the wolrd. Full information as to the Chibs plans is now' available to all those who have helped to promote the scheme. Tnree months since the Central Council of the Overseas Chib and Patriotic Leagiw, idler negotiations extending over same weeks, signed a contract to purchase from the Dowager Lady Hillingdon, Vernon House, Park Place, St. James’s, one oi. the historic mansions of London, lor the sum (M £45,000 freehold. The Central Council desired to find a building in the heart of Hie West End of London, if possible in Clubland, which would provide accommodation for Hie headquarteis staff of tho Society and its many activities, and would enable it to olier to members visiting London, premises equal to those of any / tho long-established clubs. A'ernon House exactly suits these requirements. Readers may desire a few details about tlie new headquarters and home. A ernori House, which was officially opened by the Duke of A ork on February 2, overlooks the Green Park, and is situated at the end of Park Place, which is one of the turnings on the left side oi St. James s Street, going towards Piccadilly. It possesses a little garden ajoining tie park, and is less than a minute's walk from Piccadilly and Hie Ritz Hotel. If all London had been searched, a more ideally situated building for the purpose could not have been found, s ernoii House may be said to have already been more or less associated with Imperia! affairs, for it was occupied during the last lew years of his life by Lord William I’eiitiuck, the first Governor-General of limia, whose administration must l e regarded as an impoitant era in the histoiy of Indian progress. If the Overseas Chib had been in existence in his lifetime, Hie ideals he held would no doubt have led l.oid AATiilam to become a member, it the eulogy written by his friend and colleague, Lord Alacaulay, ami inscribed upon his statue at Calcutta, mav br accepted as a faithful summary of his character: - “To William Cavendish Bentinck, who during seven years ruled India with eminent prudence, integrity and bencxolence; who. placed at the head of a great Empire, never laid aside the simplicity and moderation of a private citizen; who infused with Oriental despotism the spirit of British freedom ; who never forgot that the end of government is the happiness f the governed ; who abolished cruel rates (suttee, or' widow burning, amongst others) ; who effaced humiliating distinctions: who gave liberty lo the expression of public opinion, whoso constant study P to elevate the intellectual and moral character of the natives committed to his charge, this monument was erected bv men who, diliciing in race, in manners, in language, and in religion, chevi>h, with equal veneration and gratitude, Pie memory of his wise, upright and paternal administration.” James Al ill, author of “AHU’s History of British India,” refers to him as “a man worth making mm-h of. AVhen I consider what he is and what he has done in a most important and difficult situation, 1 know not where to look for his like After Lord AVilliam Bentinck’s death the house passed into the hands of Loid Redesdale, Hie son of Speaker Alitford, afterwarrls first Lord Redesdale and au- / J Ci'tnccllor of Ireland. The Lord Bales*' dale of A ernon House was Chairman of Committees in the House of Lords from 1851 until his death in 1886. lie was always a noticeable figure in the streets of London, for lo the end of his days he wore the old-fashioned tail coat and brass buttons of the previous generation. In 1836 Vernon House was purchased by the first Lord Hillingdon, the well-known banker, of the firm of Glyn, Alills, Currie and Co., who lavished vast sums upon its Interior decorations ami made it one of tho most beautiful houses in London.. Here, after eleven and a-half years woik, the Overseas Club and Patriotic League possesses its own home, worthy of its world wide activities and an outward symbol of the great position Hus brotherhood of service occupies in the Empire s counsels. Every member of the Society across the seas can now feel that he, or she, owns a piece of old London. From the-’ worldlv standpoint, the new headquarters will silence the sceptics who thought that the club organisers were well-intentioned cranks destined to bitter disappointment, and that the Overseas Chib would never make good. To some money ' talks, or rather money’s worth. In entering upon possession of one of the great houses of the AVest End of London, the Overseas League speaks in a language which all can understand, and proclaims the fact that it has emerged from its strenuous years of youth to mail’s estate, and is now* an impregnable position and ready for the great tasks of Empire service wliicli await it. Readers desiring particulars of membership, which confers many practical privileges, should write to the Hon. Organiser, Overseas League, Vernon House Park Place, St. James’s Street, London, S. • • Alembers each receive a monthly copy o the Overseas Atagazine, an up-to-date publication of topical interest, of w re i 25,000 copies are posted direct to readers in all parts of the world each month.