LORD GALWAY

Greymouth Evening Star, 7 December 1940, Page 2

LORD GALWAY

MR. FRASER’S TRIBUTE POST-WAR DIFFICULTIES [PER press association.] WELLINGTON, December 5. Lord Galway was the guest of honour at a State luncheon held at Par - - liament House to-day to mark IHis Excellency’s retirement frotn the omce Of Governor-General. The Pnm e Minister (Mr. Fraser) presided. Others at the main table included members of the Cabinet and the War Cabinet, the Speaker of the House of Representatives (Hon. W. E. Barnard), the Leader of the Opposition (Mr. S. G. Holland), the Chief Justice (Sir Michael Myers), the High Commissioner for Britain in New Zealand (Sir Harry Batterbee), and the Mayor of Wellington (Mr. T. C. A. Hislop). After the loyal toast had been honoured, Mr. Fraser proposed the health of His Excellency. He said he had hoped for a considerable period that it would be a long time before they were called upon to drink that toast. A year ago the King expressed the wish that His Excellency should remain in office for at least a year longer .'after his ordinary term had expired. The Government of New Zealand urged His Excellency to accept, and was very pleased when His Excellency saw his way to agree. The Government would have been still better pleased if His Excellency had seen his way to continue for another year. His Excellency certainly had been asked by him on behalf of the Government, not only asked, but urged, to stay for another year, or at least until the end of the war. In fact, he could nominate his own time.

Mr. Fraser said he could not pay a greater testimony to any GovernorGeneral than that he was quite certain, when he voiced that sentiment, that he expressed the opinion of all people of the Dominion. Lord Galway, however, had considered that his duty lay elsewhere. They regretted his impending departure; but wished him, Lady Galway and the children, the very best of fortune. As a Governor-General, His Excellency had not been surpassed. He had upheld the dignity and impartiality of the Throne. He had kept himself meticulously apart from anything like political partisanship, and had added to the lustre of our democratic institution. His Excellency had been a New Zealander. He had entered into the life of the country, and had loved it, taking a keen interest in its many activities.

Mr Fraser referred to the great lead His Excellency had given as chairman of the National Patriotic Fund Board in New Zealand’s patriotic effort. His Excellency had been quick to express the thoughts and hearts of the people of this country when London suffered its first devastating air attacks. Special reference was made by Mr Fraser to Lady Galway. He said, amidst applause, that no more gracious lady had ever graced Government House. There had never been a national effort more uniformly generally successful than the Lady Galway Guild. ‘:‘l want to assure the British people that New Zealand is with them, to the last penny of our wealth, the last inch of our property, and the last drop of our blood,” said Mr Fraser. The toast vzas drunk with musical honours.

Mr Holland said he was proud to associate himself with the eloquent and well-merited tribute paid by the Prime Minister to one who had given outstanding service, not only to New Zealand but to the Empire as His Majesty’s personal representative in this country. Five years ago he came to New Zealand as a stranger, and in the intervening period he had won his way into the hearts and affections of all sections of the people.

LORD GALWAY’S REPLY. - Expressing thanks on behalf of himself and his wife for the kind remarks made on what they had* attempted to do during their time in New Zealand, Lord Galway said they would leave with very deep regrets, and would always remember the kindnesses shown during their stay in the Dominion. They had received a welcome they would never forget, and they would strive to do whatever they could when they were home for the prosperity of New Zealand and the people. Lord Galway thanked all who had worked in the interests of the National Patriotic Fund Board, and the Provincial Patriotic Councils, and all the women who had helped his wife’s Patriotic Guild. England ' was deeply grateful for what was being dope, Lord Galway said, and for the £lOO,OOO cabled within a few hours of learning that London was being bombarded. He

knew that at Home there was an unbounded feeling of admiration for what New Zealand was doing, and what she would do in her war effort. The Governor-General asked his hearers to be on guard against some great difficulties liable to come upon the country after the war. After the last war the people rather lapsed into a fool’s paradise, and forgot some of the difficulties. ‘I am not a pessimist,” Lord Galway said. “I am an incurable optimist; but it is in your hands these matters rest, and perhaps it is just as well that one should look a little bit ahead, and see some of the difficulties. We are convinced that our cause will triumph; but you must look to it then as to what is going to happen. It is almost certain that there will be a very violent reaction, particularly among the young. It happened after the last war. There will be a sort of revulsion from the douche of cold water which goes over a nation in war time. There comes a sort of feeling: ‘the war is over, now we want pleasure. Throw open the dance halls and the cinemas. Let us forget what we have been going through’.” The Governor-General said that one disquieting thing he noted in some of the statistics was the prevalence of crime among the young. If the system of education was right, surely those figures should be coming down, and not going up. It was largely that more balance was required, and that could be adjusted largely by education. Dealing with the question of trade, commerce, and finance that was going to emerge after the war, Lord Galway said he was afraid that the good old days had gone, and they would have to face the fact that all Britain’s credits were passing to the United States. After the war there would be little or nothing the Home Government could do except to try to reconstruct its own finance. He was afraid the Bank of England would be rather in a state of Mother Hubbard’s cupboard so far as the Dominions were concerned. It was going to be a colossal problem. There was another very great problem, and that was the whole question of the utilisation of surplus products to see if there could be a more equitable distribution. For a time after the war there would be a great demand for New Zealand butter until Denmark and Holland once more became producing countries. Then the amount required from New Zealand would probably be reduced. The question would be, could New Zealand, s suiplus products be got on to the market and sold? He recommended that New Zealand should study the requirements of the consumer, which' was sometimes rather difficult to do. “In all these post-war problems, we have surely got to get together to think things out, and find what is going to be best,” said His Excellency, “I do not see why we should not get brains and benevolence planning out things for the good of the Dominion. It is with the greatest regret that I say good-bye. I thank you for all the kindnesses you have shown my wife and myself.’