HONOURS FOR MR. CHURCHILL

Greymouth Evening Star, 23 October 1945, Page 6

HONOURS FOR MR. CHURCHILL

REGRET AT DEFEAT. LONDON, October 20. “It was not without a pang that I found myself dismissed at the General Election from the honourable task of guiding our country,” Mr.-Churchill told his constituents when he was receiving the honorary, freedom of the borough of Wanstead and Woodford. “I had hoped the position I had gained in the world, the experience and knowledge which I had acquired, and the links which had been forged in the fires of war with other lands and leaders, might have been of service in this critical time of transition and in the fateful work of trying to revive .the life and glory of Europe within the circle of assured world peace.” Mr. Churchill said he was also disappointed that he was unable to throw all his personal strength and that of his colleagues into demobilisation, housing, and the switch-over of wartime industries to peace-time production. ■ However, he would not waste time repining. “I share with many people deep anxiety about the future,” he said. “It seems to me that the next few years may well decide our place

in the world. It is a place which, if once lost, may never be regained.” The break-up of the famous Coalition Government inevitably led to a wider rift between the parties, he said. However, he could not conclude without reaffirming his confidence that the qualities which had carried their island race to the vanguard of mankind would not desert them now. Mr. Churchill earlier in his speech expressed appreciation of the action of many famous cities in Britain and abroad. in bestowing their freedoms upon him. He observed: “I know not whether I shall live long enough to attend all the ceremonies required. However, I shall do my best.” Mr. Churchill pointed out that his constituents had been loyal to him for nearly 22 years. They had sustained him after the Munich crisis, and voted their confidence in his attitude and policy. “I was therefore able to have a seat in Parliament at the time when the fearful storm broke upon us. But for that, my opportunities of servingi the country might well have been severely limited"and, for good or ill, there would have been a different tale to tell.”

MR. CHURCHILL’S MEDALS. LONDON, October 21. “With his expressed wish ‘that Mr. Churchill should have these medals,’ ■ King has had delivered to Mr. Churchill personally the ribbons of the 1939-45 Star, the Africa Star, and the Defence Medal,” says the “Daily •Telegraph.” “It is believed that this is the first time that a British Prime Minister, as a service officer, has been

awarded campaign medals. Mr. Churchill is colonel of the 4th Hussars.”