EMPIRE’S GREAT TASK.

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume VI, Issue 203, 11 August 1916, Page 7

EMPIRE’S GREAT TASK.

SPEECH BY MR. AV. M. HUGHES. Perth, W.A., July 31. The reception at the wharf was very short. Both the Mayor of Fremantle and the Premier extended to Mr. and Mrs. Hughes a very warm welcome back to Austra.ia. Mr. Wilson said that, although he was opposed to Mr. hughes politically, he recognised him as one who had toe welfare of his country at heart. (Cheers.) Mr. Hughes had stirred up the people in England, and he hoped that he would be blessed with good health to stir up the people throughout the Commonwea.th. (.Cheers.) Mr. Hughes was given a great reception, even the soldiers in tne guard of honour cheering. He said the solidarity of feeling in this great crisis, which had manifested itself throughout the wide British Empire, was a wonderful surety for the future. Ee had seen manv lands, and mixed with many men since his departure, but he had come back to Australia with a still firmer ' conviction that Australia was the best country in tiie wor.d. (Cheers.) It was a great thing to have had an opportunity to see' the Empire at this juncture. The peoples of the British race scattered wide over the earth, held esentiaslly the same ideals wherever they were settled, and were animated by the same resolute determination to uphold them, come what may. (Cheers.) In Canada, Africa, Britain, and here, tiie re were the same basic qualities of courage and endurance which had made the race what it was, and enabled it to ■ carve a destiny so deep in the history of the world that neither time nor idfated circumstances could obliterate it. (Cheers.) Everyone had his own ideas of how the country should be managed, but there was one thing upon which thev were all united. They loved liberty, and were determined, come what might, to retain what they had, and to get more. (Cheers.) When they thought of the many things upon which they agreed, and compared them with tfie few things on which they disagreed, they must all see that at this juncture it was essential that they shou.d keep a united front to the foe, and gather their energies together, so that they might, with the help of God, overwhelm him. (Cheers.) ' "As time goes on,’’ Mr. Hughes said, “one realises more than ever what a great task lies before us, how strongly entrenched the enemy is, and what dreaful preparations he had made for our destruction, but though the sky is still darkened over with the dreadful ; clouds of war a patch of b.ue no bigger > than a man’s hand is now visib.e. That patch is spreading, and it w ill continue, j ■ to spread until we have wiped the horizon clear of every cloud- (Cheers.) We ' are beginning to w in, and we were resolute when fortune turned its black- ‘ est face against us, it is not likely that ; i now, when we see the beginning of the ■ ! end, we shall falter in our stride, / (Cheers.) We shall go on. This will ini- ( pose a heavy sacrifice on all, and it is I as we.l tnat all shou.d realise it. ■ (Cheers.) It is not by vain protesta- ' lions that man acquires great things, but ‘by earnest work and great seifsacrifice. We must be prepared to pay tne price. Victory will be ours. When lit will come no one can say. It will never come while Germany thinks she ! can see tiie remotest ciiance of winning, i for she is an enemy as brave and as re- ’• solute as ourselves, and she has 40 ; years of preparation behind her. For < 40 years she has bartered her right to ! be caked a civilised nation for the hope ■ of wliat this day may hold. She has I lived for it and worked for it. Now I rhe day has come. Sue has appealed to I rhe sword, afid by the sword she shall , be overwhelmed. (Loud cheers.) Since j we have been called, through no fau.t j of ours, to test all things by the dread arbitrament of the sword, we shall go: qn till we have rid civilisation of this foul menace. Jf we want peace we must i be prepared to wade through war to get j it. (Loud cheers.) ■ j f "Every man,” continued Mr. Hughes, ; "must apply this to his own circum- j stances. The (highest sacrifice is re-’ quired from the nation, and we must j not fail. The world is encircled by a | fiery girdle of war, and if we would cross into the green fields of peace we must plunge through that circle of I flames. Then, if we must make the, plunge, let us make it with all ourl heart and with all our strength. (Loud i cheers.) _ | Mr. Hughes, continuing, said that | Australia had cast off her swaddling j clothes, and put on the toga of man- j hood, and men, with eyes opened by the < war, realised that the valour of the ’ British race had not deteriorated under I the blue ikies of the south. (Cheers.) With the hands of her soldiers, Australia had-, earned a- name which had been immortalised in Gallipoli and France. (Cheefs.) The name of Australia had rung through the civi.ised world, and when the war was over people from every part of the Empire would come to this land of liberty and of wide plains, the destiny of which would be unutterably grand, since it rested, and would always rest, m the so.id rock of liberty. Australia was the most democratic country 7 in the world, with a future as wide as it was itself, and a destiny grander than that of any nation in history. To this country pilgrims would come forward from every 7 part of the Empire when the war was over, and Australia should be prepared to receive them. (Cheers.) “While the task is yet to our hands, ’ concluded Mr. Hughes, "let us continue to <ork nobly. To falter now wou'd be to be overwhelmed. To continue is to cover ourselves with glory. These two alternatives leave to a courageous man but one thing, and that is to go on to | the end. (Cheers.) I am satisfied, I from what I have seen of the temper of i the British people in Britain, Canada, Africa, and here, that they will do this, I and see things through to the bitter end. (Loud cheers.)