BANQUET TO SIR GEORGE REID.

Manawatu Standard, Volume 9163, Issue 9163, 12 March 1910, Page 3

BANQUET TO SIR GEORGE REID.

(By Electric Tei,egbaph—Cofybight.j £Peb Press Association.) | LONDON, March 11. Mr T. A. Coghlan, Agent-General for New South Wales, N presided at the Australian banquet to Sir Geo. Reid, Australian High Commissioner, at' the Trocadero. There were 225 guests, who included Lords Brassey, Leamington and Strathcona, Admiral Bridge arid many leading Australian representatives of banks and financial and shipping firms. Admiral Sir Harry Rawson, exGovernor of New South Wales, replying to the toast of the Imperial Forces, he hoped the Australian fleet would soon take its share in protecting the Empire' 6 trade routes. Mr Henniker Heaton also replied, and said that the Australian Army was composed of highly intelligent men, but the Australian military forces had not. made the advance which Australia demands because the Government had not utilised to the utmost the advantage "of the British Army as regards qualified instructors. He urged Sir Geo. Reid to try to induce Australia to ask the War Office for the assistance so urgently required.

! Mr T. A. Coghlan, proposing Sir Geo. Reid's health, eulogised hjs work 'in Australia. It was a strange and agreeable coincidence that a man who had made the Federation practicable should be its first representative at the head of the Empire. Sir Geo. Reid, in reply, said the Australian type shows Australian development to be under the glorious hereditary environment of the British people. He was sure Australian finance liad not been carried, too far, and emphasised the fact that nearly the whole of the Australian debt was spent on reproductive works. "Every pound spent wisely on immigration," said he, "is the best reproductive expenditure that Australia can make. All the great parties in Australia preserve the traditions of honesty, which are the honor and glory of the people from which the Australians spring. He'accepted that night's reception as a compliment to the great Commonwealth. "You may transplant people," he added,, "but, as long as they are under the flag, all they produce is the very life blood of this country. Throughout Australia there is an instinct of fearless independence, a devoted loyalty to the Throne, and an affection for the people of this noble realm, which will serve to develop the ever increasing strength and power of the Imperial destiny."