MR BRUCE HONOURED

Otago Daily Times, Issue 19980, 23 December 1926, Page 11

MR BRUCE HONOURED

A FAREWELL LUNCHEON. TRIBUTES TO HIS WORK. EMPIRE’S BRIGHT FUTURE (Pre» Association—By Telegraph—Copyright.) LONDON, December 21. Sir Joseph Cook (the Australian High Commissioner) presided at a representative gathering at Australia House for a farewell luncheon to Mr Bruce. Those present included Mr L. S. Amery, Viscount Burnham, the Agents-General, Sir Henry Galway, Mr R. W. Gepp, Mr Arthur Henderson, Sir Douglas Hogg, Mr J. G. Latham, Sir Douglas Mawson, Sir Newton Moore, Professor M‘Dougall, Sir Mathew Nathan, Lord Riddell, the Marquis of Salisbury, Sir Mark Sheldon, and Lord Stanley. Sir Joseph. Cook read a letter of apology from the Earl of Balfour, in ■which the writer expressed the highest opinion of Mr Bruce’s statesmanship. Sir Joseph Cook paid a tribute to the work of Mr Henderson and the Marquis of Salisbury in Australia, and emphasised the remarkable and prophetic character of Mr Bruce’s utterance at the luncheon preceding the conference. Mr Bruce was faced by arduous tasks, including the transfer of the Federal capital, but with the turning of the year—indicated by the shortest day—the Empire, including Australia, was faced with a bright apd prosperous future. Mr L. S. Amery, in proposing the toast of Mr Bruce, extolled his great part in the Imperial Conference, and wished him a happy journey. Sir Douglas Hogg (British AttorneyGeneral) recalled the fact that Mr Bruce had once studied in his chambers. He regretted that he had not foreseen that Mr Bruce would develop into a great Prime Minister. Mr Bruce was received with cheers when he rose, the audience standing. He feaid: “I know what will happen when I return. My friends will say, ‘You have had a good holiday. I suppose you are ready to do a job of work.’ I regret that it should have been said that a new era will dawn on the Empire with my departure.—(Laughter.) Sir Douglas Hogg would have been a much greater man if he had grasped the fact that his future Prime Minister was the worst, most incompetent, and laziest pupil he ever had. The observations of the Marquis of Salisbury and Mr Henderson would be of the utmost value to Australia and the Empire. The conference, which had found a solution acceptable to all parts of the Empire, had been held at just the right moment. We have read,” he said, “with the profoundest satisfaction of General Hertzog’s receptioh in South Africa, where an unprecedented spirit of co-operation has been created. Lord Balfour was the outstanding figure of the conference in solving our political and constitutional troubles. As in the past, British common sense overcame the utter lack of logic in the course we had pursued, and so it will triumph in the future. Up to the last three months India was the Empire’s greatest customer. To-day Australia and New Zealand’s 7,000,000 peoplfe have obtained precedence, defeating every other people on the earth. The Empire is awakening to the possibilities of its future. I was somewhat alarmed three years ago by our spirit of facile and rather shallow optimism, but whenever we have faced a difficulty we have overcome it; yet. we have always given ourselves a lot of unnecessary trouble by awaiting the emergency instead of foreseeing it. Fortunately that tendency is disappearing. We have realised that wo cannot rely on the good God to attain our objects for us. We must do it ourselves. I leave England with the absolute belief that during the next three years we shall see progress hitherto unexampled. We must maintain the Imperial- spirit in the intervals between the conferences. I hope that if I am permitted to return hither I shall experience a repetition of the courtesy and the hospitality which has been extended to Australia and myself.”

Lord Burnham, in proposing the toast of the chairman, said that Sir Joseph Cook was a British institution, as popular in Britain as he was in Australia, and an excellent citizen of the Empire, distinguished by the essential quality of bonhomie. “On behalf of the Empire press I convey to Mr Bruce a farewell message of goodwill,” said Lord Burnham. “Australia is lucky in having so pleasing a personality as that' of Mr Bruce’s to embody its patriotism.” Sir Joseph. Cook, in responding, wished everybody the compliments of the season. —A. and N.Z. Cable.