THE PRINCE ON BROTHERHOOD.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20877, 18 November 1929, Page 12

THE PRINCE ON BROTHERHOOD.

ADVANTAGES OF COMRADESHIP. “DEEDS—NOT WORDS." (Fnoit Oub Own Coseesposdi;.-> . ’ ; LONDON, October ,10. The Prince of Wales attended the annual meeting at Portsmouth of the Postwar Brotherhood, an organisation which is spreading rapidly m southern counties a . which hopes to extend its social services into the industrial districts of the Midlands and the North. In his welcome. Lieutenant-colonel Wyndham R. Portal (president of the brotherhood) referred to the Prince of Wales as the greatest example of their principles, for not only in this country but .in all parts of the Empire and in foreign countries the Prince was the greatest example of brotherhood in existence.—(Cheers.) Their voluntary movement contained the greatest mixture of men of all classes that he knew of. It brought out the human side of life. They all worked for it, because they believed in it and loved it. They wanted to see the movement extended to the big industrial towns, and they were willing to devote their organisation and what little money they had to attain that object. The Eight Hon. J. H. Thomas (Lord Privy heal) was present. The Prince of Wales hoped his friend Jim Thomas, who had just brought from oandnngham very good news of his Majesty the King—(cheers)—would keep better hold of his notes than he did when they last spoke together in public, for then Jim Thomas’s notes mysteriously disappeared. It was not surprising that Brotherhood speakers were expected to talk sense, because, in his opinion, the movement was the embodiment of good sense. It was founded by Walker Ward 'with only 16 members, &nd during the Past 10 years it had grown amazingly, until it now had 20,000 members and 32 branches.

When he (the Prince) heard of that meeting he practically cadged from the chairman an invitation to attend it. He particularly liked the title of Post-war Brotherhood. During the Great War they learned a lot of lessons, the most important of which was that there should be no question or chance of another war. —(Cheers.) Another big lesson was the necessity, and the amazing advantages, of comradeship and goodwill in times of national crisis.— (Cheers.) One thing that stood out during those long and terrible years of war was the amazing capathe people of Great Britain and of all the other countries of tbe British Empire for sinking differences and pulling together cheerfully and willinglv. When founding the Brotherhood they had asked themselves the questions:, Why should _ this great spirit of comradeship end with the war? Why should it fade into oblivion in time of peace? Could not that great spirit be applied to postwar problems? There were plenty of them. They found that the answer to their questions was emphatically “ Yes," and they were right. The best proof that they were right was the way their idea had caught on. "THE OTHER FELLOW.” Fellowship and goodwill were easy enough things to talk about, continued the Prince, but they could not create and develop an organisation such as theirs with merely vague and negative benevolence. Benevolence was a fine thing, but if kept in a too compartment it was only a palliative. If fellowship and goodwill were to mean anything, they must think, and think hard, how to translate those words into something positive and practical.—(Cheers.) The Brotherhood was undenominational, non-party, and democratic in character, and it seemed to be composed of men of every class, thought, and creed.. All were progressives, all were agreed that the world should be a much better place than it was. They had faith in human nature and a practical spiritual outlook on life. They had discovered another thing—which was also one of the things discovered during the war—that the other iellow brought up in different circumstances—was not at all a bad fellow—in fact, he might be a very good one.— (Cheers.) What a combination: 20,000 men who had discovered that! Thev came from aIL circumstances and. had‘joined together for social service. INFLUENCE OF BODY AND MIND. »^U;Lvi rotlier i loo^ s so ? ! , al services were , after his own heart.— (Cheers.) He was glad that they concentrated on providing the leas fortunate children with holidays—and, a very important thing, boots. They did their best to get jobs for fellows, and they encouraged sport There was no doubt that °? e TTi+ t a bealthy body there was a much better chance of the mind being kept healthy too.—(Cheers.) S _ bke,” concluded the Prince, “your ° fEds ’ no - fc words -' very much indeed, and I am gome to ask you if you ■ do .„ a deed to-night—in fact, now—that will give me a great deal of pleasure. lam going-to ask yon if you will hood” mC * mcmbcr of your BrotherCheers greeted this request, and amid more cheers the chairman infested the "Brethr.n A,'brotherhood badge! Brethren, the Prince said, "1 hope Brn*w(I nS i hat 1 am acce P ted - May the ine in rrTi ,P° Prospering and flourish mg in order that it may continue to contribute to the life of the nation by pivran ha j^ an3l ? le to P. ther People of'What can be done by service and fellowship.” MR THOMAS ON UNEMPLOYMENT. • f lr ,Thomas, addressing the meetins Comrades, said .be never bad subscribed, and never would subscribe, to the doctrine that any oen class in the community was better than another. He had known good and bad people in all classes, and it was not for them to asmime that any claes had a monopoly of virtue or vice. He was opposed to clak* ™* fara a f Dd C , la -r s b . atr€d - He was equallv ? pp ? s J d rtnfe in industrial life, and he held that it was a good thing for a raihvay director (like their chairman) to b % ab lf meet a humble platelayer at trw Tt wafi dually true that working men meeting for the first tune a wicked capitalist as thev finWW 6^. 01 " a railvray director, would SWE-fK? “* mA ba,i Referring to his task of dealing with unemployment. Mr Thomas said that he could only succeed in it by the goodwill and co-operation of all classes. If thousands of young men and young women walked the streets unemployed week after week and year after year it not onlv lessened their appetite for work, but it lessened their character, and their morals as well. Mr Neville Chamberlain commended the social work done by the Brotherhood. The Ministry of Health was one of the most efficient departments of the Government, but its powers were limited, and organisation like the Brotherhood could assist its work immensely.