FOREIGN ORDERS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21358, 11 June 1931, Page 7

FOREIGN ORDERS

I - INVESTITURE STOPPED AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT’S ACTION. (From Ocr Own Correspondent.) SYDNEY, May 28. There was considerable surprise last week when the Governor-General prevented the carrying out of the ceremony by which the Victorian Consul for Czechoslovakia (Mr Ernest R. Peacock) was to have been invested with the Order of the White Lion of Czechoslovakia, in honour of his services to that country. Ostensibly, the GovernorGeneral acted because the King had not approved of the granting of the order. Actually, it would seem, the .Seullin Labour Government had raised the objection. No official announcement has been made, but it is generally conceded that the Federal Government was fully aware of . the reason which prompted the Governor-General to take the unusual action he did. It is recalled that when the Labour Government went into office it decided that it would not recommend Australians for any titles. This policy has generally been regarded as applying to distinctions granted by the King, for no titles have been granted by the King since the Seullin Government came into power. The suggestion now is that the policy has been applied in all cases where overseas Governments may have desired to recognise the services of Australians, and it now appears that the authorities have acted in accordance with the desires of the Federal Government. ■

A case which occurred last year has been mentioned. The French Government desired to award the medal of the Legion d’Honneur to an officer in the Commonwealth Military Forces. The medal and the insignia attached to it actually arrived in Australia, but the officer concerned was unable to receive the decoration, technically because the permission of the King had not been received, but actually, it is understood, because of the Scullin’s Ministry’s aversion to decorations of any kind. It would appear, therefore, though the matter is still receiving consideration, that unless a departure from procedure is permitted, and a precedent created in the history of the Scullin Government, Mr Peacock will be unable to receive the order which Czechoslovakia is so anxious to bestow upon him. Several fine points of international courtesy are, of course, involved, and every effort will be made to make it clear to those connected with the incident that so far as the Commonwealth is concerned it was strictly a matter of general policy. It is of interest to note that the only departure from the precedent set by the Ministry took place in regard to the Prime Minister himself, when he became a Privy Councillor, shortly after he attained office. It is held, however, that appointment to the Privy Council is not a title in the sense of a knighthood or a barony, or even a foreign order.