Britons Taken to Task for Ignorance Of Empire Affairs

Otago Daily Times, Issue 27091, 27 May 1949, Page 5

Britons Taken to Task for Ignorance Of Empire Affairs

Rec. 9 p.m. LONDON, May 26. “We in Britain should be ashamed of our ignorance of the Empire; we take it too much for granted. We are apt .to forget its great generosity to us both during and sin|:e the war; to forget that it sends us about £470.000,000 worth of food and raw materials every year, and buys from us some £400,000,000 worth of our manufactured goods.” said Lieutenantcolonel John Baker White, Conservative member for Canterbury, addressing an Empire. Day rally in London. ? “In most of our schools there is a lamentable lack of instruction in Empire affairs,” he continued. In Parliament they do not get anything like as much time as they deserve. There is no corresponding ignorance- in the dominions and colonies of the Mother Country. They take an intense and very human interest in everything that happens here and are very well informed about our doings. We should make it our business to see that we are as well informed about theirs.”