COLONIAAL PRODUCTS EXHIBITION.

Otago Witness, Issue 2861, 13 January 1909, Page 11

COLONIAAL PRODUCTS EXHIBITION.

TWO IMPORTANT SPEECHES. a (Fxoa Oun Own Correspondent.) 9 LONDON. November 27. ' At the present moment there is bemj ■ held in Liverpool a Colonial Products" a , Exhibition, and the Unc'er-sccretary of " c , &tate tor the Colonies visited Liverpool f • in "connection with the opening ceremony, I : as also did General Baden-Powell. r I Sir Alfred L. Jones is the president of ' the Exhibition, and, in introducing Colonel t ! Seely, he called attention particularly to j 1 the exhibits of British -grown cotton, sta-tmg j that Lancashire had already this year pad x a quarter of a million to the West Indies j. for cotton, and, and altogether was importing from different British territories thie , year 25.000 bales of it. > Colonel Scely congratulated the British. j r Cotton-growing Aescciation en the success j j of it 6 efforts, eepeeially in the West Indaes. \ | and cited the little island of Antigua, with | its exhibits, a.s a type of the British colony j progressing enthusiastically toward a. self-

supporting arud sel'-governing prosperous comiiiun.ity with the sj nipath'stic af^iatarcj of the Colonial Office. Ho spt.ke of i.he British Empire as a vast, undeveloped eeiate. It picgres^etl and succceJ^ed not only because ie was commerciall 1 }" piofitable, but also because it wa^ morally right ; net only because t'wy couid mak-e money oat of it, but bacause they could honest h say that wherever the British flag had gone there the aboiiig-mal native had a better time thaji be vvculd liay© had if the British were not there. While the Empire hod been won by the sword, and wan by beingright, it was being kept not only by being ready but by being- considerate to all subject races luider its sway. Only on those lines would it continue to grow and develop to the oommen welfare. General Baden-Powell was there, and in his honour there were present over 1000 boy scoute of the city, who gave tJie founder of their organisation a hearty reception. In the course of a short speech he remarked that, comprehensive as tte Exhibition was, he regretted the absence of the most woroerful product of the colonies— the British colonists themselves, who, to his

mind, were the very best type of Britons produced in the world nowadays, and the finest example for British boys to follow. Speaking of the boy eeout movement, "B. P." expressed pleasure at its development. a>nd said that in Australia there wore now 100 troops, and in New Zealand all the schools h ere taking it up. He would like tha schools at Home at least to teaoh theboys more and more. " othcre first, self ssocix!, " and in that way ito aid in producing more ueeful and loyal citizens of the Kmpire.