AUSTRALIA'S FUTURE

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 19679, 11 July 1938, Page 7

AUSTRALIA'S FUTURE

BRITISH AID NEEDED SPEECH BY SIR E. PAGE POPULATION WANTED (Eloc. To!. Copyright—United Press A.ssn.) LONDON, June 21. When proposing the toast of the Duke of Gloucester at a dinner of the Australia Club, the Australian Minister for Commerce, Sir Earle Page, spoke of the Royal Family’s part in developing the Empire, particularly Australia. He referred to the Duke of Gloucester’s presence at the ceremony at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne, and said: “We must ensure that an Empire based oil the ideals for which they fought shall endure. Accordingly, it is necessary not merely to have an Empire plan of defence against aggression, but an Empire plan of development that will guarantee such strength, through the mobilisation and distribution of our resources, that world peace will be assured. An undeveloped Australia would be the Empire’s Achilles’ heel: a fully-developed Australia must become the main bulwark towards making the Empire invincible, even invulnerable. "We have expended more than £927,000,000 on public works and created a skeleton scheme for future national development, which must now be clothed with the flesh and blood of population and production. The fulfilment of our destiny requires British people as investors, engineers and industrialists to help. “I have some difficulty in understanding the complaint that Australia’s population development has been unduly slow. There was not a single European in Australia until 1788. only 19,000 in 1838, and now G,800,000.” Duke Talks of Cricket The Duke of Gloucester, after declaring that anything connected with Australia had a very warm place in his heart, caused laughter by his references to the test cricket. “I hope that I shall be able to go to Lord’s one afternoon to see Bradman bat,” he said. “I hope, without being unfriendly, that he will not be too long.” He noted with pleasure the resumption of assisted immigration, adding: "It is a tribute not only to the remarkable economic recovery of Australia, but also to the fact that the Commonwealth recognises the importance of the settlement of British people in Australia. We hope to see once again a healthy and steady stream of Britishers going to the outposts of Empire.”