GENERAL BIRDWOOD

Southland Times, Issue 19457, 22 January 1925, Page 5

GENERAL BIRDWOOD

A SOLDIER AND A MAN. COLONIAL LUNCHEON IN LONDON. ENTHUSIASTIC TRIBUTES. (By Telegraph—Press Assn.—Copyright) (Australian and N.Z. Cable Association.) LONDON, January 20. General Sir William Birdwood was entertained at luncheon by the Australian and New Zealand Luncheon Club at the Hotel Cecil. Sir Edward Lucas (Agent-General for South Australia! presided. In proposing the toast of Sir William Birdwood’s health, he urged the maintenance of an efficient navy, especially in view of future immense developments in the Pacific. He paid a tribute to Sir William Birdwood, and said that next to the King and the Royal Family no man in the British Empire was more welcome to Australians and New Zealanders, who admired him as a soldier, and still more as a man and a gentleman. Sir William Birdwood, in reply, referring to a book which described India as a lost dominion, said:‘T do not believe that any Dominion will ever be lost to us provided always that we show by word and deed that we mean to govern firmty, justly, and wisely, and what is equally essential, with continuity of policy.” He said that the Press had done a wonderful amount of good for the Empire, and he hoped that it would do still more. The company present included Sir James Allen and Sir Joseph Cook. General Bird wood, referring to the Press said that in taking up a daily newspaper in Australia, he would expect to find some interesting piece of Imperial news, but instead he saw headlines about the divorce of “Lady Somebody” or the bankruptcy of the Earl of Seven Dials,” those matters were doubtless of extraordinary interest to the people concerned, and the Press would say it supplied the demand, but if so, he urged the Press to fight against those stupid people more than it was doing at present. Referring to the war, General Birdwood said that he often received messages from old Anzacs asking if he “remembered Bill Smith.” He usually did remember them, and was very glad to learn that they were getting on so well. His aide-de-Camp, an old Victorian boy. embodied the Australian spirit of absolute loyalty and “would give his life for Birdwood at any moment.” He always made a point of having some Anzacs on his staff. General Birdwood dwelt on the ignorance of parts of the Empire with regard to the conditions in other parts, especially the ignorance of many in England about matters concerning the Overseas Dominions It was only by going abroad that people could realise the difficulties of the other parts of the Empire. All the Overseas Dominions were wedded to democracy. Such a marriage brought many cares. They wanted all the wisdonm and experience they could find to keep them out of difficulty. The Democracy was extraordinarily jealous of its rights and sometimes of those it put in authority. All must try to get rid of individual selfishness. It was incomprehensible that the great British Democracy should be so influenced as it was sometimes by aliens, who were responsible for the introduction of a kind of tyranny which sought to make men, who were working their best, work slowly.