WILL PAY SCOT AND BEAR LOT

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18009, 20 November 1926, Page 9

WILL PAY SCOT AND BEAR LOT

FREEDOM OF CITY GIVEN STATESMEN. (Continued from Page 1.) By Telegraph.—Press Assn.—Copyright. Aus. and N.Z. Cable Association. (Received November 20, 3.30 p.m.) LONDON, November 19. The Expurgator’s declaration, accompanying the presentation of the Freedom of the City to Mr Coates, General Hertzog and Mr Monroe was thus worded: “ They are men of good name and fame. They do not desire the Freedom of the City to defraud the King or the city of any rights and privileges. They will pay their scot and bear their lot, so they all say.” The City Chamberlain, from a lectern in front of the dais, in admitting the Prime Ministers to the Freedom of the City, said that each visited the Conference in an endeavour to surmount the difficulties of distance and climate, to facilitate inter-communica-tion and inter-trade and to promote the interests of the Empire. He paid a tribute to the late Mr W. F. Massey, whbse disciple and close friend Mr Coates was. Mr Coates’s soldierly bearing hardly suggested that he was a farmer. Might fortune always attend his patriotic efforts on behalf of the Dominion and the Empire.

Next addressing General Ilertzog, he referred to him as a gallant general representing the Cinderella of the Empire, whom all remembered as a brave and capable foe. “ Public leaders arc more subject to criticism and misprepresentation than humbler folk,” he said. “It may be that General Ilertzog has had more than his fair share, but he is an old soldier, who has learned to take the rough with the smooth. We pay a tribute to his culture, courage of conviction and consistency. “Mr Monroe is ari Irelander by birth and adoption, because he was born at Dublin. He enjoys the distinction of not entering Parliament till he went there as Prime Minister. “It is on such men as our guests that we rely to maintain the stability of the Empire. We greet them as citizens of London.”

The Lord Mayor presented the caskets containing the Freedoms. Mr Coates, responding from a lectern beside the Chamberlain's, said that all New Zealanders shared in the honour conferred on him. Sir Roland Blades would soon be wishing God’s speed to the Duke and Duchess of York, to the heartiness and sincerity of whose welcome he (Mr Coates) warmly testified. He added: “It is most important that Home statesmen, responsible officers and commercial heads of financial and industrial institutions should also visit the dominions, ensuring a better understanding of Imperial problems.” He paid a tribute to Britain’s patient progress since the war, but said that patience did not mean muddling.

IMPERIAL CONFERENCE REPORT TO BE ISSUED.

(Received November 20, 4.15 p.m.) LONDON, November 19. It was with a sense of intense satis faction that the Prime Ministers separated this afternoon, conscious that they had placed beyond reach of misunderstanding the whole range of inter-imperial relations and achieved a degree of reality in Empire unity greater than ever before. There was not time after the meeting to prepare a report for issue to-night. It is promised that the document will be of absorbing interest and importance, and will occupy more than three columns of newspaper space. It is understood that the following is a reliable forecast of the report: In it no new principle has been introduced, but it merely sets out the stage reached in Empire evolution, which never previously has been re duced to a joint agreement.