COMMONWEALTH DAY

Press, Volume C, Issue 29507, 8 May 1961, Page 20

COMMONWEALTH DAY

London Message From Society The following message Iron the chairman of the Roya Commonwealth Society (Vis count Boyd, of Merton) am council to mark the cele bration of Commonwealtl Day has been received fron London:— “Often in the past we hav spoken of ourselves as : family. We have thought o the relationship between u as family ties —some of then inherited at birth, some o them almost instinctive, spm of them slowly maturing b: growth. “Now South Africa ha gone (also, for quite differen and rather special reasons British Somaliland and th' Trust Territory of thi Southern Cameroons). An< suddenly we see that tin Commonwealth is no longe: something one is born into without choice. “From being a family i has become a faith—a fait! we can either accept o reject, develop or negleci And what we believe it t be, it may well become. “Those who have decided of their own free will, u these last 12 months to tak their full places beside Nigeria. Cyprus, Sierri Leone—can help us to deter mine what the Common wealth shall be. A matte of convenience—a comfort able phrase—or a challenge to find what things we holi in common? “It is no longer a club bu a cause,” says the message. Commonwealth Day will b celebrated on Mav 24.