GENERAL BIRDWOOD
ENTERTAINED IN LONDON
DOMINION'S fiEPATRIATION
EULOGISED
By Telegrojih-Preaß Association—Copyright
London, September 30.
Mr. Andrew Fisher presided at the Australian and New Zealand Club's luncheon to General Birdwood. A hundred and fifty guests included Sir James Allen, the Agents-Genexal, Lords Inchcape, Ashlield, and Hawlinson, General Hutton, Sir Henry Galway, and 11 r. Justice Powers.
General Birdwood, in a long speech, paid a tribute to the Australian Government's treatment of returned men. He ' siud he could not believe that any other country had done more. He was also amazed at what tho municipalities and private committees were doing. He ascribed the excellent results of repatriation first to the adaptability and resource of the returned men; secondly, to the generosity and far-sighted policy of the Dominion Governments: third, to the loyal co-operation of employers and civil communities; and fourth, to the enthusiasm of tho employment committees. Commenting on tho vast productive area still unpopulated in Australia, ho said ho had told Australians that if the British race did not populate those vacant Spaces, the time might ccme when others would think they could do better, and would make the attempt. Me urged Australians to welcome British comrades to develop their rosources. .
General Birdwood referred- fo. the great handicap of the breaks of gaugo in tho railways, entailing terriblo losses of timo and power, demurrage, pilfering, and expense in man-handling. He' was pleased that ! Mt. Hughes had convened a committee to discuss the problem. He was delighted that 6hip construction was undertaken, because until Australia, with her magnificent natural harbours, could build her own ships, she could not rise to the full zenith of prosperity.. Australia and New Zealand were workmen's paradises, but he felt sad at the numerous strikes,, and longed for _ sanity on the part of Labour,. the cessation or agitation, and for employers to give genuine evidence of willing co-operation and concession. at the right time. ' ■ Both Dominions were. naturally going slow on their defence policies. In consequence of' the enormous 'burdens of the. war, they were anxious to curtail expenditure to the minimum consonant with safety. The speaker said lie hoped that,the fine pre-war citizen service would be fostered and not allowed to fade away. Australia and New Zealand should encourage interchanges of officers with In-1 din, and also exchanges of university professors, schoolmasters, and Civil Servants botweon the Dominions and England. He had been disagreeably shocked by tho heat and strength of sectarian feeling in Australia, amounting nearly to exasperation in certain parts of tho country. Surely 'free people should all liv 3 harmoniously together, irrespective of their religious feelings. Ho concluded with an appreciation of his treatment by tho Governments of tho Dominions. . Tho speech was punctuated with' humorous 6tories of General Birdwood's «x----periences with, soldiers' parents, which the large audience thoroughly enjoyed. He prefaced tho speech by holding up a small ■ picture of a placard which the Diggers had displayed at Iceman tie on his'arrival—a picture of an outstretched hand, inscribed' "The Greeting," mid a diminutive sketch of himself, with the words, "Put it there, Birdie. General Birdwood remarked: "That was iny first greoting in Australia." Tho speech showed evidence of remarkable powers of observation in the study of Australian life and conditions—Aus.-N.Z. Cable Assn.
AUSTRALIAN AND NEW ZEALAND FORCES EULOGISED. :
(l?ec, October 2, 1 a.m.) ■ ' ' London, September 30. : ' After the luncheon General Birdvood addressed the Colonial Institute. , Sir Edward Hutton, who presided, recalled his prognostication in 1901 that the incipient Australian Army would prove ultimately to be one of the finest fighting forces in the Empire. 'General liirdwood's armies had justified that prediction. The Australian and Nfcw Zealand forces had become civilisation's buttress in the AVest Pacific. —Aue.-N.Z. 'Cable Assn. .
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Dominion, Volume 14, Issue 6, 2 October 1920, Page 7
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616GENERAL BIRDWOOD Dominion, Volume 14, Issue 6, 2 October 1920, Page 7
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