TRADE COMMISSIONER'S MESSAGE.

Marlborough Express, Volume LXXVII, Issue 21, 27 January 1943, Page 3

TRADE COMMISSIONER'S MESSAGE.

The following statement has been received from the Acting Australian Trade Commissioner, Mr J. L. Menzies, in connection with the anniversary of Australia Bay: — "It is interesting to record that in connection with the early discovery of Australia, a Prench writer, long before the commencement of British colonisation, said of Australia that it was becoming" a powerful Empire. j This remark may not have been liter- ! ally true at that time, but it is true | torday. In the course of its 150 j years of settlement, Australia has | made rapid progress. It is a far cry 1 from the days of the mining towns ! and the few scattered sheep runs to the Australia of to-day. Australia 1 is not only engaged in almost all forms of agriculture, but has estab- ; lished thriving and efflcient seeondary industries based on a modern and up-to-date iron and steel industry. We can look back with pride on 150 years of notable achievements. We look forward to an even greater I future when nations cease to be at: war. "But we think also of the part ! which Australia is playing in world 1 ] affairs to-day, and especially of her j feons w^ho are fighting slde by side I with the representatives of the ; ! iLllied Nations in the great battle for , I freedom, and: their efforts will not be | relaxed till victory is achieved. Australian servicemen in all parts of the world will salute their New Zealand comrades in arms. We — Australians and. New Zealanders — are bred from the same stock; we have the same aspirations; we have no territorial ambitions; we are both imbued with a strong love of country. Let us march forward together, not only as blood brothers, but as kinsfolk in the truest sense of the term."