HISTORIC SPEECHES

New Zealand Listener, Volume 25, Issue 632, 10 August 1951, Page 24

HISTORIC SPEECHES

T the inaugural meeting of the United Nations at San Francisco in | 1945 the granting of the power of veto 'to the Big Five was heatedly opposed for several days by representatives of | what were known as "the Little FortyFive" nations. One of the most vigorous 'of their spokesmen was New Zealand’s | Prime Minister, Peter Fraser, who gave |a lead in championing the rights of the \smaller.countries in the Organisation. A recording of this, the most important of several speeches he made at San Francisco, passed at Mr. Fraser’s death into the hands of his stepson, Harold Kemp, and Mr. Kemp has now given | this recording to the NZBS on indefinite | loan, together with recordings of other | speeches made on various notable occa- | sions by Peter Fraser, Michael Joseph Savage, and Winston Churchill, The recordings in the Fraser collection are the speech he made at the Seventh Plenary "Session of United Nations on May 1, 1945; the speech he made in Ottawa on June 30, 1944, before the Canadian Assembly of Senate and Commons; and two speeches he made in Britain when he was granted the freedom of the cities of Glasgow and Aberdeen. The United Nations recording lasts for 40 minutes and contains references to the death of President Roosevelt, the Declaration of the Aet of Chepultapec, the power of the veto, and the failure of the League of Nations, ending with an appeal to the assembled nations to keep their pledges. The Ottawa speech, which lasts for one hour and ten minutes, contains references to mutual aid between Canada and New Zealand, the wartime Air Training Scheme, the exploits of the Maori Battalion, and concludes with a discussion of the ultimate defeat of Japan. There is one speech by Michael Joseph Savage, made in London at the Coronation. of King George VI. In it Mr. Savage makes reference to the im*portance of the Crown to the British nations. "The Crown," he says, "is more than a symbol of Empire unity. For us it is a cherished. part of the common heritage we share with our kinsfolk in other parts of the Empire." The Winston Churchill recording consists of the broadcast talk entitled One Man and One Man Only, attacking Mussolini, which was. directed to the people of Italy on the occasion of that country’s entering the war. ; These recordings will be carefully preserved for historical purposes in the NZBS library in Wellington. .