Davidson, HM, acting Consul-General, rose to propose the toast of the Union.
Mr, Davidson took the foundation of that Dominion" as proof of the truth of Burke's famous saying that magnanimity in polities is not seldom the truest wisdom. Quoting General Smuts' dassie tribute to the British Commonwealth of nations capacity for encouraging various individualities and yet seeming to retain their own vigorous characteristics in de~ velopment and genius, Mr, Davidson, lied Lord Hailsham's recent speech to the Dominion Prime Ministers in London, in confirmation of that virile ity.
in reply, Mr, Gain said that the 27 years since the Union had been full of momentous events, but in China they did not hear' much of what was going. on. He would therefore like to tell them something fof the present position. The public debt was £257,000,000, out of which practically all railways and harbours were constructed, These were rev~ ence-producing, and were owned and operated by the government; deduct Ing the money invested in them, the net debt of the country was about Favourable Trade He went on to give some itluminating Mgures concerning the external trade of the country; the favourable balance last year was £28,000,000. Gold was, of course, the chief commodity sent abroad, to the value of '262,000,000, wool came second with '£10,000,000, while diamonds were third and fruit products fourth, less than £99,000,000 of the £114,000,- 000° of their exports went to' the United Kingdom. Over half of the Imports came from British territories, and there were also some sausage casings and monkey nuts from China.
jut they must not dwell too much fon the material side of things. They had their universities, where all. the aris and sciences" were studied. Kruger National Park was certainly tone of the world's most interesting attractions, lions, hippo, deer in great variety, elephants and other wild animals could be freely seen and at fairly close quarters, 'The Union's trade with China. was, hho regretted to say, very small me deed," He could not' doubt, however, that it_was only a question of time before South Africa found she needed materials from China, and that China Would also find she needed commodities from the Union, Replying to the toast of the guests, Mr, V, G. Bowden said that the gathering differed from most similar occasions in that it was nol a meet ing of representatives of different British national societies, including a number of distinguished foreign quests, but consisted solely of repre Sentatives of different parts of the Empire. They might call it 0 family party, with one of the "boys" (South Africa) as host, and the guests Including "Mother* (represented by Sir Louis Beale and Mr. Davidson) and the other "boys" (the Dominions).
congratulated "Mother" on her eternal youth and her modern spirit fof according to her children the fullest measure of independence and self-expression, She did some of them the subtle maternal compliment re~ cently of letting them stand guard fever her home at Buckingham Palace. "Time was, as you all know, when Mother was rather an autocrat, and felt that children were there simply to do as they were told without right fo opinions of their own—with the result that one of them ran away and. set up in life for himself as Uncle Sam." They could not con~ ceive of anything of that sort happening to-day.
Family Happiness knighthood had been "conferred by His Majesty on so worthy a son of our part of the Empire." 'The English Tanguage was a poor one in which to express sentiments; inadequate though their words might be, they were not stating mere' platitudes when they Asked Sir Allan and Lady Mossop to accept from their fellow South Africans their warmest, heartfelt greet~ ings, combined with good wishes for their future health, wealth and happiness.
Sit Allan Mossop replied suitably, thanking members ofo the gathering for their congratulations and good wishes, Sir Allan concluded with a graceful tribute to Lady Mossop.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.