§ Mr. Walter ElliotMr. Speaker, on 27th and 30th July this year, this House, by Resolution, ordered that certain of its Members should go in person to the Federal Assembly of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, and there hand over as a gift from this Commons House of Parliament, the Mace, which, by direction of Her Majesty the Queen, was to be presented to that Assembly.
I have to report, Sir, on behalf of the delegation thus appointed, that on 10th September we attended the sitting of the Federal Assembly in their Chamber at Salisbury, Southern Rhodesia, and that the Mace was handed over by us, and received on behalf of the Assembly by their Speaker, Mr. Ian Wilson.
Our delegation consisted of the right hon. James Griffiths, the Member for Llanelly; the right hon. Arthur Henderson, the Member for Rowley Regis and Tipton; Mr. F. M. Bennett, the Member for Reading, North; Mr. Bernard Braine, the Member for '.Billericay; Mr. G. R. Chetwynd, the Member for Stockton-on-Tees; Mr. Edward Heath, the Member for Bexley; Mr. Derek Walker-Smith, the Member for Hertford; and Mrs. Eirene White, the Member for Flint, East; and myself. We also had the advantage of the services of Mr. T. G. B. Cocks, one of the Officers of this House, whose parliamentary knowledge and experience was of the greatest service both to us and to the Members and officers of the Federal Assembly.
The following Motion was moved by Sir Godfrey Huggins, Prime Minister, and supported by Mr. J. R. Dendy Young, Confederate Member for Sebakwe:
We, the Members of the Federal Assembly of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland in Parliament assembled, express our thanks to the Commons House of Parliament of Great Britain and Northern Ireland for the Mace which, by direction of Her Majesty the Queen, it has presented to this House. We accept this generous gift as a token of the friendship and good will of the House of 1385 Commons towards the Federal Assembly and all the peoples of the Federation. This Mace will ever serve to remind us of the great traditions of parliamentary government which we, as Members of the British Commonwealth, have inherited from the Parliament of the United Kingdom.
§ (Signed) IAN WILSON,
§ Speaker,
§ as passed by the Federal Assembly.
§ (Signed) G. E. WELLS,
§ Clerk of the House."
§ The Resolution was passed without any dissentient, and I was asked to convey it to this House. I hope, Mr. Speaker, that in accordance with precedent you will give instructions for this Resolution to appear in the Journals of our House.
§ This is only the third time that a delegation has gone from this House to a sister Assembly bringing gifts. It is the first time that a woman Member has formed part of such a delegation. Mr. Speaker, we, the delegation, would wish to express our thanks for the courtesy and hospitality so wholeheartedly extended to us during our visit to the Federation. The cordial terms of the Resolution bear testimony to the appreciation felt by their Assembly towards the act of this House. We, in our turn, would wish to place on record our sense of the courage and resolution with which this new community is embarking upon a most difficult enterprise, that of bringing to birth in its territories the multi-racial State.
§ In these great lands north of the Limpopo River they are undertaking a new task, with few precedents to guide them. This House will, I am sure, give its sympathy and support to this newborn Legislature and the peoples which it represents, in the steps towards a liberal and progressive system they have affirmed their intention to undertake.
§ Mr. SpeakerI will direct that the Resolution be entered in the Journals of the House.