AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND (GIFTS OF MACE AND SPEAKER'S CHAIR) (Hansard, 4 July 1951)

§ The Prime Minister (Mr. Attlee)
I beg to move, That an humble Address be presented to His Majesty, praying that His Majesty will give directions that there be presented on behalf of this House a Mace to the House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Australia and a Speaker's Chair to the House of Representatives of New Zealand, and assuring His Majesty that this House will make good the expense attending the same. We are speaking in this House surrounded by gifts from other parts of the Commonwealth which are tributes of affection. It was discovered when the Australian Speaker was over here that the original Mace of the Australian Parliament was missing. It was also discovered that there was need for a new Chair in New Zealand.
It was thought that it would be a good act on the part of this Parliament that we should present a Mace to Australia and a Speaker's Chair to New Zealand on the occasion of the anniversaries which they are celebrating. On 6th April, in answer to a Question, my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Commonwealth Relations stated that it was proposed that this should be done. I think it met with the general approval of the House.
Since then the Mace has been put in hand and is being made. The design follows generally that of the Mace of the House of Commons, but its decoration is Australian and it bears the Commonwealth coat of arms. The Chair is being constructed, a simple high-backed chair, to stand on the existing dais. It is not a replica of our Chair here. It is very like the Chair that was presented to Ceylon.
The Motion proposes that this presentation be made on behalf of the House of Commons. If, as I hope, the Committee accepts the Motion, the Committee will pledge itself to honour the necessary Estimate, which I think will be something under £2,000. The actual arrangements for presenting these gifts 2326 will be a matter for Mr. Speaker, but I should hope that, following the usual practice, these gifts might be presented by a small Parliamentary delegation which might go out to Australia and New Zealand at the end of the year, and that a Motion for that purpose might be brought forward later.

§ Mr. Churchill (Woodford)
We are very glad on this side of the Committee to support the Motion which the Prime Minister has moved. On 6th April my right hon. Friend the Member for Warwick and Leamington (Mr. Eden) asked a Question, no doubt by arrangement through the usual channels, to which an answer was given forecasting the procedure the consequences of which we have now before us. We are therefore entirely in favour of these gifts being made from the mother of Parliaments to the daughter States as they were, sister States as they are—I am not quite sure how these family arrangements are conceived of on the other side of the globe —who carry forward so much of our traditions and life and on whom we rely not only to strengthen us in the years to come but to carry our message on to future ages that we shall not perhaps see, in proportionately as powerful a position as we occupy at the present time.
I was a little concerned, because I have not had much acquaintance with the details of this matter, to hear about the loss of the Mace in Australia. Apparently someone had taken away "that bauble." I earnestly trust that no such misadventure will occur here. If it were to, I am sure that we could rely on the spontaneous generosity of our kith and kin beyond the oceans to help us to do our best to restore the loss.
As for New Zealand, the gift of a Speaker's Chair seems to be in every way appropriate, especially as we have heard that at the present time only an ordinary piece of furniture is available for the highly important and dignified ceremonial purposes which should always attend the Chair in which the Speaker of any House of Parliament sits. We are, therefore, on broad and high ground and on more practical grounds, quite ready to give to the Prime Minister our full support in this Motion. I am sure that our united forces will enable us to bear down all opposition that may be forthcoming.

§ Mr. Clement Davies (Montgomery)
I wish also to join with the two right hon. Gentlemen in commending this Motion to the Committee. There is such a close relationship of affection between this country and what are now our sister nations that we welcome this Motion as a further opportunity that is given us to return to them in some measure our thanks for their generosity to us.
It will be remembered that last year their Speakers were welcomed here in joining with us in rejoicing at the restoration of this ancient Chamber, which itself is a symbol of the triumph of democracy over dictatorship and of freedom over tyranny. They also made presentations to us. In this Chamber they presented the Chair and they presented the two Dispatch Boxes.
I agree with the right hon. Member for Woodford (Mr. Churchill) that a Chair and a Mace are something far more than a mere chair and a mace. Round that Chair, which is the centre of this House, revolve the activities, the actions and the business of the whole House and at all times we pay due deference to it and make obeisance to it and its honoured occupant. The Mace is a symbol of authority, and when it is upon the Table we recognise that we are in Session and in Parliament assembled with the great honour of carrying on the business of the people of this country.
This Parliament is regarded by our sister nations not only as the Mother of Parliaments but really as belonging as much to them as it does to us, and it is right that we should send them these symbols which mean so much to us. In doing so we wish them every happiness, prosperity and success in all their activities.

§ Earl Winterton (Horsham)
In the tranquillity of the temporary calm which we are having in this assembly, I am reminded of travelling to South Africa on a boat. One is lashed for three days by Atlantic storms and then suddenly one comes into the doldrums. Perhaps that is rather an unfortunate metaphor; it would be better to say that one suddenly comes into the calm surrounding the Tropic of Capricorn.
2328 I want to say a word or two in a dual capacity, as Father of the House of Commons and also as the Chairman of the Select Committee on the rebuilding of this House. I think it is appropriate that the Father of the House of Commons should assert his long-accustomed right to speak on these occasions.
Speaking as Chairman of the Select Committee, I feel that it is not inappropriate once again to recall to the attention of the House not only the magnificence but the number of the gifts which we received on the occasion of the re-opening of the Chamber. All of us, including the Prime Minister and my right hon. Friend the Leader of the Opposition. were strictly enjoined by Mr. Speaker not to speak for more than five minutes on that occasion, so that it was not possible then to enlarge on the subject; but it should be known that we received 60 gifts, including the two doors, the Table, the Boxes, and Mr. Speaker's Chair, and we did so with a deep feeling of gratitude towards our sister Legislatures in the other parts of the Commonwealth.
It is most appropriate that these gifts should be made, and I hope it will not be the last of such gifts made, when occasion arises, by the Mother of Parliaments to the other legislative assemblies in the Empire.

§ Mr. Baker White (Canterbury)
I should like, from the back benches, to support the Motion. I want to put forward a suggestion. When the Dominions and the Commonwealth made their gifts to furnish and beautify the Chamber, they were most careful in selecting woods native to their own countries. I do not know who is fashioning the Chair, but I suggest that, if it is possible, we should incorporate in it the following four woods: English oak, for it was English oak which carried the first British people to New Zealand; Welsh yew, from which Welshmen used to make their bows; good Scotch fir and good beech from Ulster, so that on our part we carry back the same symbol as they brought to this Chamber.
It has been mentioned that the Chair and the Mace are symbols. There are all too many countries in the world now where the symbols of authority are the sub-machine gun and barbed wire, with 2329 good democrats behind the wire. The symbols which we are sending show that we still preserve our way of life.

§ The Prime Minister
I should like to inform the hon. Member for Canterbury (Mr. Baker White) that full consultation took place with New Zealand as to the kind of wood they desired.