§ The LORD PRIVY SEAL (Lord Shepherd)My Lords, it is a convention of your Lordships' House that from time to time we pay tribute to those who were Members of this House and who have departed. As part of that convention, we think particularly of those who have been both Governor-Generals and Members of this House, perhaps as recognition of the Commonwealth link and the debt that we in the United Kingdom owe to the Commonwealth. Therefore, I should like to pay tribute to the memory of a most distinguished Member of your Lordships' House, Lord Casey, who died last Thursday. Some Members of the House may have come here too recently to remember the benign and gentlemanly figure who came to sit on the Cross Benches after a lifetime in Australian politics; perhaps a surprise, since Australian politics is not exactly known for both those qualities, particularly the former. But those of us who were Members in the early 1960s 2 were charmed and deeply moved by his love of his own country and of the United Kingdom, and we shall mourn his death with very great feeling.
It was Dick Casey's well-deserved honour to be the first Life Peer from Australia, receiving his title in 1960 when he retired after nine years as Minister for External Affairs. In 1965, he became Governor-General of Australia, only the third of his countrymen to hold that office, and at the conclusion of his distinguished career in 1969 he became a Knight of the Garter. I regard it as a matter of regret that the noble Lord, Lord Carrington, cannot be here today to pay his own tribute, because he would have been able from personal knowledge and experience to express a judgment on the great role which Lord Casey played in Australian affairs. Nevertheless, we can celebrate his achievements in promoting the close bond between Britain and Australia, and the mutual respect and affection felt by the two countries for each other
. In no way is this more true than in relation to Lord Casey's service in war-time, when he was invited by Churchill to join the War Cabinet as British Minister of State in the Middle East. He was one of those members of the Commonwealth to whom we in this country owe so much. He reached Cairo in May 1942 at a crucial stage of the war, and when this was successfully completed went on to India as Governor of Bengal. He returned to 3 Australian politics after the war, but was a regular visitor to this country and, during the period after he took his seat, he contributed regularly to our debates, giving special attention, naturally, to debates on the Commonwealth.
We should have liked to hear him more often but, of course, his home was Australia and his heart was there, and on his visits here I think he conscientiously bided by the maxim—perhaps, also, setting us all an example—that speakers should break their silence only when their knowledge of a subject warranted it. Sadly, we shall not be able to hear his wise words again; but I am sure that I carry the whole House with me in mourning his death and sending our deepest sympathy to his widow and family, and also to the Commonwealth of Australia.
Earl ST. ALDWYNMy Lords, the noble Lord the Leader of the House has paid a warm and well-deserved tribute to our late colleague, Lord Casey. I was very glad that he made a special point of mentioning my noble friend Lord Carrington, because of his very close association not only with Lord Casey but with Australia, and I know that nothing other than his enforced absence abroad would have prevented him from paying tribute to Lord Casey today. In his absence, I should like to take this opportunity of associating noble Lords on this side of the House with everything which the noble Lord the Leader of the House has said.
The noble Lord touched generally on Lord Casey's distinguished career, spanning as it did both war and peace, and has spoken of the great love which Lord Casey had for the Commonwealth connection and the value he placed on the close ties between the country of his birth, Australia, and this country where much of his wartime service was spent. I should like to speak briefly, however, about Lord Casey as a Member of your Lordships' House. He became a Life Peer in 1960, following his resignation after nine years as Minister for External Affairs in Australia. He was extremely proud of the honour of being the first, and only, Australian Life Peer.
Within a week of his introduction he made his maiden speech, a fact that will 4 be of no surprise to those who knew him well. He was always decisive and wasted no time in achieving his objectives. He was a Member of this House for some 16 years. Until recently he returned to attend the House at least once a year and we looked forward to those visits every summer. During his earlier years as a Member of your Lordships' House he spoke regularly on subjects such as civil aviation and economic affairs, and frequently he introduced debates, many on Commonwealth matters on which, of course, he was a great expert.
His last speech in this House was on the Motion moved by the late Lord Egremont, that speeches in this House should be shorter. In this debate he frankly admitted that lie had been much at fault in making speeches of an average length of over 20 minutes. Characteristically he showed in this debate his awareness of how Parliamentary institutions should change and keep up to date and suggested:
…if your Lordships' House is to maintain itself as a serious part of the machinery of Government, we must speed up and sharpen up our deliberations ".—[Official Report, 13/7/65; col. 119.]My Lords, those words are as true today as when he spoke. It was he who in that debate first coined the title " Egremont Rules " which has since from time to time been used to remind this House that our speeches should he shorter; and I cannot resist the opportunity of adding that I wish he were here to repeat it once again.Although this was his last contribution to our debates, he continued to come back here every summer until 1973, after which he could no longer make the journey from his home in Australia. We shall certainly miss him, and we on these Benches join with the noble Lords opposite in sending our sympathy not only to his wife and family but to the people of Australia as a whole.
§ Lord BYERSMy Lords, to those of my generation and particularly to those of us who served in that area of operations, Lord Casey was perhaps best known for the services which he rendered to the Allied cause as the Minister of State resident in the Middle East. I always thought of him as Mr. Harold Macmillan's counterpart, the two of them sharing responsibility for political liaison right 5 the way along the North coast of Africa. We praise him for the public service he gave in both war and peace as the Minister resident in the Middle East and also as Governor-General of Australia, and we on these Benches certainly wish to be associated with the sentiments of sympathy which will, I know, be conveyed to his widow and family.
Lord HOME of the HIRSELMy Lords, I wonder whether I may be allowed to add a very short postscript to the words spoken by the noble Lord the Leader of the House, by my noble friend Lord St. Aldwyn and by the noble Lord, Lord Byers. I had the opportunity of working very closely with Lord Casey when for so long he was Foreign Secretary of his country and was able to admire at first hand the skill which he showed on a variety of occasions when dealing with people of all kinds at international conferences. Not only did he serve our country as Governor of Bengal but also he revealed in his own country, as Governor-General, wide human sympathies. He was greatly valued by Australian citizens of every kind.
Perhaps what struck me most about him was how he co-operated in the transition from Empire to Commonwealth. He knew that the Commonwealth was different and he set out, I think, to prove to his own country and to the newer countries of the Commonwealth that there should be active co-operation between them and that no longer should Commonwealth relations be a one-way passage between London and the individual country: that is, that there must he communication between them all if the Commonwealth was to take on real meaning. In particular, it was important that Australia should have new relations with the continent of Asia and to that, from his great knowledge of the country, Lord Casey contributed enormously. In short, I think that he did as much as anybody in Australia, working with Sir Robert Menzies at that time, to make of the modern Australia a country in her own right.