Examiner (Launceston, Tas. : 1900 - 1954), Monday 14 April 1941, page 1


IN BATTLE-SCARRED BRISTOL

MR. CHURCHILL HONOURS MR. MENZIES LONDON, Saturday.-With old-world pageantry at Bristol's battle-scai-red university, Mr. Churchill, as Chancellor of the University, to-day invested .the American Ambassador (Mr. Winant) and the Australian Prime Minister (Mr. Menzies) with the honorary degrees of Doctor of Law. A similar degree was conferred in absentia on Dr. Conant, of Harvard University.

Despite a heavy raid last night, great crowds assembled to witness the his.ctric event of one Prime Minister conferring on academic honour on another Prime Minister. "It is indeed marvellous," declared Mr. Churchill, "that Australia and New Zealand, separated from us by vast ocean spaces, should send us their manhood and scatter their wealth for us. They do so under no law, cornstitution, bond or treaty, with a thoroughness and efficiency which cculd not be gained by the harsh and rigid methods upon which other Empires have been constructed." MIr. Churchill added that Australian and New Zealand troops might be in contact with the enemy to-day in the classic laud of Greece, fighting with the sons of Britain and playing an important part in the universal drama. Mr. Churchill had previously walked round Bristol and inspected buildings cracked and damaged by the night's raid. He spoke to civil defence workers grimed by fighting the flames, and, shaking hands with many of them, remarked, "God bless you oil. We will give it to them back." Mr. Menzies in his speech declared 'hat Britons were fighting magnificent17 not only in battle but in their homes. Britain had had prepared for

her by years of political diversity a spoklesman and leader who expressed more perfectly than anyone could ever have hoped to do all the longings, fortit,d d, courage, determination and passoinate faith of the people whom he led. Mr. Menzies concluded that Mr. Churchill could not be one of the immortal leaders of the British race if he spoke falsehoods or if his gospel was founded on a lie. "It is because our cause is not only true but the truth itself, and because every university worth calling a umversity is dedicated to the pursuit of truth wherever it may be that I find myself extremely proud to have figured in this ceremony," he added. Mr Menzies, on behalf of the Australian Miutual Provident Society, presented a mobile canteen to Bristol.