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Mr. Havenga: Mr. Chairman, I desire to associate myself and also my colleagues of the South African delegation with the expressions of thanks and appreciation which have come from Mr. Baldwin and Mr. Bruce. I should like particularly to register our thanks to the permanent officials of Canada, to Dr. Skelton, whose name has already been mentioned and also to the officials of the other delegations whose efficiency and zeal have made the Conference possible. Theirs has been a Herculean task, and they have acquitted themselves nobly. The Chairman: Gentlemen, you have heard the motion. Are you agreed? Motion adopted. Mr. Baldwin: Mr. Chairman and gentlemen: The very happy task devolves on me as the Chairman of the senior delegation, as we in the United Kingdom are called, to move in this great assembly a vote of thanks to the Prime Minister of Canada for having presided over the Conference during the last month. It is a curious thing, Mr. Prime Minister, how typical of the Conference has been your weather in Canada this summer. We were met with blue sky and sunshine, and we have had a great deal of that. We have also had storms; we have had thunder and lightning; and we have very nearly been washed out. But we finish up the Conference on the most beautiful day that we have yet had, and that is an omen. It has been a great happiness to everyone of the delegations to meet in Ottawa. There has never been an Imperial Conference before, although there has been a conference, which has met outside of the United Kingdom, and what more fitting than that the first Imperial Conference to be held beyond our shores should be held in this ancient Dominion, in this beautiful country and in this fair city of Ottawa. Over that Conference it was fitting that your own Prime Minister, the Prime Minister of Canada, should preside, and fortunate have we been that in Canada's Prime Minister we have a man so admirably qualified for that difficult task. He possesses a power of drive given to few, which is an essential element in the conduct of business of this kind. He has a grasp of detail which is astonishing, and yet with all, when one realizes what a grasp of detail involves, I have been struck all the time by his accessibility, that he has always been ready to discuss points as they arise with any delegation at any hour and in any place. I am confident that had it not been for the impelling power from the top the work of this Conference would never have been completed in the time, and had it not been completed in the time there would always have been the danger inherent in all conferences that no conclusions would have been reached at all, because there are limits to human 1 strength, to human patience, and to human tolerance. We are but mortal after all. I should like to thank Mr. Bennett publicly as representing this country, to thank him as I have done privately and before, for the amazing hospitality of his people. It is not a hospitality of the lips. It is a hospitality of the heart and of the nation, and we have all—l speak for every delegation—been touched profoundly, all of us, in whatever sphere our work has lain, by the thoughtful, kindly provision for our comfort, a provision not official, but like that of a kindly personal host, in fact, almost like that of a hostess; and by the thoughtfulness for our welfare in every way. I should like, too, to congratulate the Prime Minister on the amazing efficiency that has characterized every thing pertaining to our reception and what is generally termed government hospitality. We owe a great debt of gratitude to all those officials and to all who worked under them. I know too that they have worked night and day to ensure that this Conference shall leave the happiest of personal memories in all our hearts. It is a little embarrassing to me that a few minutes ago the presentation of this salver was made to me. I had had it given to me upstairs and I did not realize until yesterday or this morning that there would be a presentation in public. It is embarrassing because the idea occurred to the delegates attending this Conference that it would be but fitting to mark by some small present to the Prime Minister the esteem in which we hold him. It has not been the practice to recognize the services of the president of the Conference, although I believe there is an instance in which it has been done, but it seemed fitting to us and meet in every way that on this great occasion of a Conference overseas there should be some permanent mark of esteem given to the Chairman which might

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