Dr EVATT (Barton) (Leader of the Opposition) . - On behalf of the Opposition I join with the Minister for Labour and National Service (Mr. Harold Holt) in this farewell to the Treasurer (Sir Arthur Fadden). It is quite impossible to-night - and I do not think this is the proper occasion - to refer to the detailed record of service of the Treasurer in the Parliament and elsewhere. His services to Australia extended into the post-war period, but they were very great and important during the most critical years of the Second World War. Many of us can recall very vividly some of the very important contributions that he made to the common effort of the nation then. One's mind flashes from point to point of his career.

I think it is correct to describe him as a mate in the sense that the Minister for Labour and National Service 'has used the term - a mate is a person who sticks to his friend when he is wrong. In that sense, we stick to the Treasurer although he has been very often wrong, in our view! I think the right honorable gentleman represents one of the most attractive types of our fellow countrymen. He is an Australian sportsman and in all respects he has acted in politics, although it is not so easy so to act, in accordance with the highest traditions of sportsmanship in Australia.

We wish him well. We wish him happiness. We send our fondest greetings to his wife and loved ones. We must always feel ourselves to have been happy and proud to be associated with him in the important life of this great Parliament.