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93

COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA.

No. 30.

JOURNALS OF THE SENATE.

THURSDAY, 27th MAY, 1920.

1. Meeting of S en ate.—The Senate met at half-past six p.m., in accordance with the Resolution of the Senate passed on the 21st May, 1920.

2. PRAYERS.

3. A ddress to H.R.H. the P rince of W ales.—The Minister for Repatriation (Senator Millen), by leave, moved—-That the following Address be presented to His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales :— ·

To His Royal Highness Edward Albert Christian George Andrew Patrick David, Prince of Wales, Earl of Chester in the Peerage of England, Duke of Rothesay, Earl of Garrick, and Baron of Renfrew, in the Peerage of Scotland, Lord of the Isles and Great Steward of Scotland, K.G.. P.C., G.M.M.G., G.M.B.E., M.C.

May it please Your Royal Highness :

We, the Senate of the Commonwealth of Australia in Parliament assembled, welcome Your Royal Highness with assurances of our devoted attachment to the person and Crown of our Most Gracious Sovereign.

We recall with pride the latest visit to Australia of His Majesty the King before his accession to the Throne, when he was graciously pleased to open in person the inaugural session of the Australian Parliament. The abiding memories of that epochal event have proved a potent factor in strengthening the ties of kinship and affection which hold together the free nations of the British Empire in a union which war and danger only help to consolidate.

We therefore rejoice at the presence of Your Royal Highness, and we offer you a warm and loyal welcome, not only as Heir Apparent to the Throne and as our future Sovereign, but also as one who was hailed by our gallant Australian soldiers as a comrade on the field on which so many' brave men fought and died in the sacred cause of freedom.

We congratulate Your Royal Highness upon the spirit you displayed in the great war now happily ended, and we feel that we may indulge a becoming pride in the thought that the high sense of duty and responsibility by which Your Royal Highness was animated was shared to the full by Australia’s sons and daughters, who by their valour and their sacrifices contributed a worthy’ part to the ultimate triumph of those principles which are the glory and the pride of the British name.

Your progress throughout the Commonwealth will afford Your Royal Highness an opportunity of observing the energy, enterprise and character of our people in the pursuit of the arts of peace. We earnestly trust that your visit to our shores may be fraught with happiness and pleasure to Your Royal Highness, and that your mission to our people may be blessed with an abundant measure of success to the present and enduring advantage of Australia and the Empire. And the motion having been seconded by Senator Gardiner, and a question having been asked— Question—put and passed unanimously—all Senators standing.

4. N ex t Meeting of Senate.—The Minister for Repatriation (Senator Millen) moved—That the Senate, at its rising, adjourn until three p.m. on a day "to be fixed by Mr. President, which day of meeting shall be notified by Mr. President to each Senator by telegram or letter. Question—put and passed.

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94 No. 30.— 27th May, 1920.

5. L eave of A bsence to Senators During A djournment.—The Minister for Repatriation (Senator Millen), by leave, moved—That leave of absence be granted to every member of the Senate from the determination of the sitting on the 27th May, 1920, to the 30th June, 1920. Question-—-put and passed.

At twenty minutes to seven p.m. the sitting of the Senate was suspended till two minutes to seven p.m.

Sitting, interrupted by the suspension, resumed.

6. Approach of H is R oyal H ighness the P rince of W ales.—The approach of His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales was announced by the Usher of the Black Hod. His Royal Highness having come to the Bar of the Senate, accompanied by the Right Honorable the Prime Minister, was conducted to the Chair by the Minister for Repatriation (Senator Millen),

and introduced to Mr. President.

7. Address to H is R oyal H ighness the P rince of Wales.—Mr. President, having welcomed His Royal Highness, read and presented the Address agreed to by the Senate this day.

His Royal Highness was pleased to make the following reply :— “ Mr. President and Gentlemen of the Senate, .

I am deeply touched by your Address. I t means a great deal to me to be thus warmly welcomed by you, the representatives of all the States which form this splendid Commonwealth, and I shall be proud to convey your assurances of devotion to Throne and Empire to my father, the King. His Majesty preserves the happiest memories of the day when he inaugurated the Australian Parliament, and no one has appreciated more whole-heartedly than he the gallant service rendered by the men and women of Australia during the great war.

I thank you, also, most sincerely for your more than generous references to my own modest service at the front. As a junior officer I had no important duties to perform, but I shall never cease to value the opportunity which I then was given of learning to know my brother officers and men, from all parts of the Empire, as comrades-in-arms. Through that comradeship I learnt to

know and appreciate the spirit of the Australian nation, and I am delighted now that I am about to see the men and women of Australia in their own land.

I greatly appreciate your good wishes, and I reciprocate them from the bottom of my heart.” _

8. P resentation of H onorable Senators to H is R oyal H ighness.—H onorable Senators and the principal officers of the Senate were then, each in turn, presented to His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales by Mr. President. And His Royal Highness having retired—

9. Adjournment.—-The Senate adjourned at fifteen minutes past seven p.m. till three p.m. on a day to be fixed by Mr. President, which day of meeting shall be notified by Mr. President to each Senator by telegram or letter.

10. A ttendance.—Present, all the Members except the following absent on leave :— Senators Barnes, Bolton, Derricks, Guthrie, Guy, Henderson, Lynch, McDougall, O’Keefe, O’Loghlin, and Rowell.

C. GAVAN DUFFY, Clerk of the Senate.

Printed and Published for the G overnment of the Commonwealth of Australia by Albert J . Mullett, G overnm ent P rin te r for the S ta te of V ictoria.