Mr. Speaker, I move, without notice—

Mr. Speaker, before I come to the hon. the Minister of Transport, the hon. the Leader of the House, you will permit me, Sir, to make a few other observations. It is always a source of sadness to one when one comes to the end of the life of a parliament, because the end of a life of a parliament always means that some of the colleagues with whom one has been sitting here for years—some for many, others for fewer years—have also come to the end of their political careers, because members of the same party who have co-operated very intimately with one another have to take leave of one another, and because opponents who sometimes exchanged harsh words with one another across the floor of this House have to take leave of one another. It is always a source of sadness to one, irrespective of whether this applies to a colleague or an opponent, that the ways of members of the House of Assembly have to part in such a way. When I think of that, Mr. Speaker, I think I am speaking for every member of this House in saying that we who hope to remain behind, for the electorate has yet to give a verdict in that regard, should like to avail ourselves of this opportunity to thank, not only the members on our side but also the members of the various parties that are not on our side—in view of the fact that they will not return to this House—for the service rendered by them. This is service rendered by them to the people in their constituencies, service rendered by them to South Africa, but also, in the particular capacity in which we are here, service rendered by them to Parliament as an institution and to Parliament as such. As I said in this House as far back as 1970, Sir, the public outside do not realize fully what is required of a member of Parliament. They only see the glamorous side of the life of a member of the House of Assembly; they do not realize how exacting it is and how exacting it can be to fulfil one’s duty as a member of the House of Assembly. People do not realize what a special function has to be fulfilled by members of the House of Assembly. People do not realize what sacrifices have to be made; people do not realize that public service is often rendered at the cost of a member’s own family and his own circumstances. It is in that spirit, Mr. Speaker, that I feel called upon to say to the many hon. members on both sides of the House who are going to leave us now, “Thank you very much for the special service that has been rendered.”

Hear, hear!

In that regard you will permit me, Mr. Speaker, whereas one cannot mention all the members by name, nevertheless to mention, in appreciation, the names of some hon. members who have served Parliament in a special capacity and who will not return.

This Parliament, Mr. Speaker, cannot function unless there is a good understanding between the Whips of the various political parties, and because this is an internal matter, the public outside do not realize precisely how much useful work is being done by members of the House of Assembly who also act as Whips in this House. Whereas it so happens that these gentlemen on both sides of the House have rendered service for a long time, I should like to address a few words to them. Seated in front of me is the hon. member for Pine-town, Chief Whip of the official Opposition; also seated in front of me is Brig. Bronkhorst, Whip of the official Opposition; behind me I have Mr. Boet van Wyk, Dr. Willie Venter and Mr. Giep van den Berg, who have served this House in their capacities as Whips, people who have been at their posts and have held responsible positions. I take pleasure in extending to them my sincere thanks for those services rendered by them.

†You will allow me, Mr. Speaker, especially in the case of the Chief Whip of the Opposition, Mr. Arthur Hopewell, to say to him that as far as we are concerned, we wish him the very best of health for the future.

Hear, hear!

I also see in front of me, Sir, a person who often took the Chair here—and, let me add, with a great deal of success—namely Capt. Basson. To him, too, we extend our thanks for the competent manner in which he, when he was called upon to do so, fulfilled that task. But, Mr. Speaker, it is not only the Whips who fulfilled a task and a function in this regard, but also the chairmen of the various caucuses of Parliament. In that regard I want to express a special word of thanks on behalf of my side of the House to the hon. member for Ladybrand, Mr. Hennie Keyter, for the exceptional service he rendered on my side of the House over many years.

Then, Mr. Speaker, to a personal friend who came to this House at the same time I did, and who, in exceptional circumstances, served this House very well as Deputy Speaker, i.e. the hon. Minister Pelser, I want to express a word of thanks, not only for that service but also for having rendered very outstanding service to South Africa and this House as Minister of Justice for the past eight years. On behalf of all members we wish him, too, good health in the years that lie ahead. We were sorry that he could not take his place in this House at the end of this session, and one is thankful that on this occasion this morning he has in fact been able to do so.

Then, Mr. Speaker, I very gladly come back to the motion which caused me to rise, namely a word of special thanks to the hon. the Minister of Transport in his capacity as Leader of the House of Assembly. On 19 May 1938 Barend Johannes Schoeman became a member of this House for the then constituency of Fordsburg, and that constituency he represented here until 30 May 1943. On 26 May 1948 he came back to this House and has remained a member of this House up to now. In 1948 he became Minister of Labour, a portfolio which he held until 2 December 1954. In the meantime he had been Minister of, as it was known then, Public Works from 4 June 1948 to 2 December 1954. From 19 October 1950 to 2 December 1954 he also held the portfolio of Forestry, and from 3 December 1954 to date he has handled the portfolio of Transport. From 1965 to date he has been Leader of this House.

Mr. Speaker, under those circumstances one takes pleasure in expressing a special word of thanks to a person who has rendered so many years of service to Parliament and to the country. One would therefore like to convey to such a person, in a tangible manner, one’s appreciation of the services rendered by him. We found it difficult to do this before now; today we are in a better position to do so. Sir, I have mentioned various members on this side and on that side of the House.

†At that stage I purposely did not mention one hon. member sitting on that side of the House and that is the hon. member for South Coast, one of the most respected members of this House.

Hear, hear!

When I came here in 1953 I found the hon. member as a front-bencher on that side of the House. We know that before he came to this House he rendered very great service to the people of Natal in his capacity as Administrator of that province. He, too, is not coming back now. Mr. Speaker, I think hon. members will be pleased to learn that it has been decided in the case of the hon. member for South Coast and in the case of the hon. the Minister of Transport to ask them to accept—and indeed, this is the highest honour that can be bestowed today on any South African—on a date and at a place to be arranged later the Decoration for Meritorious Service, which will be handed to these two gentlemen by the State President.

*We have been sparing in awarding these decorations and few persons have received them. This will be the first time that they will be awarded to political personalities, but I think you will agree with me, Mr. Speaker, that one can hardly conceive of two more meritorious persons on whom South Africa can confer the highest honour which can in fact be conferred by it.

†Whilst I am on that subject, you will allow me just to say briefly to the hon. member for South Coast that we will miss him in this House; that we know, in view of his family circumstances, that it was not easy for him always to take his seat in this House, as he did so conscientiously over the years, and we wish him and his family well in the years that lie ahead. May God bless them both.

*As I have said, Mr. Speaker, many meritorious services were rendered by the hon. Minister Schoeman in these various capacities, and in respect of the other capacities we have already said what had to be said. Now we are only concerned with him as Leader of the House. But it would nevertheless be a good thing just to note that when Mr. Schoeman does not return to this House, no representative of the period before the last war, of the thirties, will be left here. He is the only member left here from that era. Another thing to be noted is that we are dealing here with a person who, as far as my knowledge goes, has been Minister of Transport for a longer period than any other person. It is difficult to imagine that we shall ever have a person again who will hold that office for a longer period. We are dealing with a person who, as a Minister, has rendered uninterrupted service for a longer period than any other person of whom I know. In this regard, too, one finds it difficult to visualize that any person will ever be able to render longer service in that capacity in the future.

In addition to all those services our colleague also presided as Leader of the House in a most excellent manner and, in consultation with the Whips and with others charged with this task, he took charge of the smooth operation of this House. We want to tell the hon. the Leader of the House that we shall miss his excellent services and that we find it difficult to conceive of this House without him. We want to tell the hon. the Leader of the House that he is leaving with only the best and the finest wishes of his colleagues who will remain behind in this Parliament. We should like to wish him and his wife everything of the best for the years that lie ahead.

It has been a privilege to sit in this House with Ben Schoeman. It has been a privilege to serve in a Cabinet with him as a colleague. It is with special thanks that we place on record the services rendered by him to Parliament and to South Africa. He has fulfilled his task with complete devotion. When I think of him and of having to hold up an example to younger members, especially younger members entering the Cabinet, then the example that pre-eminently springs to mind is that of the hon. the Leader of the House. After all, I myself have been a member of this House for more than two decades, but I cannot call to mind ever having had to deal with a person who knew his department better than the hon. the Leader of the House knew his department. Nor can I think of any person who was Leader of the House and was as conversant with the rules and the operation of the House as this hon. Leader of the House has been. It is because we have that feeling of gratitude that, as a mark of appreciation, I take pleasure in submitting this motion to hon. members.

Mr.

Speaker, in seconding the motion moved by the hon. the Prime Minister, I want to express my very real appreciation to the hon. the Prime Minister that, in moving this motion, he has broadened the scope of what one may say by having mentioned hon. members on both sides of this House who have rendered services to Parliament during their period of service in this House.

I want to express my very real appreciation to those Whips on both sides who will not be coming back for what they have done to smooth out the working of Parliament and to see to it that sweet reasonableness prevail between the political parties in the arrangement of the business of the House. The hon. the Prime Minister has mentioned hon. members on his side—Mr. Van Wyk, Dr. Venter and Mr. Van den Berg—all of whom have become old friends and whom we have learnt to respect as worthy adversaries. On our side he has mentioned Brig. Bronkhorst and Capt. Basson and thanked them for their contributions, something with which I should like to associate myself very keenly. A particular loss, of course, will be the retirement of that old forty-eighter, Arthur Hopewell the Chief Whip on this side of the House. He has given a lifetime of service as a Whip to this House. He has been a Whip for over 20 years and Chief Whip for the last four years. As the hon. the Prime Minister knows, the Chief Whip of the Opposition has a very much closer association with the Leader of the Opposition than I think the Chief Whip on the Government side has with the Prime Minister. There has been a very close bond between myself and Arthur Hopewell and his dedication, his integrity and his efforts towards the best working of Parliament I think have been something which have been appreciated not only by all members on this side of the House but also by those on the Government side. I am very grateful that the hon. the Prime Minister made mention of that fact.

Moving this motion the hon. the Prime Minister has announced that a Decoration for Meritorious Service has been awarded not only to the hon. the Minister of Transport and Leader of the House, but also to my old friend and colleague, Mr. Douglas Mitchell, the hon. member for South Coast. I think there is only one way to get to appreciate the quality of the friendship of Mr. Mitchell and that is to fight him about something. I was very interested when given sight of a letter to the hon. gentleman from a very high-placed member of the Zulu nation who wrote to him as “Dear Ndetshan”. That, Sir, is the worst tempered of all the rhinos. [Laughter.] I believe it is 57 years ago that Mr. Mitchell first became secretary of a branch of the Old South African Party. Fifty-seven years in politics is a long time. During that time Mr. Mitchell served as provincial councillor, as administrator, as a member of this House, and in many other capacities which are not so well known. I think if one speaks of Mr. Mitchell, one speaks of someone who has evinced the greatest loyalty and the greatest dedication to his party and his principles, but who has always put South Africa and South Africa’s interests first. When we remember him, it will not only be as a man who has been in public life, but as a man who made South Africa’s fauna, South Africas’ flora, I would almost say South Africa’s environment, the things which nature gave us, his first love. He has made it his job to try to protect them and to make them available to be enjoyed by the members of the public of South Africa.

We shall always remember him for what he has done in this House. I think the words “pollution”, “ecology”, “environment”, first came from the mouth of Mr. Mitchell in this House. I think they have found a sympathetic echo on the Government side, which is something for which we are all very grateful. I have said that he is known for his dedication and his integrity. To me he will always be remembered for the quality of his friendship and his loyalty.

The hon. the Prime Minister is taking leave also of a member of his Cabinet, the hon. the Minister of Justice, who came to this House at the same time as I did. We have come a long way together. We have respected him through all these years for his honesty, his integrity and the extremely dedicated manner in which he has carried out his duties as a Minister with absolute fairness, regardless of people’s political feelings or views, and with a dignity and a kindness which we have appreciated very much indeed.

Now, Sir, I come to my old friend and adversary, the hon. the Leader of the House, to whom also this award, so richly deserved, has been given. He had five years in Parliament as a member of the United Party. I like to think that that laid the foundations of his character in later life! He has always been known for his forthrightness and for his determination. In fact, there were times when he was referred to as having blundered. He had the nickname, for a while, of “blundering Ben”. Later, when he took over Transport and we saw what he was doing to iron out the difficulties, he became known to us very much as “Ben, the bulldozer”. In later years, he became “Ben, the beneficent”. As the years have gone by, I think he has become “Ben, the beloved” to both sides of the House. Few men with small beginnings have achieved what this hon. gentleman has achieved in his lifetime. It has earned the respect and the admiration not only of both sides of the House, but of the whole country. What we have appreciated most about the hon. member is his sound common sense and his integrity in the most delicate negotiations. He and I have had to negotiate a number of things. My Whips have had to negotiate with him on many occasions. I must say that, with the passage of time, we have seen not only that forthrightness and integrity, but also that sweet reasonableness for which, in latter years, he has been so well known and which, Mr. Speaker, had its foundations in his early training in the United Party.

In respect of his management of the House I have only praise. I think he has done it in the most business-like manner. I think he has done it in an extremely fair manner. While we have had our disagreements and while we have made our protests, we have always been able to understand why he has done what he has done, and we have admired and respected him for it.

Sir, Mr. Schoeman is a man who has knowledge of many walks of life. It may come as a surprise to some of the younger members to know that at one stage we actually prevailed on him to play for the parliamentary cricket eleven. Since then he has deteriorated and has taken up golf. One understands that. I shall not say that that was the result of age. Perhaps he felt that that gave him better self-expression.

We shall miss him as Leader of the House. We shall miss him for his fairness, for his very real knowledge of what was going on and, as I have said, for the business-like manner in which he has conducted our proceedings. Now, at the end of his career, he has been awarded this Decoration for Meritorious Service, the highest decoration we can offer. One cannot help being a little mischievous and thinking what might have happened had he achieved the same distinction in other countries of the world. He might have found himself with the disadvantage of a peerage, or perhaps even a baronetcy. [Laughter.] I am sure that he would not allow even that to get him down or detract from the service he would be able to give to South Africa.

May I extend, Sir, from this side of the House, our sincere congratulations both to him and to the hon. member for South Coast on the distinctions that have fallen their way. We feel they are richly deserved. May we say that we wish Oom Ben, as he is known to us all affectionately today, a very happy retirement and a very lively interest still in the political battles in South Africa.

Mr. Speaker, may I associate myself with the sentiments which have been uttered on both sides of this House, although I must in all honesty say that I have difficulty in recognizing some of the characters after the descriptions of them by the hon. the Prime Minister and the hon. the Leader of the Opposition! My experiences have been somewhat different from theirs. However, I do wish to say that I obviously associate myself with all the good wishes extended to those members of the House and more particularly to the Whips and other senior members of the House who are retiring voluntarily. At the same time I must also add my good wishes to those members of the House who are going to retire not so voluntarily.

Before calling upon the hon. the Leader of the House to speak, I trust hon. members will permit me, too, to express from the Chair, on behalf of the staff, my appreciation for the services, the exceptional services, rendered by the hon. the Leader of the House. It goes without saying that the relationship between him and the Speaker and the staff had to be a very intimate one at all times. There were problems we had to surmount, but it was always a privilege and a joy to us to be able to deliberate with the hon. the Leader of the House and to arrive at conclusions. A very fine description of him has been given here by the hon. the Prime Minister, the hon. the Leader of the Opposition and the hon. member for Houghton, who told us about his good qualities. I want to tell you that Parliament is losing a man of high standing, and we shall find it difficult to find his peer. We are grateful for the services he rendered to South Africa. Our prayer is that he will yet be spared for a long time so that he may enjoy the fruits of his labours. Our good wishes go with him.

Mr. Speaker, these expressions of thanks have come as somewhat of a surprise to me this morning. I came here prepared also to say a word of thanks to you after the hon. the Prime Minister had moved his motion of thanks. I had therefore not prepared myself to reply to the motion moved here by the hon. the Prime Minister. I just want to thank the hon. the Prime Minister, the Leader of the Opposition and the hon. member for Houghton very much for their kind words. Since 1938 I have come a long way in this House. This morning I see in my mind’s eye the great men of the past who sat with me on these benches. I see here a Smuts, a Hertzog, a Havenga, a Jansen, a Hofmeyr, a Malan, a Strydom and a Verwoerd—great men who have departed this world, and all men who left their mark on this House. It has been my privilege to have been with all of them in this House. It has been a privilege for me to have come to know them in the years allotted to me as a member of the House of Assembly.

Mr. Speaker, I love Parliament very dearly, and you and I are going to miss Parliament very much. Like you, I am one of the people who have tried to keep up the dignity and the authority of Parliament. Like you, I have also guarded the traditions and practices of this Parliament very jealously. Speaking of the traditions, I must say that younger members of the House were probably wondering this morning why I was sitting with my hat on my head. This is one of the traditions of this House that goes back much further than the time when South Africa became a Republic. This tradition is that a member may remain seated with his hat on his head, but as soon as he stands up his hat must be removed. There are other important traditions such as the snuff-box which is over there with the Serjeant-at-Arms and of which I have made use occasionally, for the very reason of keeping that tradition alive. There are other traditions, too, for example the gowns and the wigs which the Speaker and officials wear, and the fact that no one is ever allowed to address this House except a member of this House. Even if he is the foremost head of state in the world, for example the President of America, he may not do so. In this House he is not allowed to address the members of the House. There is another tradition which is that the opening of Parliament must always take place in the Senate Chamber. There are numerous traditions we know of, which we guard jealously and still wish to maintain for all times. As a Parliamentarian I have always guarded those traditions jealously, and I hope that in the years to come those traditions will still be observed.

It is very pleasant to hear all these kind words when one has to take one’s leave. I have only done my duty. However, I must say that I fully associate myself with what the hon. the Prime Minister and the hon. the Leader of the Opposition said about our other friends in this House. I want to begin with my very good friend, the Chief Whip of the United Party, Arthur Hope-well. We have been friends for 26 years. During the past four years I have had the most cordial co-operation from him as Chief Whip. Together we have always kept the wheels of this big machine well-oiled so that it could run smoothly.

†I appreciate what you have done and what you have meant to me over the years, Arthur. I appreciate the co-operation and support I have received from you and your fellow Whips over the years.

*With the Whips on this side of the House there has always been the closest and most cordial co-operation over the years. Without their co-operation the Leader of the House is powerless to have the business of this House conducted smoothly. I also want to associate myself with the kind words that have been said about my friend, Mr. Douglas Mitchell. Over the years we have fought very hard battles with each other, but strangely enough we have always remained friends. I have a very high regard for the hon. member, and I think he also has a very high regard for me in spite of all our differences over the years. I hope he, too, will have a very pleasant period of rest. I do not know whether his wife will be restored to health again, but I want to express my sympathy for what he has had to go through over the years because of his wife’s ill-health.

†I hope that you, Arthur, will be restored to health. This is my sincere wish and my sincere hope.

*To my other friends who are also leaving this House, I want to say thank you very much for the co-operation and support I have had from them. To my colleague, my friend, the hon. the Minister of Justice, who has been with me in the Cabinet and here in this House for years, I want to say thank you very much for his friendship, his affection and everything he, too, has meant to me.

Mr. Speaker, I am still going to say a few words about you on the motion to be moved by the hon. the Prime Minister. I just want to repeat that it has been a privilege for me to have been a member of this House for so many years. It has been a pleasant time, and never for a single moment have I regretted coming here. I have enjoyed every moment of my parliamentary life. I like the atmosphere of Parliament. I like sitting here and listening to even the dullest of speeches. In my younger days I was very fond of making interjections, but in the last year or so I have began to grow silent. In my day I was often called to order, particularly when I was sitting in the Opposition benches, because of what I had said. Those were pleasant days. The hon. the Leader of the Opposition says that I actually laid the foundations of my good conduct throughout the years in the five years I was member of the United Party. His calculations are somewhat wrong, however. In this Parliament I was a member of the United Party only from 1938 to 1939.

Then he could not stick it any longer!

I do want to assure the hon. the Leader of the Opposition that those years were pleasant ones for me. The friends I made during those years on that side of the House, and who are no longer here today, have remained my friends throughout the years. The friends I made remained friends even through the terrible war years. I want to refer to a man like Col. Jack Blaney, someone whom hon. members know. He was a dear friend, and he remained a friend through all those difficult war years. That was a friendship I appreciated. Since this is “goodbye”, I just want to wish all the members of this House everything of the best for the future. I shall always follow the proceedings of this House with the utmost interest, and I hope that in the years that lie ahead there will be as pleasant days for hon. members as there have been for me in the past. Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker, for what you said about me. I shall presently be saying more of you. I want to express my utmost appreciation and thanks to Mr. Victor and his officials for the support I have had from them over the years, and particularly for the co-operation and assistance I have had from him as Secretary to this House. I appreciate that very much.

Mr. Speaker, I should like to commence by expressing my thanks to the hon. the Prime Minister and his colleagues, who have thought it right and fitting that I should receive the honour which, as he has stated, they propose to bestow on me at a ceremony to be held later on. This, the greatest honour which South Africa can bestow on one of her citizens, is naturally a matter of the very greatest pride to me. I think back on all the folk who throughout the years helped me in my task of trying to do my best for South Africa. This was no lone effort. I think of all those people, men, women and children, who have helped me in the tasks which have faced me from time to time, and who have helped me to achieve much for which I get the credit today. When I think of this honour bestowed on me, I think of how much I owe them for the part they have played. I thank the hon. the Prime Minister. This is indeed a very, very generous gesture, which I think all of us on this side of the House appreciate, which he has bestowed on a member of the Opposition.

I congratulate my old friend, Ben Schoeman. He is quite right; we have known each other now since 1948 and we have seen much of the political movements in South Africa. He once did me the honour, Sir, of inviting me to accompany him on that day, which I believe to be a historic day, when he decided that Richard’s Bay was to become a harbour of the future for South Africa. I say “historic day” because I believe that was one of the great decisions taken by the hon. Ben Schoeman, the future effects of which we can hardly realize or see the start of at the present time. We can hardly imagine the enormous development which will flow from that. As I say, he did me the honour of inviting me to accompany him in his aeroplane that day. We visited various places on the coast of Zululand where it had been suggested a harbour should be established. We eventually landed and went down to Kosi Bay where we had tea and what-not under the fig trees at the house of the Natal Parks Board ranger. There the hon. the Minister met the Press from all over South Africa who had gathered there to hear what the decision was. They knew he was going to make an announcement in connection with a new harbour for South Africa. I remember so well how he started off. He started off by saying: “This development here in Zululand is going to be of such a nature that many people will want to get in on the ground floor for their own reasons and their own purposes. As far as I am concerned, you are all going to start square. That is why I have asked the Press to meet me here. The harbour will be at Richard’s Bay—now you can all start square…” I was not up to my usual standard of acumen: I did not start! Ben gave me the chance—I was there with the Press.

I also have other very pleasant recollections. Although we have differed, I do not think we have ever quarrelled. I think it is a tribute to Parliament that one can differ, and differ very strongly, without quarrelling. Indeed, Sir, from time to time—I am now looking back over past history—I say to those who come forward: “Try and keep bitterness out of Parliament. You must, of course, have your differences.” Indeed, members of Parliament would not be human otherwise. I have doubted the humanity of some of them in past years, but differences there will be. Let bitterness not exist. Let that be a word banned from our vocabulary.

Sir, I have known this day would come. I saw what happened to a man who had been 20 years in the public life of South Africa in Natal. I defeated him in 1933 with my first election when I came to public life. So I have tried to so devise my philosophy that when the time came, I could move over to matters of conservation, natural life and other pursuits which appeal to me, without there being too big a hiatus. But, Sir, I must be getting old, because I find myself continually looking back. That is a sign of old age—recalling old incidents, old faces, old people. I would say to Parliament today: “Don’t worry about the Douglas Mitchells and the Ben Schoemans. They are the people who are looking back. They are the sunset.” Parliament, Sir, must look to the sunrise, as I tell my own folk here, my colleagues, my friends. “Look to the sunrise—never mind about the Douglas Mitchells.’

But there was much to be gained from time to time when I as a young man met those people. Ben Schoeman has mentioned some of them. I sat as a young man, but already a soldier, at the feet of the late Gen. Louis Botha. I fought under Gen. Smuts in 1916. I knew Mr. Havenga, that sympathetic man, a man of wide understanding and sympathy. He was not of my party, but I knew Klasie Havenga, and I knew him very well. Dr. Malan—I served here when he was Prime Minister. He was a man who found it hard to laugh, but nevertheless had a great sense of humour. A man who looked on that late Dr. Malan and thought that he was a stern, unbending, unyielding kind of a man, did not know Dr. Malan. He was a man of intense humour. It was from him that I heard the story—he told it to me without a smile—of how in Parliament in the early days someone was asked: “If Natal secedes from the Union, then what will you have left? What will be the position in South Africa if Natal secedes?” Now, I say, Sir, it was not Douglas Mitchell. I was castigated in years gone by because I would not lead the secession. How beit, so Dr. Malan said to me: “Do you know what the reply was, Mr. Mitchell? The reply was that South Africa without Natal would be like a home without a baby.” And he never even smiled, Mr. Speaker. But he was a wonderful man in many ways, although never my leader. He was a great South African. For history, I would like to record what happened on the day when he went up to Natal. He was recovering from an illness. He went to Botha House and was enjoying the holiday and rest there. I wondered whether it was possible that we could be of any assistance to him there. Possibly he was a stranger in a strange land, and I went to call on him and his wife. The first thing he said to me was: “You have just come up from Parliament.” In fact I had; I was on my way home from a session. He continued: “Do you think you will have adequate when you go back down home?” My wife was with me. He said: “My wife would be glad to give you some eggs, bread, butter and bacon, so that when you get home, you will not be without food”. Sir, I think that that was a wonderful touch of humanity in the late Dr. Malan.

Then, of course, we had Mr. Srijdom, a man’s man. I understood Mr. Strijdom, a man’s man. I invited him to come up to Zululand to have a look at what we hoped to have in the way of additions to the game reserves and the nature reserves for the protection of our environment and wild life. We had present the then Minister of Lands, Mr. Paul Sauer, who had invited the person who was later to be State President, then Minister of Justice, Mr. Swart, who was on holiday to come along. So I had the Prime Minister, the Minister of Justice and the Minister of Lands, and we went out to have a look at the area where I hoped we would be able to add land for the purpose of conservation. I said: “Mr. Prime Minister, from that koppie over there, poachers recently shot and killed one of my Native rangers. What do I do under these circumstances?” Mr. Speaker, he said: “Shoot back!” I asked: “To kill?”, and he said: “Certainly! Of course you shoot to kill.” I turned to Blackie Swart and I said: “Mr. Minister of Justice, will you see to it that when the jury sits and has to try one of my rangers for murder or for attempted murder, he is duly acquitted on the evidence of the Prime Minister of my country?” [Laughter.] Mr. Strijdom was a man’s man, Sir!

We have got too close in history now, for me to speak freely and frankly of the Prime Ministers who followed him. I learned much from all of them; I have learned much from the present Prime Minister. On one happy occasion I was able to take him up to Zululand, Sir, but this is a matter which I am not going to discourse on today. The hon. the Prime Minister will, I am sure, forgive me, Sir, if I say that I have learned much from all of them and I have learned much from him. One or two of the things I have learned from the hon. the Prime Minister, Sir, is what not to do. [Laughter.] This does not detract, Sir, from my very, very sincere thanks to him for what he has done.

So, Sir, we go forward. Parliament, I say, will, I hope, look to the sunrise. I remember the Oubaas saying on one occasion when a discussion was taking place in respect of South Africa and its future: “The future is safe because the people are right. The people come from stiff-necked forbears; they do not bend the head easily.” I think, Sir, that that can still be said today and I think that that is our guarantee for the future of South Africa, that our people do not bend the head easily.

Hear, hear!

I have received nothing but the greatest courtesy and help since I have been in Parliament and I should like to pay tribute to the staff—to our committee clerks and to all those who help us behind the scenes. I want to thank Hansard, who have been very kind to me—very kind! [Laughter.] There was an occasion, Sir—and it is recorded in Hansard—when there was great debate and battle, when this side had far more members than now and matters were very much on a knife-edge, when we were having all-night sittings quite frequently, sittings which stretched way into the afternoon of the next day; when we had the guillotine and all the other devices of civilized human beings who wish to carry on responsible government. [Laughter.] I was on my feet, Sir, and I challenged Mr. Havenga, who was the Leader of the House at the time. I said that the Bill before us was of the very greatest importance and that before many hours were up, they would impose the guillotine, that he as Leader of the House would impose the guillotine, that we would have our time foreshortened and would therefore not be given time for full debate. He said to me: “I assure the hon. member that you will have all the time you want.” I thanked him at once because I appreciated what had happened and I repeated his words. Subsequently they moved a motion for the guillotine. Mr. Higgerty, as Chief Whip, took the matter up and said: “The Leader of the House promised that we would have all the time we want.” My Hansard was taken and I had not corrected it. Mr. Havenga and his people said: “We said that you would get all the time you need, and you have had all the time you need.” I said: “No, you said that we could have all the time we want.” [Laughter.] I still have that Hansard, Mr. Speaker, It is one of my prize possessions. The uproar was such that eventually Parliament was adjourned on the motion of Mr. Paul Sauer, who was then, I think, Chief Whip. Parliament was adjourned until the thing got thrashed out. My Hansard was brought up, Mr. Havenga had a look at it and eventually accepted it, and there it was. Mr. Speaker, I had not corrected my Hansard and I have never corrected a Hansard since! I learned my lesson. There are some lessons I find hard to learn, and some perhaps I do not learn adequately but this lesson I learned good and solid and from those days on I have never corrected a Hansard. That is why I have to thank Hansard, the Hansard staff, for the very able and lucid manner in which they present my speeches to Parliament. [Laughter.] My thanks, Sir, to all these people without whom Parliament could not work. We could have the finest orators and the finest speakers in South Africa in Parliament and Parliament could not work if it did not have all the staff behind the scenes, making the wheels go round smoothly, to such an extent that the work is not seen and is not appreciated and is not understood, but they are great people. May I say in passing, Sir, that I think that the joining of the staff of the Senate and our staff will lead to greatly improved performance so far as the work of Parliament is concerned in the future.

Sir, may I now say a few words to my friends on the other side. I take away with me a few letters from hon. members on the other side, letters which I will always keep with me and which I will always appreciate, letters which could only have come from men who I can freely and honestly and sincerely say are my friends, although politically they are on the other side of the fence. To those who have written those letters I express my very deep and sincere thanks. I appreciate their letters very, very much indeed.

My own colleagues will form their own opinion when I have gone. An opinion while I am here is of little worth, in the case of those who are under my influence. When I am not here, when I am gone, they will be able to sit back and take a more objective view and to say, “Mh-mh-mh-mh” or words to that effect. Sir, they are my friends, and I hope that so far as hon. members opposite are concerned, I can go away and say, “I have left my friends in Parliament.” To you, Sir, as Speaker, may I say a very sincere word of appreciation and thanks for the courtesy and the help that I have had from you throughout all these years, as I had from those who sat before you in that Chair—the highest dignity that we can bestow here in Parliament.

Once again to the hon. the Prime Minister and his Cabinet my deepest thanks for this honour they are conferring on me. To all my friends, Sir, my very best wishes. As the old Romans used to say, “We who are about to die, salute you.”

Mr. Speaker, I think it is fitting that I should be the third speaker to take the floor. I was preceded, as a speaker on this side, by the Minister of Transport who, according to my calculations, has 31 years of service, 26 of them as a Minister of the Cabinet. The person who spoke immediately before me is a person with 26 years of service, and I have 21 years of service. For that reason I think the order in which we have taken the floor is the correct one.

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the Prime Minister, the Leader of the Opposition and the hon. member for Houghton most sincerely for their kind words. I do not have as much to say as the previous speakers. I can only say that the 21 years I have spent in Parliament have been pleasant years for me. I have acted here in a few capacities only. Firstly, as an ordinary member I was not very talkative; I am a man of few words. Fortunately it was not long before I found my way to the Chair. I owe you a great debt of gratitude, Mr. Speaker, for the guidance you gave me. I owe a very great debt of gratitude to the present Secretary, to his predecessor and, of course, also to the members of the staff at the Table. For the past 8 years, or nearly 8 years, I have been Minister of Justice and of Prisons. These are probably the two most awkward portfolios one could have. There is a great deal of work involved, and in addition one is always dealing with problems, and unfortunately with the problems of other people. One is always in a position of having to defend. I have never been in a position of having to attack.

Fortunately I can say, after 21 years, that I am probably one of the few members who have spent some time in this House and can leave without the slightest feeling of dissatisfaction. I leave with a happy heart. I have been received with friendliness by both the opposite side of this House and this side. I may be flattering myself when I say that I do not believe I have a single enemy in the whole of Parliament.

I think that in the years I served as a presiding officer of this House, I did so to the best of my ability and, I believe, also impartially. Just the other day I reminded the hon. member for South Coast of how difficult he could be. I still remember the occasion when the Transkeian Constitution Bill was being considered in Committee of the whole House. I was in the Chair, and I still remember that the hon. member made a terribly aggressive speech. I then told him that the principle had already been discussed and accepted, and that I would not allow the principle to be discussed again in the Committee Stage. We all know the hon. member for South Coast, and of course he was not satisfied with that. He stood up again and began anew. He stood up a third time and started again. However, when he began again for the fourth time, I was compelled to remind him that he was a very senior member and that I would intensely dislike having to ask him to leave the Chamber. Then I appealed to him and asked him whether he would not rather resume his seat. Fortunately he heeded my plea.

I thank the hon. the Prime Minister, the Leader of the Opposition and the hon. member for Houghton once again for their kind words. To everyone on both sides of the House I say thank you very much for the years of co-operation. To you, Mr. Speaker, my hearty thanks for what I have always had from you, and for the way in which you have ruled our destinies in this House.

Motion agreed to.

Mr. Speaker, I move without notice—

You as a person have a very direct connection with the history of our people and you have left deep footprints on the road of South Africa. You spring from a generation of Voortrekkers. During the AngloBoer War you participated as a child, with your mother, in the history of South Africa in a concentration camp. It is worthy of note that you and the hon. member for South Coast are, as far as I know, the only two hon. members of the entire Parliament who were born in the previous century. Therefore, when you and the hon. member go, an era in the political history of South Africa will be closed.

After the war your father built up his farm all over again. You had the privilege of growing up in a very religious home. Consequently you constantly dedicated yourself to the church and in an unmistakable way realized over the years your conviction as a man of the church and a Christian. During your term of office as Speaker you also made contact from time to time with the church leaders of various religious denominations, and in that way you also made your contribution by promoting goodwill among the various population groups.

You had a long, successful career on the South African Railways, where you occupied a number of senior posts in various parts of the country. In 1938 you were the leader of the Symbolic Oxwagon Trek from the South to the North under the guidance of the A.T.K.V. The far-reaching consequences of this trek for the Afrikaner people cannot be underestimated.

In 1943 you became member of the House of Assembly for the Vredefort electoral division, and have up to the present, for an unbroken period, been a member of the House. The designation of the electoral division was changed in 1966 to Parys. Twenty years ago, in 1954, you took the Chair of this House for the first time as Deputy Chairman of Committees. This was the beginning of a very long and illustrious career as presiding officer of this House. In 1957 you became Deputy Speaker and on 20 January 1961 you took the Speaker’s Chair of this the highest Council Chamber. The 20 years over which your service as presiding officer extended is the longest period over which anyone has served the House of Assembly in this capacity since 1910. For 13 of those 20 years, viz. from 1961 to the present, you led this House of Assembly as Speaker. This, too, is a record, for no other person occupied the Speaker’s Chair for such a long unbroken period. The length of your service as Speaker is only exceeded by that of Speaker Jansen, who served as Speaker for two periods, viz. from 1924 to 1929 and from 1933 to 1943—16 years in all. You were also the last Speaker of the Union House of Assembly and the first Speaker of the Republican House of Assembly. In the South African political dispensation the Speaker of the House of Assembly occupies a unique position. He exercises authority over the House of Assembly and is at the same time pre-eminently its servant, too. The fact that for 13 years you were the authority over as well as the servant of the highest legislative authority in the country is conclusive proof of the quite exceptional talents which you displayed.

In the first place I want to pay tribute today to you as presiding officer. I do not doubt for one moment that in the succession of nine Speakers which the House of Assembly has had since 1910, you will be remembered as one of the greatest.

Hear, hear!

This is so because you compelled the respect and admiration of all sides of the House of Assembly, a state of affairs which you brought about by officiating with such a degree of impartiality even in the most difficult of circumstances that your fairness was at all times placed beyond question. Where it was necessary, you always acted firmly and decisively so that no member ever doubted your authority. We may as well admit it now at this informal juncture that we were all afraid of you. But the House was able to proceed with its business with a minimum of interruptions. You tempered your impartiality and decisiveness with a knowledge of human nature and a sense of humour with which you were able to calm the House down in its most refractory mood. There are not many people who have that gift which Providence gave you. Above all, a crisis was never so great for you that you had to relinquish even a fraction of your dignity. Taking into consideration the tough customers with whom you have had to work over the years, this, too, speaks volumes. In this respect you were an example to every member, and you made us all aware of the fact that we were appearing not only before those present in this House, but before the entire country.

I have said that your high office also required of you to be a servant of this House. In that capacity it was your first duty to watch over the privileges of the House of Assembly. To your credit I can say that throughout these years the House of Assembly could hardly have had a more alert and more meticulous custodian of its privileges. Yet it was never necessary for you to wage a campaign against any person or against any body. As a result of your paternal admonitions the lion always lay down with the lamb. In your period of office the Standing Orders of the House of Assembly were drastically revised and simplified. In particular the financial procedure of this House was modernized and made more effective. In 1963 you sent the previous Secretary to the British House of Commons to make a study of procedure. Subsequently you sent the present Secretary to the British Parliament and to nine other parliaments in Europe. The result of that was the modernization of our rules and procedure. With all the improvements which you effected, you developed the House of Assembly into a model among legislative bodies and into one which compares very favourably with the best in the world. We owe you our sincere gratitude for this. You also ensured that the amenities for members were improved. I can say without fear of contradiction today that the House of Assembly, with all the offices and amenities which are at the disposal of our members today, compares very favourably with most overseas parliaments.

The members of the House of Assembly and the staff of the House of Assembly will continue to remember you for a very long time for what you accomplished for them in the way of material benefits. During your period of office you ensured that the conditions of service of the House of Assembly staff were improved considerably. Parliament has just passed legislation which will make it compulsory for members to become members of a medical scheme for members of Parliament. The scheme which has been established by both Houses, is principally attributable to the initiative you took in the matter. Parliament will always remain grateful to you for that. The House of Assembly was also fortunate in that it was entrusted to your care at a turning-point in its history when it had to be converted from a monarchical legislative authority to a republican legislative authority. Your tact and perseverance made you especially suited to this task of conversion. Under your wise guidance this radical change took place without a hitch. Under your care the traditions of the Union House of Assembly were transplanted onto those of the Republic, and you never ceased to make all of us aware of these traditions.

Mr. Speaker, you also played a leading part in the establishment of the Parliamentary Association of the Republic of South Africa, which today serves as a useful and valuable channel for contact with parliaments abroad. On three occasions since 1968 parliamentary delegations have been sent abroad, which were not only instructive and beneficial to the members concerned, but also ensured that valuable contacts were built up. In this way, too, friends were made for South Africa.

This brings me to the last part of my motion, viz. the zeal with which you exercised the office of Speaker. We know that even prior to your becoming a member of the House of Assembly in 1943, you played a leading role in the cultural sphere, particularly with regard to the activities of the A.T.K.V. After you took the Speaker’s Chair you transferred your interest in the cultural sphere of national life to the parliamentary sphere. Today there is evidence everywhere in the Parliamentary Buildings of what you accomplished. The most splendid example is probably the unique symbol of your authority, the Mace here in the House, which will for a long time to come remind members of this House of your success in transplanting tradition. You took the initiative. Under your guidance the golden Mace, which is today an adornment in the House of Assembly and, in design, unique in the world, was designed by South African artists and wrought by South African craftsmen from gold donated by the Chamber of Mines. The symbols on it are also typically South African, and at the same time the history of our country is depicted on it through certain symbols. I have said, Sir, that the fruits of your activities are to be seen all over the building. On the first floor there is a parliamentary museum in which all the items of interest dating from the period of Union are housed. In the dining room there is a painting of the first Republican Cabinet. In the Gallery, too, there is a series of busts of former Prime Ministers which, through your instrumentality, is now complete, as well as paintings of the first two State Presidents. There is a display cabinet with a copy of the words and the music of the National Anthem of South Africa, which you caused to be placed in the Gallery Hall. We recall the brilliant way in which Parliament, under your guidance, participated in the festivities commemorating the hundredth anniversary of the birth of C. J. Langenhoven, the author of our National Anthem.

Your activities in this sphere extend beyond the confines of this building and even beyond those of this country. Ten years ago you took the initiative in purchasing 165 valuable aquarelles by the French naturalist Francois le Vaillant, which he had made on his travels in South Africa. This collection you have recently caused to be placed in the Library of Parliament as a valuable national asset. Subsequent to the purchase of these aquarelles you went to the responsible committee of both Houses with a proposal that a book be published on the travels of Le Vaillant. The book consists of a number of articles by South African authorities and includes colour plates of the water colour drawings. It comprises two bulky volumes in Afrikaans, English and French, and is truly a prestigious book on which Parliament and South Africa may look back with pride. All credit goes to the writers, publishers and printers for this splendid book. A person who, like you, retires in the certain knowledge that he has given his services to the best of his ability to a cause in which he passionately believes, reaps more than recognition, for he acquires spiritual riches which are not granted to many people. To you, Mr. Speaker, I say on behalf of the House of Assembly in the words of the Biblical parable: “Well done, good and faithful servant.” We wish you a healthy and happy, well-deserved rest.

These words convey our high regard and appreciation as members of this House of Assembly. But I also believe that it will not only be welcomed by hon. members of this House but that the general public as well, who have an equally high regard for you, will also appreciate and applaud the fact that it has been decided to bestow upon you, too, the Decoration for Meritorious Service, which has been bestowed on the hon. member for South Coast and the hon. the Minister of Transport, with the highest praise and appreciation on our part. We who have been under your care in this House for so many years, will sorely miss your guidance, and we say to you from the bottom of our hearts: Thank you very much.

Mr. Speaker, on behalf of this side of the House, I should like to associate myself with the motion concerning yourself which have just been moved by the hon. the Prime Minister and with the words he has expressed. You, Sir, have been a member of this House for 30 years. Twenty of those years you have been an office bearer and for 13 years Speaker—it is almost a record. For two-thirds of the period of time you have spent in this House, you have not only been the symbol of authority of this House, but also the faithful servant of this House. You have not only been part of our history, but you have helped to make that history. I think I may say that you have undoubtedly been the faithful guardian of the traditions of this House, and although you have been the faithful guardian of them, you have not been afraid to see that changes be brought about where you have deemed them necessary. I think I can undoubtedly say that you have left the imprint of your personality and of your character, the ideals and the standards which you have put for yourself, on this House and its proceedings in the long period of time which you have served as a servant of this House.

†I think the fact that your lead has been so universally accepted is a tribute to the dignity, the impartiality, fairness and the humane manner in which you have carried out your duties in this Chamber, and a tribute for the manner in which you have exercised your vast powers on our behalf in this House. That you have made history in your office as Speaker, there can be no doubt at all; our Mace with its head supported by the blue cranes which appear in all four of our provinces and nowhere else in the world, our new procedures, our museum, the busts of the Prime Ministers and other famous statesmen, our paintings, our cultural possessions, your role in respect of the recent production of that beautiful book representing the works of Le Vaillant—all are a tribute to the work you have done for this Parliament. You have enriched, without any doubt, the office which you have graced for so long. All these things are important and have assured you a place of honour in our history as a Parliament. That you have enriched and enhanced the office of Speaker, there can be no doubt and that you have increased the status of Parliament, there can be no doubt. That you have played a bigger role in the international sphere than any other Speaker we have had before and through the Parliamentary Association have made your influence felt outside South Africa, is universally acknowledged. Your interest in the members of your staff and their wellbeing and in the facilities and privileges of members has been very noteworthy.

Of course, Sir, to us as Opposition the acid test has been the question of protection of the rights of a minority in this Parliament. Here I want to say that I believe that in your term of office you have not only protected the rights of the minority; I believe that you have extended them. You have been an example not only to the continent of Africa, but to other countries of the world, where the rights of minorities are increasingly being trampled upon. I believe that the example you have set is an example of civilized behaviour which will be recognized throughout the world. I believe, Sir, that you have done a job not only for us, the members, but for this Parliament and for South Africa. I believe that what you have done has earned you distinction, and the thanks and the gratitude of everyone who regards himself as a true South African. We on this side of the House wish you a long and pleasant period of rest. We feel sure that you will look back with many happy memories on your time in the Chair in the Parliament of the Republic of South Africa.

Mr. Speaker, I want to associate myself with what was said about you by the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition. I, as Leader of the House for the past nine years, have naturally had very close contact with Mr. Speaker. But, Sir, apart from that, we two have come a very long way together. We are both ex-Railway officials. I recall that in the thirties you were chairman of the ATKV, while I was only an ordinary member. I recall the Symbolic Oxwagon Trek of which you were the leader, and in the course of which I listened to the inspiring speeches you made throughout the length and breadth of South Africa. You were leader of the National Party in South-West Africa. There you developed the party and laid the foundations for the victories to be achieved there later. You were also chairman of the Select Committee on Railways for several years, and you were always the first speaker when a Railway debate took place in this House. After you had become Deputy Speaker in 1957, you always continued to show a lively interest in all Railway matters. How often, after I had made a speech about Railway matters, did I not receive a kind note of congratulations from you. What is of great importance to me as a Parliamentarian is that you, as Speaker, have always kept up the status and prestige of Parliament, not to mention the dignified manner in which you have always conducted yourself in this House, and that the dignity of this House has always been so dear to your heart that you have always been a jealous guardian of its traditions, conventions and practices. You, Mr. Speaker, the hon. member for Brits and I are the farmers of this House, each one of us having almost 31 years of service. We two are not returning, but the hon. member for Brits is going to return. I think that if he is spared he is still going to render much more than 31 years of service in this Parliament. As I have already said, you and I are going to miss Parliament very much. It has really become a part of our lives. But you know, Eccelesiastes states that there is a time to every purpose under the heaven, and this is the time for us to go.

The Secretary to the House has asked me to express to you, on behalf of himself and the other Secretaries at the Table, and the members of the staff of the House of Assembly, their sincere thanks and appreciation for your goodwill. You have done a great deal to improve their conditions of service and their working conditions, and to make these more attractive. You have at all times been loyal to the staff, and they regard themselves as being fortunate to have been able to work under your dynamic leadership. They want to wish you a very pleasant and well-earned rest.

Mr. Speaker, I also hope you will be spared for a long time to come, and I hope that in the years ahead you will be blessed with good health and great happiness and prosperity.

Mr. Speaker, I should like to support the motion moved by the hon. the Prime Minister and to say how much I appreciate, possibly more than any other member in this House, the services you have rendered as Speaker. More than anybody else in this House perhaps, I have needed your protection and your advice and, if I may say so, your friendship. I have been very lucky, Sir, in that in the years that I have been here as a lone member you have been here as Speaker. That was very fortunate for me. I very well remember, during the first of the series of cosy little chats that I had with you in your office…

Ah, haaa!

When I came here first as a lone member, you invited me to tea and you assured me that you believed that I represented a body of opinion in South Africa and that you intended to see that I had the right to put my point of view in Parliament. I must say, Sir, that you have more than fulfilled your promise and I am deeply grateful for that. I might say that I am particularly grateful because I am very well aware of the fact that you probably never agreed with a single word that I uttered. [Laughter.] Nevertheless, you have given me the opportunity to say what I had to say. I wish to say too that I know that there have been many occasions when I have annoyed you, for which I apologize, but I must say, Sir, that I think that there have been one or two occasions on which you were too severe on me. I think particularly of the occasion when I was marched out of this House at the point of the Serjeant-at-Arms’s sword, an occasion I must say that I have never been able to understand. Not that I am questioning your ruling, Mr. Speaker. Far be it from me to do that. I want to say that I share the respect that every member of this House has for you and for the way in which you have acquitted yourself of your very difficult task. You have even managed, which I believe to be quite a superhuman feat, to disguise your boredom on occasions! I want to express my very sincere thanks to you, Sir, for your advice and protection and friendship over these years and to wish you many years of happiness and health with your family during your retirement.

Hear, hear!

Hon. members will realize how difficult it is to respond to so many favourable speeches.

†Fortunately the Speaker never speaks. He need not speak. However, I am indeed deeply grateful for what has been said here this morning about myself and the discharge of my duties and responsibilities. I should, however, be failing in my duty were I not to mention that if I have had success and if I have satisfied you, it has been entirely and exclusively due to the grace of God.

*It is only the grace of God which has enabled me to do what I did. The Prime Minister is quite right: I believe in God and I believe in His omnipotence; that is how we pray every day.

†I should like to remind hon. members of the preamble to our Constitution. This is our confession of faith and I do believe in it implicitly:

And I believe he is the Almighty God—

And I do believe in that—

And I do believe in that—

And I do believe in that—

I believe in that also—

I believe in that; that is my confession of faith.

*I must tell you that every day when I left my rooms to come here, I did so with a prayer. Before ascending the steps of this chair, I asked the Lord God to occupy the Chair and to use me only as His instrument.

It is a very difficult and a very exacting task. One needs good health, a good clear conscience, and good and clear sight and hearing, and one must be alert if one wants to occupy this position. All this I received from the Lord God. In the 20 years that I occupied the Chair I did not know a day of illness. For that I say: “Thank you, Lord God.” I was never absent, except for two days when I was sent by the Government to open the Parliament of the Transkei and two days when my colleagues told me: “Look, all three of us are here and it is only private members’ day, after all” and asked me whether I would not take the Friday off; this was in February 1960 and in March 1960. These were the only days I was ever absent from the House, over a period of 20 years. You wish me good health, and I am thankful that the Lord God has endowed me with perfect health; for that I am very thankful.

It was not difficult for me to fulfil this task with hon. members such as we have here. It was not difficult to fulfil this task with such human material. Ambassadors, Ministers, prominent members of Parliament of other countries and Speakers and Presidents have asked me:

†“What have you got at your disposal to restore order; where is your hammer; where is your bell?”, and when I replied that we had no hammer and no bell, they would ask: “How do you restore order?”, and I was able to tell them: “It has never been necessary to restore order; we always have order in this House.”

*We have that calibre of representative here who maintain order out of their own veneration for our Parliament. That there will be differences of opinion between, and that there will also be different interpretations of rules by, hon. members and the Chair, is understandable, and if one has a difference of opinion with the Chair and one is inclined to be a little stubborn, as the hon. member for South Coast said—Gen. Smuts said that it was our fate as a nation to be stubborn—then it was not always so easy for me, but at least it was never necessary for me to request the hon. member for South Coast to leave the Chamber. He always had so much respect for Parliament that he obeyed the ruling of the Chair, and I appreciated that. I am grateful for the support I have had from all the members.

But, Mr. Prime Minister, it is quite impossible for a Speaker to fulfil his functions if he does not have the help of the Prime Minister; and if the Prime Minister himself breaks the rules—this has happened—then the Speaker must ask the Prime Minister to withdraw a word; and if the Prime Minister is a man like Dr. Malan or Dr. Verwoerd or our present Prime Minister, then it is no easy task for a Speaker to ask such a man to withdraw a word, but he did so every time. I say thank you to those who are no longer with us, and I say thank you very much to the present Prime Minister for his co-operation in that respect. It made the Speaker’s task possible. It is a difficult task, but if one does it under the guidance and through the grace of God, then it becomes possible, and I now want to testify and acknowledge here that without the guidance and the grace of God, it would have been impossible for me to have accomplished this task. Of all the good qualities which you mentioned here and all the training which one requires for the Chair, I have none, and when I came to the Chair for the first time, it was with a quaking heart that I came, but my faith never failed me. When I enter by that door, I always ask the Lord God to strengthen my faith and to give me the grace to do my duty and to ensure that justice is done from this Chair, regardless of who the member is or whom he represents. It has been my duty and responsibility to ensure that justice was done. If the hon. member for Houghton says that she received good advice from me in my office, and when other hon. members display a measure of jealousy, one can understand it. But you must also realize that she is the sole representative of her party in Parliament, and that she is a lady, and that it is not easy to protect someone with whom one differs so tremendously. I am only human; I have my convictions. I differ tremendously with her. I feel just as strongly as you do about many matters, but in spite of that I had to carry out my duty and ensure that justice was done. The day she had to leave the Chamber after having gathered up her belongings here, she was in good company because the hon. the Minister who had been the cause of her having to leave the Chamber, had to leave with her. By whispering a remark he committed a similar offence; fortunately my hearing is good and I heard what he whispered, and the two of them left together. I hope that at least they enjoyed the day together.

You mentioned the fine things of our Parliament. One of the finest things which, to my mind, ever took place in this Parliament, was that we amended the Rules and amended them drastically, with a unanimous vote. I have spoken to Speakers and I have spoken to Ministers of other countries and they told me that it was quite impossible to amend the Rules and obtain the assistance of the Opposition, for amendments to the Rules usually mean an encroachment, to a certain extent, upon the rights of the Opposition. They have to be disciplined as well. But our House found it possible to approve the amended Rules unanimously. In that respect you will allow me to thank the hon. the Leader of the House for his part in this, for when we came to the Select Committee to consider the matter and the Select Committee was confronted with the problem that the Government had a majority in any case and that they could force their will upon the minority, he came forward with the suggestion that the number of members which would serve on the Select Committee to consider the Rules should comprise an equal number from both sides. To you I say thank you Mr. Leader of the House. This proved to have a decisive effect, and to this we owe the wonderful set of Rules which we have. I am very grateful for that.

Another factor which filled me with great pride and satisfaction from time to time was what always happened when the Electoral Laws were under consideration. The amendments are customarily referred to a Select Committee, and the Select Committee returned every time with a Bill which had been unanimously accepted. This redounds to the eternal credit and pride of our Parliament, and these are things which I greatly appreciate. I appreciate the fact that hon. members on both sides of the House went out of their way to preserve the dignity of this House. This shows us what kind of delegates are elected by our people to come to Parliament. I must honestly say that I have the profoundest respect for the democratic system, but I have an equally great and profound respect for the good sense and the good choice of our voters in South Africa in sending us the kind of members of Parliament we have here. I believe that with a Parliament such as this one could solve any problem. Well then, we do have our problems. We are a country with a heterogeneous population, perhaps more heterogeneous than the population with which any other parliament in the world has to deal with; this has been given to us by Providence. This is our problem, but I do believe that we will with goodwill and co-operation be able to solve this problem in a very satisfactory way for all. We must remember that we are here as the preservers of the peace and custodians of the security of the country and the happiness and prosperity of every citizen and inhabitant of the country. It is our duty to act as the preservers and custodians of these things. I do not think that we as a nation could fulfil this great duty without the guidance, the wisdom and the help of Almighty God, and for these things we pray at the commencement of our proceedings every day. We ask this of Almighty God for He is after all the Almighty God that will not allow His children to come to any harm. I believe that as long as we do His will in South Africa we need fear no one or nothing in the world.

I want to express my gratitude to the Government and to the entire House for the distinction which has been conferred upon the Chair through the award of this medal. This medal is in fact being awarded to me as an individual, but I think that it is also a very fine gesture towards Parliament that it is being awarded to the Chair. I appreciate it and I want to express my deepest appreciation for it. You can understand my feelings after so many years here.

I was employed on the Railways for 32½ years, and for 31 years now I have been a member of the House of Assembly. I have been working continuously since I began work as a young boy at the age of 16 years at £4 per month. I retired from the service of the Railways as a senior official. I came here as an ordinary back-bencher and carried on by doing my work and now I am stopping work as Speaker of the House of Assembly. All this has been made possible for me through your friendliness, goodwill and co-operation. You, Mr. Prime Minister, and Sir de Villiers Graaff, have always treated me in a very friendly and accommodating manner. You have always been gentlemen and I thank you. Mrs. Suzmanyes, she is alone in this House, but she holds her own. If she is unable to do so from her bench, then she does so with an amendment with which she approaches the Chair. She always has the last word. We should probably not begrudge her this as a member of the fair sex, for they always have the last word. I say to all three of them thank you very much, and to all of you as well, thank you very much.

Last, but definitely not least, I must also convey my gratitude and appreciation to Mr. Victor, the Secretary to the House, to his colleagues at the Table and to all the other parliamentary officials for the loyal and competent services which they have been rendering over the years. Without their assistance my task would have been an extremely difficult one.

An now—may the work of our hands be established. I pray Almighty God to establish the work of our hands upon us. Thank you.

Motion agreed to.

Mr. Speaker, by your leave I should like to inform this House that a proclamation will be issued summoning Parliament to meet again on 2 August 1974, and further that a proclamation will be promulgated to dissolve the House of Assembly with effect from 28 February 1974, followed by the election proclamation in which 18 March 1974 is laid down as nomination day and 24 April 1974 as polling day.

I move—

Agreed to.