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BRITISH EURASIANS PAY TRIBUTE TO CONSUL Members of the community of British Eurasians met in large numbers at a reception at Grand Hotel yesterday afternoon when the opportunity was taken to present Mr. J.P. Reeves, British Consul with a fire screen in token of gratitude and esteem for all he has done for them. Mr. C. G. Anderson, the chairman of the association presided and was supported by other members of the Committee. The hall was specially decorated for the occasion and Ed. Guzman and his band supplied the music for dancing. Mr. Anderson “Mr. Reeves and Fellow Members: “With the war happily ended, one’s thoughts are inclined to take a flight backwards to alight upon one’s vicissitudes as well as those factors enabled one to survive. In counting their blessings the British Eurasian Community here finds that one of them lies in medical and financial aid provided by the Government, while another is found in the fact that throughout our war years with Japan, our Country has been represented in Macau by John Pownall Reeves, who honours us by accepting our invitation today. When adversity overtook us and necessity dictated fleeing from a home of which many of us knew no other, we arrived at this sanctuary, which is another of our blessings, to find our Consulate in a rather unhealthy neighbourhood with its insect as well as human pests and our Consul, a gentle son of Cambridge, almost entirely hemmed in by occupied territory, with an automatic at hip and bulldog determination to carry on with his arduous duties at all costs. And there was a sigh of relief over his personal safety when our little plot of England with its rose bushes and coy violets was, later, located along the Praia. “Ladies and gentlemen, in meeting our honoured guest, one’s first Appendix 4 Appendix 4 148 impressions are his sincerity and friendliness. Shortly afterwards his strong and all-embracing humanitarianism began to manifest itself in his deep concern for all British subjects, and, a little later, when his contributions towards the wellbeing of everyone under his charge came fast and furious, he found a place in our hearts where he has remained ever since and where he will remain long afterwards. He has looked after our spiritual, educational as well as sporting needs. He has shared with us in our little joys and has felt with us in our hardships. He has even shown to us how to or how not to play hockey and, by this I mean, of course, that on the hockey field he has upheld a high standard of British sportsmanship. One early morning a few months ago when your chairman, much exercised in mind and with dark foreboding at heart, sought Mr. Lobo in his office on account of the acute rice situation, he found Mr. Reeves there on the same mission, which, unlike that of Sir Neville Henderson, did not fail. To our Association he has been a true and valued friend. In fact he has done all he could for us and, indeed, more than what one can reasonably expect of him, thereby winning both our admiration and our gratitude. If, today, I be permitted to express a slight tinge of regret it is that, when the good old country took it into its head to collect an empire, it did not give sufficient thought to the paramount importance of filling its Consular and Colonial Services with men of the caliber of Mr. J. P. Reeves and Dr. Selwyn Clarke, men of sympathetic understanding and of sterling character unknown to snobbery. Such men will provide the necessary stimulus, to the different sections of the British Community widely scattered within the four seas, to lead fuller lives, to realise themselves and to fulfill their destiny—a consummation deeply desired by His Majesty the King and by His Sire of Blessed Memory according to their speeches to the Empire and their Empire broadcasts—as small but staunch supports to the British Throne. “Sir, the time has now arrived for us to part and, before we part, I beg of you to tender the gratitude of my community to our Government for its help, without which the lot of many of us would have been simply unthinkable . In the name of the Committee and members of the Association of British Eurasians of Macau and of our children, I have the honour to ask you to accept this souvenir as...

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