BANQUET THE World Petroleum Congress Banquet was held at the May Fair Hotel, Berkeley. Square, London, on July 24th, 1933, the Chair being taken by the President, Mr. Thomas Dewhurst. THE KING "The Toast of the King was proposed by the President. "'THE MONARCHS OF THE COUNTRIES AND THE HEADS OF THE STATES REPRESENTED AT THE CONGRESS." This Toast was proposed by the President. THE WORLD PETROLEUM CONGRESS." The Right Honourable Sir Godfrey Collins, K.B.E., C.M.G., M.P., in proposing this toast, said It is my pleasure this evening to be one of your guests representing, for the time being, His Majesty's Government. My remarks to-night will be brief, for I understand that you and your Congress have listened or are about to listen to some 244 papers. I wondered, before I came to this meeting, in speaking as one who at present holds the post of Secretary of State for Scotland, why I should be asked here this evening. Nevertheless, we Scotsmen, as you well know, have a good conceit of ourselves, and I was not long in finding out the.reason. You, ladies and gentlemen, have learned of Dr. Young, who, some seventy years ago, living near my constituency, discovered something to his own profit but, like a good Scotsman, he was willing to pass it on to those who came after him.
The Assembly of the Congress in London at this time coincides, strangely enough, with the consideration by His Majesty's Government, in that wisdom which always characterises British Governments, of what they can do to circumvent the activities of oil products in all parts of the earth. (Laughter.) In their wisdom they have decided-and I think rightly, because I agreed to it in the Cabinet some few weeks ago-to try to transform Britain's greatest raw material into the modern form of pure motor spirit. I will not ask you what you think of that decision (laughter), but I will remind you that very shortly, to-morrow afternoon, in the House of Commons, my friend and colleague, who is here to-night -Mr. Ernest Brown-will put up what I have no doubt will be a sound defence of this expenditure. I should not say expenditure; I will say this preference, for we will be turning into motor spirit British coal and Scottish shale. (Hear, hear.) You know, Ladies and' Gentlemen, why I supported this proposal a few weeks ago in the Cabinet. I am told that your industry, although it is a very modern industry, goes back to the time of Noah, for Noah in his wisdom coated his ark with certain products of oil. I am also told' that the Tower of Babel needed your products for its erection. Although your industry is so old, yet it is also very young; many a time during the last ten years some of you must have argued whether oil would beat coal. I have argued that myself. I remember full well how twenty years ago the question used to be whether electric light would beat gas. Each of those, however, has found its own place, and I believe that every modern form of improvement is vital