Mrs. Thatcher
I welcome what Michael Footthe Leader of the House has said, and the decision to send a gift of a clock to Papua New Guinea. We do not know quite as much about these people as we normally know about new States of the Commonwealth, because until recently Papua New Guinea has been under the protective wing of Australia.
We think that the clock itself is a symbolic gift. The Papua New Guineans are a people who value the culture and traditions of the past, and until two generations or so ago they were living in exactly the same way as their ancestors had lived for many years, unaware of the technical changes about them. Perhaps the clock will remind them of that time past.
The clock will also, on the table of the new Parliament, remind the Papuans of the challenges and responsibilities of the present, and therefore the great tasks that lie before them. With this gift we wish them a very bright, prosperous and confident future.