Mr. President, members of the Association, and guests: I regard it as a very great honor to be asked to address this Association. I know what a deep interest you hold in the continent of Africa and of the good that the members of the Association can do in publicizing the needs of and developments in African states. I also appreciate that many of you have personal knowledge of the African scene and I must refrain from the all top usual but reprehensible habit that some politicians indulge in of stretching the truth to suit their own ends. With such a well-informed audience before me, I shall take no risks.

Mr. President, the subject on which I am best qualified to speak is Bechuanaland, and today I would like to talk a little of the current position of Bechuanaland and of our hopes and ambitions for the future.

By September 30, 1966, Bechuanaland will be an independent country. I fear we are going to add to the confusion of the students of geography by following the fashion of changing the name of our country.

The people of Bechuanaland are certainly a “new” nation, as that term is now used. The country, according to its present boundaries, was created a mere seventy years ago. And for the bulk of these seventy years the local African inhabitants played little or no part in the administration of the country. For many years, of course, it was expected that Bechuanaland, along with Basutoland and Swaziland, would become an integral part of the Union, now the Republic, of South Africa. However, the people of Bechuanaland made it quite clear that they had no ambition to become politically integrated with the Republic of South Africa, and although I still occasionally hear it suggested that our future would be best safeguarded if we should become a Bantustan, I can assure you all that that is not where our future lies.