EMBARGO NOTE TO EDITORS:
THE FOLLOWING IS AN EMBARGOED ITEM WHICH MUST NOT BE USED BEFORE 12 MIDNIGHT (FRIDAY, JUNE 14).
THE
QUEEN'S COMMONWEALTH DAY MESSAGE
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COMMONWEARYEEN HAS PAID A SPECIAL TRIBUTE TO WRITERS IN HER
DAY MESSAGE THIS YEAR.
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EDUCATION, SHE SAID, HAS TRANSFORMED THE COMMONWEALTH AND LITERATURE PERHAPS BEST ILLUSTRATED THE UNITY IN DIVERSITY WHICH IS SUCH AN IMPORTANT PART OF THE COMMONWEALTH.
+USING THE SAME ENGLISH LANGUAGE, WRITERS OF MANY RACES AND BACKGROUNDS HAVE ENRICHED IT WITH THEIR INDIVIDUAL QUALITIES, AND HAVE EXPRESSED BOTH UNIVERSAL HUMAN THEMES AND THE CHARACTER OF THEIR OWN COUNTRIES.
+WE CAN ALL WIDEN OUR EXPERIENCE FROM SUCH WRITINGS, AND GAIN THAT GREATER DEPTH OF UNDERSTANDING OF EACH OTHER'S VIEWPOINT WHICH IS ONE OF THE MOST VALUABLE EXAMPLES THE COMMONWEALTH CAN SHOW TO A CHANGING AND TROUBLED WORLD, + THE QUEEN SAID.
FOLLOWING IS THE FULL TEXT OF THE QUEEN'S COMMONWEALTH DAY, MESSAGE:
+A REMARKABLE FEATURE OF THE COMMONWEALTH IS THE WAY IN WHICH IT HAS MET THE CHALLENGE OF CONTEMPORARY DEVELOPMENTS AND HAS MANAGED TO BENEFIT FROM THEM. ALTHOUGH ROOTED IN HISTORY, IT DOES NOT REMAIN STATIC.
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-TWO OF THE MOST IMPORTANT ADVANCES OF OUR TIMES HAVE BEEN IN COMMUNICATIONS AND EDUCATION AND BOTH HAVE BEEN OF GREAT HELP IN STRENGTHENING THE COMMONWEALTH.
+MODERN COMMUNICATIONS, BY SHRINKING DISTANCE AND MAKING THE WORLD SMALLER, HAVE MADE IT POSSIBLE FOR OUR ASSOCIATION OF THIRTY FOUR NATIONS TO GET TO KNOW EACH OTHER IN A WAY NOT CONCEIVABLE WHEN OUR ONLY LINK WAS BY SEA.
+AS I TRAVEL THROUGH THE COMMONWEALTH, I AM ALWAYS IMPRESSED BY THE NUMBER OF PERSONAL CONTACTS AND BY THE FLOW OF CORRESPONDENCE AND IDEAS BETWEEN FRIENDS, SCHOOLS AND GOVERNMENT AND VOLUNTARY ORGANISATIONS. ALREADY THIS YEAR I HAVE MYSELF BEEN ABLE TO OPEN PARLIAMENT IN WELLINGTON, CANBERRA AND LONDON, ALL WITHIN THIRTY SEVEN DAYS.
BEGUN TBURETERN HAS EXTNSFORMER THE COMMONWEALTH AND HAS BEGUN*TBUREFERN EXTNSFOBERHEFACENTS OF ITS MEMBERS.
WE HAVE COME TO APPRECIATE MORE FULLY OUR LITERARY AND ARTISTIC TREASURES, SOME OF THEM COMING FROM ANCIENT CULTURAL TRADITIONS, OTHERS BREAKING NEW GROUND IN CREATIVE EXPERIMENTS.
+PERHAPS LITERATURE ILLUSTRATES BEST THE UNITY IN DIVERSITY WHICH IS SO IMPORTANT A FEATURE OF OUR COMMONWEALTH. USING THE SAME ENGLISH LANGUAGE, WRITERS OF MANY RACES AND BACKGROUNDS HAVE ENRICHED IT WITH THEIR INDIVIDUAL QUALITIES, AND HAVE EXPRESSED JOTH UNIVERSAL HUMAN THEMES AND THE CHARACTER OF THEIR OWN COUNTRIES. WE CAN ALL WIDEN OUR EXPERIENCE FROM SUCH WRITINGS, AND GAIN THAT GREATER DEPTH OF UNDERSTANDING OF EACH OTHER'S VIEWPOINT WHICH IS ONE OF THE MOST VALUABLE EXAMPLES THE COMMONWEALTH CAN SHOW TO A CHANGING AND TROUBLED WORLD,+
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