THE OYER SEAS CLUB. 



5i9 



first able to attend to the Club in addi- 

 tion to editing the Over-Seas Daily 

 Mail, and controlling the sales depart- 

 ment of the Amalgamated Press. But 

 ere long its rapid growth made it evi- 

 dent that he would have to choose be- 

 tween the Club and his other activities. 

 All his Imperial leanings, his aspira- 

 tions for closer union between the 

 peoples of the Empire, impelled him 

 to take charge of the Club organisa- 

 tion. This he decided to do, and in 

 October, 191 2, set forth with his sister 

 on a world tour to organise the scat- 

 tered units of the Club in every British 

 Dominion. Since starting on this mis- 

 sion Mr. Wrench has covered a great 

 deal of ground, has met many thou- 

 sands of people working for Imperial 

 unity, and has already been accorded 

 many mayoral receptions. Above all, 

 he and his sister have succeeded in im- 

 parting some of their superabundant 

 enthusiasm to members wherever they 

 have gone, with the result that in 

 Canada, New Zealand, and now in 

 Australia the Over-Seas Club has be- 

 come a very real thing, with 

 potentialities ahead of it. 



As the Club grew and its members 

 multiplied, it became greater than the 

 organ which originally started it, and, 

 although the Over-Seas Daily Mail 

 still takes great interest in its progress, 

 it is becoming more and more, to quote 

 the official journal of the Royal 

 Colonial Institute, " essentially a popu- 

 lar society, which we regard as in some 

 degree supplementary to the Institute." 

 Newspapers all over the Empire now 

 devote space regularly to chronicle its 

 activities, and several of the branches — 



great 



of which at the moment there are some 

 400 — issue occasional leaflets and pam- 

 phlets to their members. I intend to 

 give a short summary every month of 

 the doings of the Australasian branches 

 of the Club, as I am convinced that to 

 increase its membership, and make its 

 objects more widely known must help 

 to further cement the great Empire of 

 which in area we form so large a part 

 and so small a part in numbers. 



Miss Wrench's enthusiasm about the 

 Club equals her brother's, and as it is 

 open to both women and men, is kept 

 very busv as Assistant Organising Sec- 

 retary She qualified as a kindergarten 

 teacher at Sesame House, London, and 

 that training has stood her in good stead 

 on this tour. The amount of travelling 

 which has been done by the two is 

 best illustrated by the fact that since 

 the\- left England they have stayed in 

 no fewer than 127 hotels and private 

 houses. After a brief stay in Hobart, 

 where they are the guests of His Ex- 

 cellency the Governor, thev return to 

 Melbourne prior to their departure for 

 South Africa, where the Over-Seas Club 

 is already very strong. On his return 

 to London in December, 191 3, Mr. 

 Wrench hopes to be able to find a suit- 

 able site for a headquarters, where visit- 

 ing O.S. members can meet, and where 

 they will find those facilities so wel- 

 come to the stranger at " home." The 

 creation of such a centre in London 

 cannot fail to strengthen the Club 

 materially, and it will ere long no 

 doubt become a sort of Junior Royal 

 Colonial Institute, on the Council of 

 which bod}', by the way, Mr. Wrench 

 is an active worker. 



