Dissenting with the Minister of Shipping

(Excerpted from In the Pursuit of Governance, autobiography of MDD Pieris) (Continued from last week)

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The Managing Director of the Commonwealth Banking Corporation hosted a lunch for us in their 32nd floor dining room with a spectacular view of Melbourne.

Felix Dias Abeysinghe, the former Elections Commissioner, about whom I have already written, was our High Commissioner in Australia, and it was a delight to meet him in Canberra. Whilst we were in Melbourne, our hosts knowing the interest of some of us in Cricket took us to the Melbourne cricket grounds to see a couple of hours play in the Third Test match between Australia and England. You just cannot capture the atmosphere on the ground by watching T.V. On T.V,, you just get the Cricket. But on the ground. you are part of a large community enjoying interesting and varied reactions. It’s far greater fun than being in the relative silence of a home or a hotel room. We were also told that the pressure to become a member of the Melbourne Cricket club was so great that children were put on the waiting list at birth. It was not everyone who made it before death! During the visit, my wedding anniversary came up, and the rest of the delegation knowing about this, sent up a large bowl of flowers to my room with a card signed by all, wishing us. This was very kind of them. I telephoned my wife and told her.

As usual, there were many matters to be followed up after the visit. But the main thing was that we had assured ourselves of another reliable source of supply of wheat for the new mill. We reached a range of understandings including on possible emergency purchases if necessary. Discussions held both in the United States and Australia made us feel much more secure as to the regular availability of the commodity. Tapping Canada was not possible due to high freight costs.

Coastal Shipping