Vew from the chair: Speeches of Richard WL Austin

Seimei, Mr Tsuchida, and Mrs Tsuchida, with us, in addition to the other senior members of Meiji, Mr Nishimoto, Mr Hattori and Mr Hatano, and we are both pleased and proud that the Attorney-General, the Hon. Dean Wells, representing the Premier, should also be present at this welcoming lunch, especially as this is Mr Wells's first official visit to the Gallery. 1 The Government's support of the Exhibitions Development Fund was indeed an important factor in its success, but it is, of course, to those generous Japanese companies that were prepared to support the Fund financially that our thanks are principally due. Meiji Seimei was one of the first companies to give us support and its contribution of $100 000 makes that company a Donor of the Fund itself and a Founder Benefactor of the Queensland Art Gallery Foundation. The Fund now stands at $550 000 from the Japanese companies, well on the way to reaching our original target of one million dollars. The revenue from this Fund will be utilised for the first time next year to bring to this Gallery the largest collection ever put together of the graphic works of the famous French artist Toulouse-Lautrec. 2 It will, I have no doubt, be a very successful exhibition, and we are grateful that Meiji Seimei should share in that success with us. Meiji Seimei, as you aU know, took its name from the era during which the Emperor Mutsuhito reigned for forty-three years-from 1868 to 191 I. It is appropriate that it should have done so because the company and the era are examples of conspicuous success. Meiji Seimei is one of the leading life insurance companies in Japan and the Meiji era is probably the most significant era in the whole of Japanese history. It saw a Japan which had been isolated from the rest of the world for 250 years, under the Tokugawa Shoguns, emerge as a world power in the last quarter of the nineteenth century, when her industries took a gigantic step forward. The value of her imports was then trebled, the tonnage of her merchant fleet quadrupled, railway receipts increased fivefold, bank deposits sixfold, and financial transactions in Tokyo alone increased tenfold. Meiji Seimei mirrors the success of the Meiji jidai. The two Satsuma vases in this room came from Kagoshima in Kyushu, the home of the great Tozama Daimyo family of Shimazu, and it was the leader of the family at that time, Shimazu Takayoshi, who did so much to bring about the Meiji Restoration. These vases, it seems to me, are somehow symbolic of the Meiji story. And so, ladies and gentlemen, I should like to propose a toast to the continued and increased prosperity of Meiji Seimei. Finally, as I have said, we are honoured by the presence of the Attorney-General, who is not only a lawyer of note but an author of note as well. He has kindly agreed to say a few words on that very important subject-the partnership, in many fields, cultural and economic, of Queensland and Japan. 7 Speech to introduce the Premier, the Hon. Wayne Goss, to open 'Treasures from the Shanghai Museum', 13 September 1990 NOTE: THIS EXHIBITION, CONSISTING OF EIGHTY OBJECTS FROM THE SHANGHAI MUSEUM AND COVERING THE PERIOD FROM THE ANCIENT SHANG DYNASTY OF 27