In recognition of the distinguished services which he has rendered to the Country and to the Empire as Third Civil Lord of the Admiralty, Minister of Labour, President of the Board of Trade, and latterly, as Chancellor of the Exchequer.
"What a city it is to which you have given us the freedom. Beautiful, romantic, golden with the sunsets of past history, but glowing too with the active life of today. I remember a friend of mine who had been born and reared in Edinburgh saying to me with some wistfulness: 'I wish I could see Edinburgh for the first time.' I think there is some point in that observation. Those who are most likely to appreciate the charm of this great old town are those who come upon it for the first time when their minds are at a stage to form impressions and if, like some of us, they have to endure spasms of enforced exile, I am sure they will return to it with ever-recurring delight."