WAR DECLARED

PROCLAMATION READ BY HIS EXCELLENCY FROM THE STEPS OF PARLIAMENT The tens© feeling abroad in the community was exhibited this afternoon in tho huge crowds that assembled in tho Parliamentary Grounds to hear the King's Message read by His Excellency the Governor at 3 o'clock. In long solid lines the people came up the white lanes of the Parliamentary Grounds with the quick step of expect-. ianoy. An hour before the advertised hour several hundred people covered the cotf crete enclosure fronting the steps "of the old Parliamentary Buildings. As the hour for His Excellency's arrival approached the numbers arriving increased in density. The historic importance of the occasion was evidently deeply felt. Between ten and fifteen thousand people must have greeted His Excellency when the hour arrived. In the spaces in the vestibule of tho building were the Speakers of the two Houses of Parliament, and members of Parliament and the Judges of the Supreme' Court. His Excellency was received with loud cheers. The following is the Message from His Majesty the King to His Excellency the Governor' of New Zealand, received at Government House, Wellington, to-day : " I desire to express to my people of the Overseas Dominions with what appreciation and pride I have, received the messages from their respective Governments during the last few days. These spontaneous assurances of 'their fullest support recall to me the generous- self-sacrificing help given by them in tho past to the Mother Country. I shall be strengthened in the discharge of the great responsibilities which rest upon me by the confident belief that in this time of trial my Empire will stand united, calm, resolute, trusting in God. r . "(Signed) GEORGE, R.1." His Excellency read the following message from the Governor of New Zealand to His Majesty the King, sent on sth August : — "New, Zealand desires mo to acknowledge Your Majesty's gracious message, and to say that come good or ill' she, in company with the dominions and other dependencies of tho Crown, is prepared to make any sacrifice to maintain her heritage and her birthright. — (Signed) Liverpool, Governor."