The Evening Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News, and Echo. MONDAY, JANUARY 28, 1901. THE PROCLAIMING OF THE KING.

Auckland Star, Issue 23, 28 January 1901, Page 4

The Evening Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News, and Echo.

MONDAY, JANUARY 28, 1901. THE PROCLAIMING OF THE KING.

Far the cause that lacks assistance, For tho wrong that needs r.'3ißtanco, For the future in tho distance, .And the good that vo oan do.

It is at an important crisis such as this that'we recognise adequately the

immense advantages the cable confers. When Her Gracious Majesty,! our lamented Queen, ascended the

throne more than sixty three years] ' ago. news of 1 he event was quite four months in reaching1 this end of the I world. The intelligence that Almighty! ((oil in His infinite mercy had taken {the soul of our monarch into liis keeping was, now almost a week ago,; flashed to the most distant corners | iUf "the Empire in a brief spaiv! of time; we in remote New Zealand were in possession of the Had tidings in five hours. The unusually lengthy break! in the chain of communication has drawn attention to and emphasised : the value of this boon —one of many,! but among the greatest —science con-; ferred on humanity during 1 lie record j reign. The unfortunate interruption |. |of the cable i.-; especially regrettable at such an epoch in the nation's his-, I tory. We could have wished to be in j communication with the other members of the Empire in the hour of sorrow. The proclamation of the new sovereign also, should, we all feel, | have been made as nearly as possible! simultaneously throughout the wide;; dominions to the temporal sovereignty of which the Prince has been i called by high destiny. To-day's ceremony necessarily breaks in on a time of national humiliation. The fact of it coining j when the mind of the people is ab-! stracted carries with it the danger of our failing to appreciate the full significance of the event. The proclaiming by the representative of royalty in the Empire City of our colony of Albert Edward, Prince of Wales, as King, :is unique in our history. It brings home to ,our minds with irresistible. force how, from the inception and throughout the. growth of New Zealand as a British colony, up to the death of our gracious sovereign, the peoplfe of these islands have looked to but one national head. It also reminds us that under our constitution the law of 'heredity fixes practically irrevocably the successor to the reigning sovereign. We are indeed fortunate in that the mantle of the august Victoria descends on one who has shown himself so admirably fitted to discharge the onerous and responsible duties falling to the lot of the head of the Empire. Throughout these islands, in city and rural district, has been publicly pro-claimed to the people that Albert. Edward is King under the title of Edward VII. And from the sea beaten southern shores of Stewarts' Island to the northernmost boundaries of the land the people of New Zealand will extend to their new sovereign the same loyalty of heart and thought as were vouchsafed Victoria the Good. The "loyalty of colonists to the throne is not weakened, though they sorrow for the passing of one in whose case personal affection tended to strengthen loyalty. The prayers of New Zealanders rise with fervour for the life and guidance of Edward VII. We look forward

with confidence to our sovereign earning the affections of the people of this] corner of the Empire as he has already done those of his subjects in the I'nited Kingdom, for whom his lengthy public service is one overflowing witii pleasant recollections. I The people with whole-souled sinI eerily cheered to-day Iho announceiment of the accession of the King, and I we. with the echo of. that shout in our ears, with all reverence and humility pray that the nation's new cry—"God | Save the King"—will not go unanswered.