EMPIRE DAY.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 121, 24 May 1932, Page 3

EMPIRE DAY.

MEANING FOR DOMINIONS. INTER-EMPIRE TRADE. IMPERIAL CO-OPERATION. Young people of the present day can have no idea of the remarkable part played by Queen Victoria as a figure round which the -sentiments of people all over the Empire used to rally. When its queens have been women of character the British people have always been inclined to apothcosise them. Queen Victoria appealed to the people not only because she was their Queen, but because she was their ideal of womanhood and motherhood. May 24, her birthday, used to be celebrated with an enthusiasm that would astonish the blase generations that knew lier not.

It was fitting that the Earl of Meath, a great Imperialist, should choose Victoria's birthday to become Empire Day; it perpetuated the memory of a remarkable Queen, and it also focussed attention on tho growing sentiment of union throughout the Empire. The day when the various families of the British Empire were left to their own devices, to develop or otherwise, "remote, unfriended," ended several decades ago. It was in 1902 that the Earl of Meath made his suggestion for Empire Day, and two years later the day was officially recognised.

An added significance is given to the : meaning of Empire by the nearing ap- 1 proach of the great conference at Ottawa, s Those who belong to the British Com- 1 nionwealth of Nations take the member- ] ship as a matter of course; they do not : pause to think what New Zealand 'would be in its absence. The forthcoming ; deliberations at Ottawa are fraught with tremendous import. Some have even said that on what is done at the conference 1 will depend the future of the Empire, i because at Ottawa the strength of the economic bonds so often lightly talked about will be tested. Giving on this one day but a passing thought to the Empire, we are apt to lose sight of these facts. City Ceremonies. Ceremonies were conducted by the Victoria League at the statue in Albert Park and at the memorial at the junction of Wakefield and Symonds Street. Wreaths were placed at the base of the piles by Miss J. A. Mowbray, president of the league, at noon, and the Hons. G. J. Garland and C. J. Carrington, M.L.C., attended. "To thoso of use who have in the past looked forward from year to year to May 24, the Queen's birthday, it is fitting that the commemoration wreath should bo placed on Empire Day, at the foot of the statue erected to the memory of the first Empress of the British Empire," said Mr. Carrington. "This annual tribute is paid to that great queen who ascended the throne as queen of Great Britain and her dependencies, and "who lived to see a great Empire grow through troubled times in liberty, power and greatness. "The early pioneers, in politics, in government, and in all the institutions organically linked up with our social life, brought their traditions from the Motherland, and have handed them to us for safe keeping. A duty devolves upon us to see that wo wed the future with the past. This can best be done by bringing before the children—the citizens of the future-Hho traditions and history of that glorious heritage that has been given to us by our forbears. "Empire Day this year is of special significance, becausc of the forthcoming Empiro Economic Conference at Ottawa. At this critical time much will depend upon the results of that-conference, and if the true Empire spirit of cooperation prevails over a spirit of bargaining, lasting beneficial results will accrue." He paid a tribute to the work of the president, Miss Mowbray. Growth of Movement. Mr. Garland referred to the fact that the ideal of the league was world peace. He said that the activities of the movement had grown enormously within recent years, and supported his statement by saying that there were 77,000 league members in the Empire, and 3400 in the Dominion. He gave a list of the brandies throughout the world, and stated that a branch had actually been formed in a foreign country, in the city of Boston, U.S.A. Ho endorsed all Mr. Carrington had said with reference to the necessity of bringing the principles of Empire before the . children of the Dominion. i The chairman and members of the i graves committee of the league visited . the graves of the veterans in the Grafton Bridge cemetery and placed sprigs of rosemary thereon. In the evening the Victoria League • Empire ball will be held, when their ! Excellencies, Lord and Lady Bledisloe, L will be present. References to the inner symbolism of • the day were made in the various schools. British Prosperity. , Professor F. T. Worlcy, corresponding - secretary of the Auckland branch of the , Royal Empire Society, to-day received ' the following message from the central branch: — [ "The chairman and council send greet- > ings and an affirmation of their belief \ that, granted faith and patience, the f prevailing economic depression will lead, r through the Ottawa Economic Conference, to the re-establisliment of British prosperity on a new and firmer brsis 1 of lielp within the Empire."