EMPIRE DAY.

Auckland Star, Volume LXV, Issue 126, 30 May 1934, Page 17

EMPIRE DAY.

SYDNEY CELEBRATIONS.

SPECIAL "SHOPPING WEEK."

(From Our Own Correspondent.) SYDNEY, May 23. As usual, Australia is taking the Empire Day celebrations very seriously, and an elaborate programme has been arranged in Sydney for to-morrow. The commemoration was initiated with a message to his Excellency the Governor from Earl Jellicoe, who is president of the Empire Day movement in London. Last Sunday, Empire Day services were held in all the churches, and ill the great sj'iiagogue, where the Jews listened to a fervent exhortation to assist in upholding the British Empire, as the greatest Power in the world, making ! for freedom and the overthrow of tyranny. The ceremonies arranged for Thursday are naturally of a patriotic character. In the morning, at 11.30, our | chief patriotic organisations — tiic J British Empire Union, the Koyal Empire Society, the Koyal Society of St. George, the Australian Women's Guild of Empire, and others —will lay wreaths on the Cenotaph. At noon a service will be opened in Martin Place by the Lord Mayor, and the audience will be addressed by Archbishop Mowll, the Premier, and the president of the British Empire Union. Mr. W. M. Hughes will deliver an address on the value of inter-Imperial trade, which will be supported by the New Zealand Government representative, Mr. L. J. Sehmitt. Following this mass meeting, naval a-nd military veterans will be entertained at a public luncheon, and will be addressed by Mr. Hughes; and other luncheons of a similar character have been arranged by the Millions Club and the Victoria League.

In the afternoon the Women's Loyalty League will hold a public "rally" at the Town Hall, with community singing and many speeches from the heads of the League, and our leading public men. In the evening Empire Day will be celebrated with dinners by the Royal Empire Society (with Sir Philip and Lady Game, tlie Premier and Admiral Ford as guests of honour), by the Y.M.C.A, and by the U.A.P. Speakers' Association, at which Mr. Hughes and Mr. Stevens will deliver speeches once more. There are many other functions, but these may give some idea of the elaborate and comprehensive character of the celebration in this city.

On the more material side, a different but extremely important aspect of these annual celebrations is presentod by Empire Shopping Week. This started for us on Monday, and its significance is being explained and emphasised in all our shop windows by countless posters, streamers, .and tableaux. This method of celebrating Empire Day was inaugurated in England in 1022 by the Women's Patriotic League, and in 1928, when Lady Cowan, president of the League, visited Australia, the movement was extended to Sydney. The object is to encourage the sale of goods produced within the Empire, and in a message to Sydney traders, Mr. Noak, president of tho Retail Traders' Association, has reminded us all that "tho prosperity of the Empire depends upon reciprocal trade," and that we can all contribute toward the promotion of Imperial aims by "keeping the money within the Em pire."

There may be differences of opinion about the economic value of this advice, but there can be no doubt about tho appropriateness, the impressiveness, and the generally beneficial effect of our Empire Day celebrations.