CONFIDENCE.

Auckland Star, Volume LXV, Issue 307, 28 December 1934, Page 7

CONFIDENCE.

KING'S BELIEF. OUTLOOK ON EMPIRE. Reward for Labours of Long Reign. "CLOUDS ARE LIFTING." (British Official Wireless.) (Received 2 p.m.) RUGBY, December 27. The Christmas ."Festival of the Family," as the King described it in) his broadcast to the peoples of the Empire, w r as celebrated throughout Britain quietly and in an atmosphere of more confident optimism than has been the case for some years. The holiday was without news, for politics were temporarily forgotten, and there was a happy absence of those calamities which so often comprise news. It was a green Christmas of mild and occasionally wet weather. Family reunions wore general throughout the country. Greetings by long-distance telephone and telegraph kept the Post Oflice exceptionally busy. Most people stayed at home, and the roads were singularly free from traflic. As in the case of the two preceding years, the great event of Christmas Day was the King's broadcast, and a programme of Empire greetings. The King's short message was marked by impressive simplicity and sincerity, and was addressed to all members of the Empire family. There were special greetings for the Dominions—"through whom the family has become a fellowship of free nations" —to the far-distant colonics and to the peoples of India, to whom His Majesty sent an assurance of his constant care for them and desire that "they, too, may evermore fully realise and value their own place in the unity of the family." How to Meet Troubles. Although the world was still restless and troubled, said the King, the clouds were lifting. "We have still our own troubles to meet, but if we meet them in a family spirit they will be overcome, for private and party interests will be controlled by care for the whole community." In a moving passage at the end of his massage, the King said: "May I add very simply and sincerely that if I may be regarded as in some true sense the head of this great and widespread family, sharing its life and sustained by its affections, this will be a full reward for the long and sometimes anxious labours of my reign of wellnigh five and twenty years. "As I sit in my own home I am thinking of the great multitudes who are listening to my voice. Whether they be in British homes or in the far-off regions of the world—for you all. and specially for your children, I wish a liappv Christmas. I commend you to the Father of Whom every family in Heaven and on earth is named. God bless you all." Empire-Wide Relays. The Empire broadcast which preceded the King's message heightened the effect of his words. Listeners were takfn without a moment's wait from one extremity of the Empire to the other — from Australia to Canada, from the North-West Frontier of India to Rhodesia. Little talks from these places gave an extraordinary impression of the unity which has overcome distance. Xot the least impressive was the concluding item from Lymington, the central village of Britain, where an old shepherd who had never visited London nor seen the sea? told in a broad dialect of his life on the Cotswolds.

TRIBUTE TO KING.

Christmas Message to His People. "HAS BECOME WORLD FIGURE." ("Times'* Cables.) LONDON, December 27. In the course of a leading article "The Times" says that although the King's Christmas message was primarily for his own peoples, His Majesty has become a great world figure. The King, is universally honoured for the simple dignity with which lie has upheld the best traditions of the monarchy, for his unflagging interest in all that affects the people and for his anxious labours in the cause of peace and good will among the nations. Therefore it is natural that millions of listeners in all parts of the world devoted attention to his speech, especially in the United States, says the paper. Moreover, one of the many influences which are drawing Britons and Americans closer has been the growing regard of Americans for the King, and also for the Royal Family, as was manifested on the occasion of the Duke of Kent's marriage. Similar interest was shown in France and elsewhere.