WRITERS' CLUB.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVI, Issue 122, 25 May 1935, Page 15

WRITERS' CLUB.

A JUBILEE TALK

"Jubilade, 1887, 1807, 1935," was the titlo of a talk given by Mr. A. E. Mulgtui to the Writers' Club at their afternoon meeting yesterday. He gave it vivid picture of the Auckland of Si, .and the changes which led to the present jnbileo time. No less marked, ho said, lias been the change in the Empire as a whole. Up to 1887, -Queen Victoria had scarcely been regarded with reverence in England, but had met with much criticism, and tho Republican movement was strong. Suddenly men had been seized with wonder that this lonely old woman had ruled so long over a vast Empire. • In 1897 New Zealand had already entered that period of prosperity which was to continue till the Great War. Here, as in England, change was in the air, and a Liberal Government was making great advances in social legislation.

The note of the '97 jubilee was naturally one of pride In an achievement. IHe Empire a* a whole was stable and prosperous, and the discontent had to some measure abated. But beneath the surface were many sources of inction. and the rejoicing was not of a personal Kin" Edward, although handicapped in many ways, by Wβ vigorous up-bring-ing was an excellent cosmopolitan. Me did a groat deal to promote peace, and that hie success was only partial, was duo to the comparative powerleaaness ol Monarchy. With his son came a- new era. King George was brought up, not as the Jieir to the Throne, but a» «-^ Sained thereby in knowledge of the oidinary man. Ho was also the first of our monarch* to see the whole Empire, am to know it thoroughly. In a hundred ways he had endeared himself to his people, so that in his jubilee a deep n flection was the keynote of the celebrations.