THE LAST ACT.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 20, 24 January 1936, Page 7

THE LAST ACT.

. response to duty. 1 ; Primate Reveals Secret of Chamber of Death. ) ! PATHETIC MOMENT. 1 United Press Association. —Copyright. £ (Received 1.30 p.m.) 1 LONDON, January 23. • The most impressive speech in the ! House of Lords, which sent messages \ similarly to the House of Commons, [ came from the Archbishop of Canter- • bury. He said: "Let me lay some ; emphasis on his steadfast devotion •to duty. Ido so because it was ; revealed in the most moving manner ; in the last day of his life when, at i noon, propped up in a chair looking so frail and weak, he received the last Privy Council. i "To the orders constituting the Council of State lie gave, in liis own : clear tones, his familiar 'approved,' then he made deliberate and repeated efforts | most gallant and pathetic, to sign his last State paper with his own hand. "When the effort was too great for , him, he turned to the Council with his last kindly and kingly smile. It was a scene which those who beheld it will , never forget. I hope I have not been ! guilty of impropriety in describing it. I think it worthy of record. , "It shows that what rallied him in [ the last conscious hour was his old , undeviating response to the claim of [ duty." In reference to the Archbishop's statement, it was learned later that the King did, in fact, make a mark on the j docuvient but as a signature it was indecipherable. THE CORONATION. E E CEREMONY NEXT YEAR. (Received 11.30 a.m.) LONDON, January 23. Early in his speech in the House of Commons, Mr. Baldwin announced that the coronation, with appropriate pomp and ceremony, would take place in 1937. MASONIC OFFICES. KING EDWARD'S POSITION. LONDON, January 23. When he ascended the Throne the late King Edward VII. resigned the Grand Mastership of the United Grand Lodge and became Protector of the Order of Freemasons. If this precedent is followed King Edward VIII. will resign the Provincial Grand Mastership of Surrey and assume the same title. The new Kin? was also to have been installed Grand Master Mason of facot-. land. DEATH CHAMBER. REMAIN UNALTERED. j LONDON, January 23. The "Sketch" states that at the Queen's express request, with .King j Edward's sympathetic approval, the room | in which King George died and in which i lie uttered the words that will ring! through history, namely: "How is the Empire?" is to remain unaltered. Not a chair nor a book will be moved. Only the Queen and other members of the Royal Family, and the necessary cleaning staff will be allowed to enter. u