GREAT DEMOCRAT

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 169, 18 July 1936, Page 10

GREAT DEMOCRAT

TRIBUTE TO KING. PRAISE BY MR. SEMPLE. 'MOST HUMANE OF MONARCHS' (By Telegraph.— Tress Association.) . CHRISTCHURCH, this day. A striking tribute to King Edward as. the greatest democrat who has sat 011 the throne of England, or any other throne in the world, was paid by the Minister of Public Works, the Hon. R. Semple, this morning when expressing his great relief that the attempt 011 the King's life had failed. "It is a blessing that the fanatic did not fulfil his murderous mission," said Mr. Semple. "The British Empire would have suffered a terrible shock if he had. The present King is the greatest democrat who has sat 011 the throne of England or any other throne in the workl. As I have said on former occasions, in other countries where democracies have perished and desperate dictatorships have emerged out of the ruins, England is the one country which has stood steadfast' for democratic principles, and has played a wonderful part in atttempting to keep the peace of the world.

"The King is a man of the people. His attitude towards the Welsh coal strikers proved him to be one of the most humane nionarchs who has ever lived, and he is primarily responsible for the great activity in clearing away slum conditions in the great cities of the Old Land. It is indeed fortunate in these changing times, when democracy is at the crossroads, that we should have as our King a man so beloved of hit* people and who has been standing for years for the rights of citizenship, from the poorest to the richest.

"The attack on the King's life is a warning to the authorities in the Old Land to be more careful. It is not always a tyrant who is assassinated. Great humanitarians such as Abraham Lincoln and Jean James of France were assassinated, and this ought to bo a warning, because these fanatics never attack a man when he is protected, but usually shoot him in t«ie back."