The Auckland Star WITH WHICH AND INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News, The Echo and The Sun. MONDAY, DECEMBER 14, 1936. KING GEORGE.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 296, 14 December 1936, Page 6

The Auckland Star WITH WHICH AND INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News, The Echo and The Sun.

MONDAY, DECEMBER 14, 1936. KING GEORGE.

For the cause that lacks assistance, For the wrong that needs resistance, For the future in the distance, A.nd the good that toe can do.

To-day is the King's birthday, but until Friday it did not possess any such significance. Within a very few days the ' peoples of the British Commonwealth have had to accustom themselves to the fact that one reign has been abruptly ended, and another begun. It is a fact that, even yet, is difficult to realise, but in accepting it we have cause to marvel at the.resilience of the British system of constitutional government. : It has withstood a tremendous shock, Avhich 1 might, but for one factor, have done irreparable damage to its apparently delicate structure. That factor, as foreign observers have been generous in remarking, is the character of the British people. The occasion demanded that they should be calm, steady, fail and generous, and the response was splendid. They have furnished an example of political wisdom that is* highly encouraging to those who hope most of democracy. King George (his subjects are grateful of the name he has taken) has begun his duties with the dignity which our experience of the House of Windsor entitled us to expect. He met the Accession Council "in circumstances unparalleled in the history of our country,' declared bis adherence to the principles of constitutional government, and asked for the : support of all British people. That support 1 he will have in full measure. Two good things have come out of the nation's experience last week. The sense of national unity has bpen strengthened, and the people have a more , intimate regard for the Crown and * a much • more informed sympathy with the personal difficulties of the Monarch. They realise that King George has indeed undertaken a "heavy : task," and they honour him for the dignity, courage and determination with which he has i begun it. His Majesty has already been proclaimed King in Britain and many other . parts of his vast realm, and to-day the people of New Zealand declare their allegiance to him. They do so in no perfunctory spirit, and with the fervent hope that it will be given to him "long to reign over us." The events of last week will never be forgotten, but they should be allowed to recede into history as rapidly as possible. The ' fortunes of his late Majesty, now the Duke of 1 Windsor, will ever be followed with sympai thetic interest by those who until a few days \ ago delighted to honour him as Sovereign. They hope that from. his personal point of 1 view the choice which he has made will be a ■ happy qne. But he is now a private personage, and his doings can be of no real importance ! to the British Commonwealth. It is too much ' to expect that he will escape the prying curiosity that is the fate of other personages less distinguished, but it is well to remember that the centre of the British Commonwealth is the Royal Court in London and not a castle in Austria.