RETROSPECT ...

Auckland Star, Volume LXVIII, Issue 1, 2 January 1937, Page 1 (Supplement)

RETROSPECT ...

THE Old Year is gone. Its closing days were strained and anxious, its last hours parsing on a note of mingled expectation and deep regret. On this same note is the New Year U>rn. Just how much the Throne means to us—the people of the great British Empire—and how earnestly we desire the wr|f ar e of our King, is brought home to us most clearly during a crucial period such as that through which w e have lately passed, and triumphed. The Crown is our link with the grand little country of our forefathers, and, like our fathers, we honour and re»pect the Sovereigns of our time. Never before in our history has one short year seen the ;ei«ms of three kings. Throughout our lifetime, we who have taicen an active part in the crisU climaxed by Edward VIII.'s i momentous decision — and we cannot be unconscious of the import that must be attached to the manner of the people's reactions—shall remember before all else the suspense of those eventful days, which have already stamped themselves on the pages of history. December 10, 1036. The children of to-morrow will turn tattered pages of history books, and find another date added to the annoying list; another name a-idod to the line of kings whose crder of succession is already tantalisingly elusive from „^___^ — memory when remembrance is most necessary. It is a pity that history can mean little more than that to the average child at school. The Great War, so real to our parents, and made real to us only by the absent pl*«"e» at our tables, is otherwise just a date, or a series of dates, marking stirring battles won and lost. So it will be with those to come. They will not be conscious of the heartache and regret behind it all—the emotion that stirred the very heart of the world in that certain past December. Edward VIII. was loved with a greater love than that bestowed upon any former king. His father, George V., we were proud to call the "well-beloved," but even that affection was eclipsed by that given to bis eldest son. The "Daily Telegraph," London, has said: "The people loved King Edward from the moment they saw his features as a bab* in Queen Victoria's arms. He might have asked them for almost anything." But not till forty-odd years had gone by did he take advantage of that privilege. Then, while preparations were well under way

The first message of 1937 comes to you from the pen of a juvenile writer, Agnes L. Winskill, Cambridge. This is only the third occasion in nearly one hundred and twenty issues of the Junior on which such a writer has claimed the front page. It is fitting, too, that the first message of the Nev Year should come from a young pen, for it is symbolical of the age of youth. The young people of to-day will set the lead to-morrow, so your editor dedicated this issue to the rising tide of youth. May it be a full flood and bring with it better things to a worried old world.

for his cor(**tion ceremony, lie asked th-em for the gre-tcst thing ir life—his happiness. The people pave him the answer he wanted; reluctantly, because of the traditions that must surely suffer, and yet willingly because his liappiness was iwrira. And now "the # Prince"—our popular name for him—has gone. The New Year opens with new hopes and a new King, but, !o >king forward, we cannot help hut pause to look backwards, too The old year bad begun on such a note as this. Out of the sorrow of parting had been born the content that was confidence in he who was to carry on. And in such a way does the year of 1937 open. B-itish subjects, remembering Edward, remembering his friendliness, his concern for his people, the greatness of his heart, are saddened; the "Prince" is gone, but in his place stands a man who. when the call came. resp<»iided, ~"""~~~ quietly taking up his heavy burden under sorrowful circumstances. It is but natural that our new King shoold have lived less in the public eye than his elder brother the Prince of Wales. But through a wise policy which sent the Koyal brothers to :ir> far places of the Empire, he has become known to the jteoples of the British Commonwealth. and especially to Ne* Zealandcrs. It was in 1927 that the Duke and Duchess of York visited the Dominion in H.M.S. Renown, and by their unassuming friendliness and I interest endeared themselves to the people of this country. But what perhaps will live longest in Uie memory of the man who is now King was the tumultuous welcome given by y-*ung Aucklandcrs to this Prince and Princess come true to life. Taylor Darbyshire, describing this in his autobiography of the Duke, written two years later, said:— "Then scores, then hundreds, broke their ranks, until at 1.-ngth the whole wide arena was one surging mass of children thrraging about the car, shouting, cap waving, rushing excitedly from vantage point to vantage point, while the Duke and Duchess vtood in their car, smiling, hand waving, and most evidently touched by the whole-souled devotion of tbeir younger subject* " The Children's King! The new King has been proclaimed; an already beloved lady graces the Throne with him, and, with yet another Elizabeth, who is a little child to-day, they represent the stability cl the English Throne in the midst of a heaving, unsettled world. And so we leave old days behind, and greet the new of 1V37.