The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News, The Echo and The Sun. SATURDAY, APRIL 10, 1937. HOW THE ABDICATION CAME.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVIII, Issue 84, 10 April 1937, Page 8

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

SATURDAY, APRIL 10, 1937. HOW THE ABDICATION CAME.

For the cause that lacks assistance. For the wrong that needs resistance, For the future in the distance, And the good thut we can do.

The events which culminated in the 'abdication of King Edward VIII. were brought to public notice so suddenly, and they succeeded one another so quickly, that it is scarcely surprising that in retrospect many people should he uncertain of the order in which they occurred. This uncertainty, as New Zealanders have reason to know, breeds misconceptions, some of which are so odd, sso completely at variance with the known facts, as to be pitiable. But when such misinterpretations of an occurrence which caused pain and distress to tens of millions of British people are repeated and spread with a knowing air of authority, and with an appeal to prejudice, a recapitulation of the circumstances oi the Abdication becomes necessary. It was about the middle of last October that Mr. Baldwin, returning to office after a i holiday, was disturbed in mind by the gossip jin the American Press regarding the King. Without telling his colleagues, he sought, and on October 20 obtained, an audience of the King. He informed the King of his views, and asked His Majesty to consider the position carefully. A week later Mrs. Simpson was granted a deere nisi in divorce. On November

4 16 the King sent for Mr. Baldwin, and in the i course of the audience said, "I am going to . : marry Mrs. Simpson, and I am prepared to | go." On November 25 the King asked Mr. Baldwin to examine the suggestion that Parliament should pass an Act making possible a morganatic marriage, and when Mr. Baldwin intimated that he must put the question formally before the whole Cabinet, and also ' communicate with the Prime Ministers of the I Dominions, the King said that was what he : wished done. An emergency meeting of the "British Cabinet was held on November 27, and on the same or the following day the (Dominion Prime Ministers were acquainted [ jwith the King's request. In all this time there had been no mention in the British Press of the situation that had developed. The matter remained one between the King and his Governments. On December • 1 the Bishop of Bradford, at a diocesan . conference, discussed the religions aspects of " jthe Coronation, and incidentally remarked that (it was to be hoped the King was aware of his jneed for God's grace. The next day there was i outspoken comment in provincial newspapers 1 on this remark, and on the same day, December 2, the King sent for Mr. Baldwin, > I and was informed by him that neither in the Dominions nor in England was there any I prospect of - legislation making possible a (morganatic marriage being accepted. By the i J following day, December 3, every newspaper '[was informing its readers of the situation -jthat had arisen, and expressing its own views ,| on what should be done. The later events are, .j in the main, familiar to everybody. 'J Two facts, perhaps lesc generally appreciated than they ought to be, emefge from , restudy of the events leading to the ; Abdication. The first is that information as ! to the King's intention to marry Mrs. Simpson, even if it meant his abdication, was | volunteered by the King himself more than a ; fortnight before a hint of the situation was in the British Press. The second ,| is that the Dominion Governments' decisions I on the question of a morganatic marriage were I communicated by Mr. Baldwin to the King on .December 2, before the Dominion peoples were • | made aware that anything had occurred. The '(Dominion Governments, including our own in New Zealand, undertook the responsibility of deciding, on behalf of the peoples they represented, against the marriage. They were unanimous in their decision, and the public and the Press, when afterwards they came to know of the decision, supported it. In England there was at first a division of opinion, both among the people and the ; newspapers. Some of the popular newspapers at first demanded that no decision should be I made which would involve the King's i abdication, but within a few days the same j papers, impressed by the strength of popular feeling that the King should sacrifice his private wishes in the interests of the nation, ceased to make that demand, and Press and public joined in the hope that His Majesty, being free to make his choice, would choose to remain Monarch. That he chose otherwise is a matter of history. One other misconception : should be mentioned. It is expressed in the i assertion that the British Government, being displeased with the King's outspoken comments on the condition of the unemployed miners in South Wales, resolved to depose him. It is an outrageous accusation, but one simple fact 1 disposes of it. Before the King went to South ■ I Wales he had told Mr. Baldwin, Queen Mary land his brothers that he intended to marry I Mrs. Simpson, and that he was "prepared I to go." A SHOCKING REPORT. When a branch of the British Medical Association in New Zealand asked the Government to launch an inquiry into the problem | of abortion it must have known, broadly, what such an inquiry would reveal. But few of the public knew, and when they read the investigators' findings, published in summary form to-day, the majority will be shocked, j The committee found that at least one 1 pregnancy in every fivei ends in abortion; in other words, that some 6000 abortions occur in New Zealand every year, and of these 4000, "at a conservative estimate," are criminally induced, and that the Dominion has one of the highest death rates from abortion in the world. In a comparison with ten other ;countries, including England, United States,

and Australia, New Zealand tops the list. For the conditions which it found the committee assigns no one cause; it sets out and discusses six causes, of which one at least, "changes in the social outlook," is capable of almost infinite subdivision. But why the conditions in New Zealand should be worse than in, say, the United States, the committee does not attempt to explain, nor should it be blamed for that. Quite rightly it was more concerned to devise and suggest possible remedial measures, and here it faced a difficult task.

The committee recommends action by I the State to relieve economic hardships, in so far as these are a genuine motive, and it remarks that "all efforts at social betterment . . . should undoubtedly help to make conditions more secure and more satisfactory for the rearing of large families." They should, but do they? Is not social betterment often associated with "the modern desire for pleasure and freedom from responsibility," which the committee notes elsewhere in its report? As to the practice of contraception, the committee finds that it is "widespread, uncontrolled and ill-instructed," and that while the present attitude towards the practice continues "No social legislation, however generous, will prevent it, nor, as far as the committee can see, will legal prohibitions do much to restrict it." It recommends certain prohibitions (and in this it will have the support of all responsible people), but it also recommends that, in order to help "married women who, in the opinion of their medical attendant, should have temporary or permanent freedom from the fact or fear of pregnancy," instruction in contraceptive methods should be given at public hospitals. This proposal will be repugnant to many people, but whatever may be the outcome of the controversy that it will arouse, it should not be allowed to divert attention from the conditions which impelled the committee to make it. The committee and the Minister of Health, the Hon. P. Fraser, who appointed it, deserve the community's thanks for courageously and thoroughly probing into an extremely discreditable and alarming situation. If there is a social conscience in New Zealand, it will not allow this report to be forgotten.