EMPIRE DAY.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIX, Issue 120, 24 May 1938, Page 8

EMPIRE DAY.

CEREMONY TO-DAY.

ALBERT PARK GATHERING,

IMPRESSIVE OBSERVANCE.

In the calm and wan-Mi of a perfect autumn day the annunl service cm, memorative of Empire Day was held at the foot of the statue of Queen Vjj. toria in Albert Park to-dav.

The service was simple and inmre* sive, and was attended bv many rem*! sentatives of local bodies, children fron city schools and the public. "We are gathered here to-day to n» tribute to one of Britain's greatert sovereigns, Queen Victoria," said the Mayor, Sir Ernest Davis. "We New Ze*. landers feel it our duty to observe thii day with thanksgiving, as it was during her reign that the sovereignty nf this land was carried out." Sir Emwt expressed pleasure at the large atfaari! ance of schoolchildren, whom he exhorted particularly to remember this dav will not be long before the Empire" wffl have to stand up against attack; that is why we hallow the symbolism of tM» day, he said.

Captain J. W. Rivett-Carnac, com mander of H.M.S. Leander. spoke briefly and his remarks were followed bv til reading of the Empire Dav from Viscount Bledisloe, the texttf which was being read throughont tS t British Empire to-day.

Honoured Tradition. Mr. R. Heath-Freest, president of the Roval Society of St. George, said the British tradition of honourable deal ings had been the seed of good fdlowship which had built up the largest Empire in the world. This macW was set in motion, but it needed tlw> mechanic to regulate its pace and to see it did_not stop. This required men and women who were prepared to suffer all kinds of hardship. Numbers eventually** landed on the shores of New meeting misfortune at every turn and conditions which it was almost iapos. sible to visualise to-day. The names of these strong-charmctoed. untiring pioneers were known to««l| From them came the direct appeal to

the rising generations to uphold the mighty patriotic spirit which was first and foremost in the lives and i»iml« of our forbears, he concluded.

Instrument For Pragreo. Mr. H. T. Gibson, chairman of the <*mtral committee, 6sid that the significance of Empire Day was an inspiration for people to lift their eyes beyoitd their immediate surroundings and their everyday tasks to behold the great inheritance which was theirs. The British Empire had spread like the ripple of a restless tide over tracts and islands and continents. "We see in its history the human hands that have built it, the human hands that have been laid down for it," he said. "Yet when we realise its destiny we see it less as a human achievement and more as an instrument of Providence for the progress of mankind."

Official wreaths were then laid at the foot of the statue by the Mayor, on behalf of the City Council, Mrs. J. B. Macfarlane, 0.8.E.. on behalf of the patriotic societies, Mr. Heath-Preest, oil behalf of the Royal Society of St. George,, and Sergeant J. Simpson, D.C.M., on behalf of the King's Empire Veterans." The ceremony concluded with the singing of the National Anthem* and the sounding of the Reveille.

The Auckland branch of the Royal Empire Society has arranged a dinner to be held this evening at Hotel Cargen, when their Excelleneies, Lord and Lidy Gal way, will be the principal guests. Members of the Victoria League held a ceremony at the Maori War Memorial in Symonds Street during the afternoon, and this evening the Empire ball will be held in the Town HalL