A GRANT TO PRINCE OF WALES

Dominion, Volume 14, Issue 91, 11 January 1921, Page 5

A GRANT TO PRINCE OF WALES

DOMINIONS AND ROYALTY ♦ CORRESPONDENT’S SUGGESTIONS (To the Editor.) Sir, —As an old soldier, I should he triad if the Eeturned Soldiers’ Association of New Zealand would consider a public money grant to the Prince of Wales, who appears to be going through exactly the same trouble that his grandfather, King Edward, so long suffered (shortness of income), save that with the reduced value of money he naturally feels it more keenly. The simple fact is, thatl we give nothing to the King’s private income, or to his family’s support, although the Crown is of vast value to us, as Head of the Empire, our present national strength as a nation. The U.'S.A. is a weak State because it has no head. bo is Germany now, and China. .Every republic is weak, in fact, for this one want—a permanent head. President Wilpon became ill, and there was a whole nation in a dreadful mess. It hiwl no head. The British Empire and Japan are reallv the only two strong nations left complete from main truck to keel. Most of the European nations will take back their kings eventually. A match or a pin without a head is useless. I *' iMy suggestion, therefore, is that it will' pay Canada, South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand handsomely, to strengthen the Crown a little, by <?at d' subscribing a money grant of. say, .£lO,OOO a .year to the Prince of Wales, who, out of it, can help his brothers and sister a little (his fellow-heirs to the Crown), or use the money in a hundred ways for relieving distress or helping the Empire s needs, which he is constantly called upon to do. I notice that he has just had to subscribe XlOf) for some deserving object. Ift is not exactly righil for the Crown to be beholden to any private individual, as was King Edward, in his time. I ask the Tt.S.A. men to consider this, ns the idea of,the 'trade. unions is “one big union”—to replace the Crown. But , ns a student; of history. I would point out to New Zealand trade unions that they will be .the chief sufferers from the one big union idea. For whenever supreme power is taken by any one class of the community, it is that class tha4 actually suffers. When our own King Charles resolved to rule without Parliament, he very quickly was sent to the ecnffold. When the French did the same they were sent to the guillotine. When the working class take charge they are shot by the thousand, as now in Russia. The British Constitution is therefore a mixed safety Government of the three classes: and it has taken some 2600 .years (since Aristotle wrote his famous “Politics and Economics,’’ work trade union leaders should not fail to read) for us all to find out wherein real national safety lies. That is why I now suggest what 1 do, to support the Crown. It is hardly fair for us .Dominions to throw upon the English working class the entire upkeep of the Heir to the Throne’s private establishment. True, we help the Navy a little, and joined in the late war against Germany, as we didn’t want the Kaiser to rule over us. But another war is looming in the Pacific, and to get our inept, wool, cheese, and butter Home we shall want the protection of the whole British Navy. So that it will pay Us handsomely to help support the head of the Navy, viz., the King and his heirs. We are not in the same position as the United States of America, with a presidential election every four years, and the shocking waste of public money that that entoils. Let us therefore not be ungrateful or ungenerous for the benefits we actually enjoy under our admirably balanced Constitution, the real strength of the Empire. But under, the “one big union” rule the Empire would at once fall to pieces, and Australia and New Zealand pass to Japan. So bad has sole Labour rule become in Australia that many men there consider now that it would be better if Japan had the country, and not Eng- • land. I would, • however, point out to them that when democratic rule became supreme in Rome, and the Goth was let in, that the Roman Empire at once fell to pieces. So that if we w,ant to go on as we happily have, our bounden duty is to strengthen the Crown and keep the foe out. The “one big union” idea is bound to wreck the Empire, and is being engineered by quite a small minority in out midst, who should be severely punished. I believe the number of the actual Bolshevik ruling party in Russia is under half a million, out of 140 million Russians. But of course the people follow their leaders. They always do that. This is where I think the R.S.A. men should take a hand by keeping matters as they are, and insisting upon a law being passed prohibiting the formation of "one big union” in Ned Zealand either among employers or employees. No section of the community has the slightest right or justification to upset our balanced form of Government, which has been fought out and perfected on a hundred bloody battlefields in England during the past WOO years. The Battle of Tewkesbury was the bravest and bloodiest 'battle ever fought upon this earth, and that was in defence of our Constitution. ■ I might further point out that directly the Prince realises that a portion of his income comes from the Dominions (from which it really should come), it will l>e up to him to look after the interests of the Dominions, and he will soon repay us for anything we give him. As wo receive the privileges of a united Empire, we must surely take upon us its reasonable responsibilities. Besides, 1 confess to a warm liking for the Prince personally, and I wish to let him realise that he belongs to the whole Empire, not to any single part.—l am, etc., COLEMAN PHILLIPS.