BRITAIN'S KINGS.

Evening Post, Volume LXXIX, Issue 110, 11 May 1910, Page 3

BRITAIN'S KINGS.

"EDWARD THE PEACEMAKER." A FRIEND OF IRELAND. GENEROUS TRUST IN THE PEOPLE. Bj Telegraph. — Press Association. — Copyright. LONDON, 10th May. Speaking in London, Mr. William O'Brien, Leader of the Independent Irish Nationalists, said that the late King's title, "Edward the Peacemaker," was a prouder one than any amount of military conquest could have conferred. Nowhere had King Edward been a truer peacemaker than in Ireland. When the story of the great schemes of national reconciliation in 1902-1903 wero fully told, it would be found that if those benign measures of national justice and reconciliation had not blotted out the last trace of enmity to Britain in Ireland, it was not through the lack of delicate tact on the part of King Edward nor of his brave and generous trust in the aspirations of tho Irish people. [In 1902-03 the Unionist Government passed the Irish Land Purchase Act, which enables Irish tenants to purchase their holdings.] THE SOVEREIGNS OF NORWAY. AN EFFECTIVE MEETING. BRIEF DEVOTIONAL SERVICE. LONDON, 10th May. When they were driving to Victoria Station to meet the King and Queen of Norway, both King George and Queen Mary looked gravo and anxious. Queen Maud (King George's sistsr), on alighting from the train, v.-as pale and sorrowful. She impulsively took the arm of hsr orother (King George) as if seeking tomcona to sustain her on making so tragic a return to her father's home, but, the obligations of Royalty asserting themselves, she advanced alone to receive tha sad official welcome. King Haakon and Queen Maud at itended a brief devotional service in tha death-chamber. King George, Queen Mary, the Queen Mother Alexandra, Princess Victoria, the Princess Royal (the Duchess of Fife), and her two daughters were piesent. The Royal shell was kept open to enable Queen Maud to view her father's features, but the Jasi one to look upon the dead was the Queen Mother Alexandra. King Edwaru is the. only British £ing who nas died at Buckingham Palace. (Buckingham Palace was also the late King's birthplace.) NAVY MOURNING. - » The Navy will be in mourning foi kalf a year. Tho playing of bands in public will be suspended, likewise bugle salutes. LABOUR LEADERS. SPEECHES IN GERMANY. POSITION AT HOME AND ABROAD. BERLIN, 10th May. The Berliner Tageblatt and the Vos•ische Zeitung (both on the Liberal side of German politics) report speeches made by tho two Labour leaders who are now in Germany along with a delegation of British workers studying the economic conditions that prevail under German protection. i\lr. Barnes (Chairman of the Parliamentary Labour Party) is reported as ■taring that the death of the King would render worse the position at Home and abroad. King Edward had, indeed, not definitely consented to the creation of new Peers, but had declared his desire to do everything satisfactory towards a settlement. King George V. was a friend of the Tories, and hence would be unfavourably disposed toWards Germany. Mr. Henderson (ex-chairman of the party) confirmed this, addinn that the death would make fresh elections certain, because King Edward's successor would consent to the necessary steps only as the result of a fresh declaration of the people's will to restrict tho rights of the House of Lords. LONDON, 10th May. The Berlin correspondent of The Times states that, owing to the publicity these statements are obtaining in Germany, he quotes them textually with a view to calling the attention of Britain to them. JIEIR HARDIE. TRIBUTE TO THE KING. LONDON, lOth May. Mr. Keir Hardie, one of the Labour leaders, in a speech at Preston, said he could say with perfect sincerity that since King Edward came to the throne, he had added dignity and lustre to his great position. Though tho King's death would postpone the election, he (Mr. Keir Hardie) personally regretted the fact, believing that, in the interest of a permanent settlement, they should have an election as soon r.s possible HOLIDAY IN NEW SOUTH WALES ON DAY OF FUNERAL. SYDNEY, 10th May. J'hii State Government has declared 2<Jth May (the date stated to be nxed for the funeral) a public holiday, to be observed as a day of mourning. CONDOLENCES. The ordinary meeting of the Karori Borough Council was to have been held last evening, but was adjourned for a

.-week as a mark of respect to the memory of the late King. Tho Mayor (Mr. C. I. Dasent) moved the following resolution : "The council and citizens of Karori, New Zealand, are deeply grieved at the death of His Majesty King Edward the Seventh." Councillor Cathie seconded the resolution, and it was agreed to. The council then adjourned. When the Grand Jury at the Supreme Court concluded its labours yesterday, the Foreman (Mr. Gerald Fitzgerald) said the jury wished to place on record its full sense of the loss the nation had suffered through the death of King Edward. Mr. Fitzgerald made feeling reference to the wise and beneficent rule of the late- monarch. The jury also wished to intimate its continued loyalty to King George V., and trusted that his public acts would never fail to reach the exalted level set by his illustrious father. Their constant prayer would be that his aims might always be noble, and that his influence might always be a guide towards peace. His Honour said he would acquaint his Excellency the Governor with what the jury had said. The following characteristic telegram has bpen received by the Prime Minister from Remuera Heni te Umpu, on behalf of all the Ngatipahawera : "The Right Hon. the Premier, Wellington. Greetings to you in our sorrow. Great is the grief for King Edward the Seventh, who has parted from us and from his wife, Queen Alexandra, and her children. Convey to Queen Alexandra and her family our sympathy and sorrow for them who are now orphaned. Go hence, O King Edward the Seventh ! Depart thou, the Sovereien Head of all nations under thy role. Depart and follow your mother, Qi'een Victoria, do thou, the central pillar of the house. Go thou, the commander of the canoe. Go thou, the shield of the people. Go thou, the rock of shelter from the storm. Go thou to your ancestors ; go to your parents ; go to the great majority,' who have gone before into the nieht." The _ teleprram" concludes with the opening lines of a waiata or lamnnt : *'A moivntain whose base stood olene on land."