BONDS OF EMPIRE

Evening Post, Volume CXIII, Issue 125, 31 May 1927, Page 12

BONDS OF EMPIRE

KING'S INTEREST IN NEW ZEALAND

"My predecessor, Earl Jellicoe, has said that New Zealand is a place of sunny skies and warm hearts," said the Governor-General, Sir Charles Fergusson, at a luncheon given by the Huntly Town Board and the Eeturned Soldiers' Association at Huntly on Friday (reports the "New Zealand Herald")- "There never has been any mistake about the warmth of the people's hearts. You seem to have a happy knack of making any stranger thoroughly at home from the very first moment. I do not like to think that visits paid by Governors-General to various places are mere formalities which must be got through. I prefer to think there is, a great deal more in these visits. They are occasions when we should'try to realise and strengthen the link •of the Dominion with the Mother Country. (Applause.) To my mind this is more important these days than ever before. We live in an age of strange times and • ideas, and as the years go on we see that link which has'always bound the Mother Country and the Dominions together interpreted in a somewhat strange way to our old ways of thinking. Yet the link remains, and will always remain, although it is important to have something -to bind us together. The Dominions have been given a status which in years gone by, although it existed, was not announced, and it seems more important than ever for us to realise that although we prize our independence, united we stand and divided we fall." In order to preserve the unity of the Empire it was important to realise the common link that bound it, namely, the King, continued His Excellency. , He had been given messages of loyalty from the people of New Zea- > land, and-he in return gave the King's I message to his people. "I can tell you how sincere His Majesty ,is in his interest in New Zealand; It would surprise you to know his knowledge of 'the country, his intimacy in. all matters concerning it, and the interest he displays in its welfare. I write to him periodically arid tell him everything I am doing. There is nothing too small for him to mention and comment on iii his replies. I have also the responsibility and proud privilege of conveying to. the King the loyal feelings of his subjects in the Dominion, and this is never a hard thing to do."