ST. GEORGE

Evening Post, Volume CXVII, Issue 125, 29 May 1934, Page 12

ST. GEORGE

ENGLAND OR s BEITAItf ?

SOME CONFUSED IDEAS

(Written for "The Post", by Nelle M. Scanlan.) LONDON, April 24. Yesterday was St. George's Day, and many things were dono to mark ■ the occasion. St. George of the legend killed dragons and rescued fair maidens in distress; he is the^ saint of chiyalry. Mr." Howard Marshall, writing in a daily paper, said that "St. George'for England" was giving place to "St. "" George for-Great Britain," a phrase that "stuck;in...Ms gullet." The ijEnglist;:,ca^not; ; have all the samtsJ;v'Last month-an"'eminent' ehurehlhan-. claimed St^Patrick as an EnglishVnot 'suggest his .English" .^ Vbirtlx- aa ; -a theory, but ■■asserted.it as j;s: ar fact; ; |LEnglarid. is entitled J:6" her *;;saints* and) her sinners, .but there sis a ;%ite^enojcAtov absorb>; the. good- and; dis*|card«the^bad^ Tire] great and the "sue--cessfui^ofv British birth or origin soon cease .t6;;tV credited-to; their particular country, ani become British, if not English. Lord Eutherfdrd is never "the great New Zealand scientist," and teMelba had long ceased to be "an Ausv ..,tralian singer.'/ vThey have been abvsorbed into the whole as "British," *'Haud even at. times:" English. " But let ; a man get two years' hard for.a- confidence trick, and ho is definitely and absolutely ■" an: Australian criminal.'' Mr. Marshall- protests against: Eng: lishmen signing foreign hotel registers 1 as "British." "He says that English::;:'rmeii should be '.proud to sign English. He also declares thata hotel manager is entitled, to "know when he has a :• Scotto deaUwith, .. ~: I write as a New Zealander, of Irish p_arents, who. loves and lives in Eng- ','■ land. I was in-America two years be-, . fore I saw: England, but they always .'■! called me English. When I protested i 'ahd'?sai&l-was not English, but British, - fthey th'dnght it odd, and asked the dif- : ference. Many of these kindly people i- thought the best way to please the Eng-iish-'was to abuse* the Irish (it was at ■i the time of f'The Trouble"). When I ;!■ proclaimed' my^lrislr blood but sang ; "G6drSav'e-thV King^'-and* was proud ; to^ive under, the' Union Jack, they were ; more bewildered..-. . * v ■■"'"', ' -; ■' :• When .during* my wanderings I sign ,:' myself -in. foreign hotel, registers. "New Zealander," not two put of ten recognise "my .nationality," arid I'"am often' debited to Holland.. . '„ At "international conferences, foreign statesmen, often refer to the'''English point of yiew," while Veighty Dominion representatives bolster English spokesmen fore arid 'aft. But ! find that English delegates are most ,punc-_ tihous in* discriminating : between, an; opinion:; that is British and one .that; is puiely'-English. The foreigner knows that ■British'is somehow allied to English, and "respects it as such, but the, separate, which- eompos'e: the Empire are beyond his comprehension, t'rremember at an international dairy / conference held in Washington some years ago many people1; were" in doubt as to whether the Irish Free State was still part of the Empire, and so put their delegates apart from the ' Biitish>.groupf, .Eyen ;ia England, if you arej^Buying,(fruit from some;;of ;the shops' atidj asfei.fijit?i.S British or^Eqreign; they ||y3^ te,ilifoti;>jit is-.Britisn^if incomes'from California and foreign when it is South African. Their ideas of geograph'yT"are vague, "and what constitutes the British Empire' -is still a puzzle to many. No one has tried to filch St. George A rpm> ttie1- English, ; and <. thiey spread ;..themselves,oyer;his..feaEt day, yesterday.: Me'inbers"~6f the Imperial Order of; St.' Michael and St. George made a spectacular group-as they went in procession toOSt:; Paul's Cathedral. Their -splendid A decorations' ; made a gay pageant. The Bishop of Salisbury walkled first'in "Ms cope of cloth of gold; followed by the-Knights and Command-: ers. of the Order-in full uniform or levee J' dress.* The-Knights Grand Cross came next in flieir Saxon-blue mantled. The •■Earl of.•Liverpool, who represented Sir: Francis Bell -of, New .Zealand, was pre: '■"'.'■ ceded^ by;a squire bearing the banner of Sir JFraneis Bell. A' roll call of those : •who-'-haye died since the. last service :-: waisgr^a&andythere;. were a hundred' .:;-Tiantesli)ii!;tb:at long list,"which included King,'.Peisai'i Of =IrakJ the Marquis of Aberdeen and' Temair, and Viscount Novar. A moment's' silence followed, ,nnd the congregation stood while Chopin's Funeral March was played. AnotHer "event' was: the return of Prince George from his official tour of ii"■•Soutll^iAfrica;'•.:'He'arrived at South--,i ampton, and immediately flew to Fort •/Belvedere, where.the Prince of Wales Mm. Alter lunch ; with the rf^rincjsJ^el^eat'Sonftto''Windsor-- ■'ani; ;' "dined wiiii theXing'and Queen. Afterwards the King invested his son with f,r f the Order of r St. Michael and St. ;)-"George. ;i: "..-'..v-.::■"; -.■'•'■ 'A < \"-'-?;■'■■

■jjjj Nurses jsg'eht the day selling red roses St. Hpsffpital. '■''■?■ '-4£-i "■','.::■- •*;.'- ..- ' 1-Q ' >, The last1 great event on St. George's ;>_ Day was the. famous raid on Zeebrugge, | s;iand. in many 'centres ; the "survivors of i I that igallant -exploit met to celebrate the/memqry of !that action. ,A model of ■ ;' a battleship iir.pink and white carna- .; tions was laid on the Cenotaph at Whitehallj and- officers who took, part in the raid held a reunion dinner at «the Mayfair Hotel in the evening. : The Archbishop of Canterbury, when dedicating >St; ■ Nicholas's iPlats, which ;: haveibeeri built to replace-the; slums of ;' Somers Town, urged the people of Eng- '. landito emula'teSt; George,.and to slay , thisj dragon of'the slums. Loyal greetings and homage were sent ■: to the King o.nhis patronal' feast day , by the Archbishop of Liverpool, the ;Duke> of Norfolk, and four hundred ; Catholic, clergy, and laity at a banquet ■held'fat 'Liverpool; '• Dr> Downeyj' in ... urging a,, rekindling of the spirit of ■ ~devotion to England's patron saint, said ; that !Gibbbn*'s historical blunder in coni ,; fusing St. Georgp ..with: the villainous George ofcpappadociEOw.ho, for his mis-. , deedgj^waa^put.to death!by hia flock halfifa-century after the death of the realist. 'GeoVgeJ.?h'a'd :led'many into' a' misunderstanding-of. the saint's proud position, f; , : .-.- . f '■ ■ ■ ~