SILVER JUBILEE ODE

Evening Post, Volume CXIX, Issue 104, 4 May 1935, Page 24

SILVER JUBILEE ODE

In lionoui oi his Gi.auous Jlane&ty Kmg Geoige the Fifth, on the occasion of his Silver Jubilee, May 6, 1935 , Unto the King' His Majeslyl In firm accord of high elation , His people in their love draw nigh; ' Of every lank and class and station Within the gieat •woild Commonwealth .. Which brooks no fear of force or stealth In* freedom' hearts and voices sing, , God bless King Georgel liong lne the King' < That God m meicy still will deign From out His plenitude of giace To bless and guide his splendid reign, Holding the Empne in high place, A gieat light on the path to peace, That -war with all its wreckage cease; The iviger. counsels understood, Foundations sine for brotheihood.

That freedom glow from more to more, And Justice -hold an even Bcalo, We seek the ■wiso'oin held in stoic, Wheie Kingly guidance tan pie\ail The King's high -\void oui people heed Seaiclung in ]o\e to sene their need. Thq Father of his people, he Who guaids in tiubt.'their hboily. ' J Full > wisdom 'through his reign has shone, A be<icon to the Nation's eves - The strong foundation ot his thtoue <j Wherein the Soveieign gloiy lies, One with his people, eier tiue, Without re&tnunt is honoui due. No marvel that our voices ■ring With loud acclaim—God bless our King! k david McLaren. April 27, 1035. workless—very largely due to the interruption of Empire migration—it can yet claim to employ greater numbers than at any other period of its history! Canada, compared with its great neigh* bour on the American continent, is prospering. Australia, having overcome in the right British spirit a serious crisis, faces the future sound in credit and full of vigorous hope. South Africa is actually flourishing. New Zealand, though specially hit 'by the world crisis afflicting all primary producers, holds on bravely and supports the largest British population ' per. acre of any of the King's terntSries except the -Home Country. * > The Indian Empire, its secondary as well as its primary industries attacked by fierce competition, maintains its teeming population at a higher standard of comfort than that of any other period of its history. Many of the Crown Colonies suffer severely from the crisis in prunary production, but m none is the position desperate, and it is today improving. Some of the Mandated Territories coming now for the first time under British rule enjoy a prosperity and an orderliness unknown to them for centuries. PHILOSOPHY AND SCIENCE. The British Empire has had its full part in the marvellous progress of Philosophy and science which has made the last quarter of a century (in spite of its one vast tragedy) probably the most glorious in the history of the human mind Knowledge, marching forward with giant strides, has brushed away many ignorances; has established many new facilities for the comfort, the freedom, and the possibility of en» joyment of life. True, better habit has not marched at equal pace with better knowledge— that is in the nature of things—but it has greatly advanced. In no respect has the betterment been so great as in the relation of religious thought to life (and this is of the first" importahce,"/for Man is "a" religious' animal".). Science has become the-handmaid, and not the ignorant critic, of the aspiration towards the Infinite. Thought is no longer obscured by 'the of &. half-informed Science. Today no scientist worthy., of the name is intolerant/ In the lightlof truer knowledge, 'he can see thatMhev eagle flight of-the prophet's and the poets mind has often outstripped /the1 pedestrian steps of the scientific Mnquirer. * r This truer knowledge is far from being universally recognised by the world. In one quarter an atheistic machine worship is preached &s the foundation of a new order of society. In another it is preached that Man's communion with the Infinite can be sousht only by the path of surrender of the material good which civilisation has achieved, a path signposted by primitive spinning wheels In yet another there is a vojtue for a crazy psychology which seeks to trace back all conduct to the develooment of the animal sex instinct But these are but temporary and localised mists Man senerally sees clearly that the ideal of Western civilisation—the pursuit of human happiness and freedom—is in conformity with the Supreme Purpose If, as we may hope, the coming years prove the capacity of the human mind to give practical and wise application to what it has learned in the past twentyflve years, future generations will look back upon this epoch as having marked the beginning of a Golden At?e, will note with gratitude how notably the British Empire has contributed in every aspect of thought and action to its record of achievement, and-, will give a great place in history to the sagacious and dutiful leader of that Empire, King George V.