THE KINO AND ILLS EMPIRE

Evening Star, Issue 16778, 5 July 1918, Page 3

THE KINO AND ILLS EMPIRE

SPEECH BY GOVERNOR-GENERAL, The difficulties that have beset the reign of !•: ij.t- were reforred to by His Ex-c-U’ ucv th” Governor-General in a speech delivered In members of the Auckland Sav-r;-o r.hib on Saturday night, in acknowledging an exprciwim ot welcome and loyalty by the chairman of the gal noring, -dr S. Miiroy. His Excellency said they all looked to the Khpe as the great chief who guided the ship of State. Kina George had experienced a more difficult time, and had a harder row to hoe than any King who had ever sat in tho •lotish Xarone. " He bad ascended the Throne at a tirao when many difficulties foamed on tho political horizon. Thcss difficult ies had not yet been overcome, and the vdp of state had vet Ui reach port, though ha praved God that that time would soon e’-nve- ' The people of the Empire, who fiye-i under a free constitution i'.id enjoyed fho Idvrlies it conserved, looked to the coustitat’oa as tho beacon lira that made life worth living. In times good or iii, ti’ouvli ha did not govern as some kings did, tho "British King was still the emblem of the P-eVdom enjoyed by tho children of the Em■piro Ho shared with his people their joys, ai d in sorrow bo was the first who tried to mal-c tho way easier. His Excellency said he knew that King George would have liked nothing bettor than to have taken his place at the battleiront, either the sea or land, but that privilege was denied him for reasons of state. He, however, made a point of seeing that his sons shared the dangers and hardships of the men in tho field. His Excellency concluded with a tribute to tho lovalty of the Dominions, as demonstrated in" thsir war efforts.