The Hawera Star. THURSDAY, JUNE 3, 1926. ROYALTY AND THE PEOPLE.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVI, 3 June 1926, Page 4

The Hawera Star.

THURSDAY, JUNE 3, 1926. ROYALTY AND THE PEOPLE.

Delivered every evening by S o’clock in Hawera, Manaia, Normanby, Okaiawa, Eltham, Mangatoki, Kaponga, Alton, Hurleyville, Patea, Waverley, Mokoia, Whakamara, Ohangai, Mere, mere. Fraser Road and Ararata.

The congratulations of a wide Empire will be extended to-day to King George V., on the completion of his sixty-first year. Following on some slight indisposition about ilfteen months ago, his Majesty found it necessary to case the burden of his work for a few weeks; but throughout the last year he has enjoyed unbroken perfpet health, and, although national crises such as the present coal trouble must inevitably leave their mark upon him, Britishers the. world over have cause to be thankful that the passing years weigh so lightly on the head that wears the crown. The anniversary of his birthday is one of the few occasions on which we in the Dominions think of the King personally. Ordinarily, lie is the head of the Empire, the unseen link that binds us to the Motherland. To-day, and when troubles assail him or his, he is an ordinary mortal like each of 11s. Of course, the dual capacity of the sovereign is there all the while, and it is sometimes difficult to distinguish between official and personal acts. There was an instance not many weeks ago when -the King, by a chance remark at the British Industries Fair, gave to the British typewriter industry a lift forward probably without parallel in its history. A direct command from the throne could hardly have achieved more. And this week we have had the spectacle of the Princfe of Wales, acting in liis private capacity as a warm hearted and generous English gentleman, sending a donation and a message of sympathy to the Somerset miners’ wives’ and children’s fund—a message which may conceivably have an important in fluence on the course of the strike. His Royal Highness had to say that, naturally, he could not take sides in any dispute; but ho added a sentence which showed very real sympathy with the miners in the situation which may be the means ultimately of .forcing them to capitulation. “It would be an undesirable end to any dispute,” wrote the Prince, “that one side should have to give in on account of the sufferings of its dependents.” It would. The miners may be right or they may be wrong —our view is that they are partly right, and partly wrong—and certainly it is their refusal to work which brings their women and children to want. But the point is that hunger and cold take no thought of justice; and men may be driven back to work under unfair conditions or at unfair wages because they cannot bear to see their wives and families suffer. The Prince of Wales as a private, citizen realises the injustice of that possibility, and, without presuming to suggest where the fault lies, he expresses the hope that “with goodwill on either side, there will be a happy issue of the present difficulties.” At any time and in any circumstances, the opinion of Royalty carries tremendous weight in Britain. At this time, when

the nation must feel with the Prince that a war of exhaustion would be a tragedy not only to the parties involved, but also to the general industrial structure of the United Kingdom, a private letter such as this may have as powerful an effect towards settlement as the most profound deliverance of the highest court, or the most mandatory Act of Parliament. At least, let us hope so.