The Star. Delivered every evening by' 5 o'clock in Hawera, Manaia, Normanby, Okaiawa, Eltham, Mangatoki, Kaponga, Awatuna, Hurleyville, Patea, Waverley. MONDAY, MAY 24, 1915. EMPIRE DAY.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXIX, Issue LXIX, 24 May 1915, Page 4

The Star. Delivered every evening by' 5 o'clock in Hawera, Manaia, Normanby, Okaiawa, Eltham, Mangatoki, Kaponga, Awatuna, Hurleyville, Patea, Waverley. MONDAY, MAY 24, 1915. EMPIRE DAY.

TWay is Er .npire Day, a day set apart in the national calendar for the «tua«lation a».i education of patriotism^ and it is ajtso the anniversary of the birth of tba great. Queen in whose reign thexe was not only the greatest tewi- , tatial expansion, but the greatest quickening and strengthening of tube Imperial spirit in its worldwide duties and responsibilities. Perhaps in past celebrations overseas Dominions have had in mind more the privilege and pride of forming a jpart of the British Empire rather than a sense <of the obligations that are inseparable *hero from. For the Sbst Empire Day -we are realising what the «flbh'gatians really mean. The casualty list to-day, Kke its. predecessors chining iihe 'past few weeks,, has: brought i&em Tiome to all ?The Mppa of omr best as flowing afiix»o freely^' but as men if all others step into their places,, sad 'day %■ <&ay etiU . others, are offering their .services .'. W«» > are realising 'Empire tmea^s to •*», but ire hare f ©alised./alsci what .jfiie -British ; Emjare stemls lot m iihe #Qrld' at large, aiuE the sacrifices the peoples of the overseas lydmvmxms are :so reatfity making shows that tliey are Teady and. indeed, smxiottß *o #© €heiT fufcmfost to translate into action "tire Iqyalty of which in past JEnrjaraje Btays "they havo only fead to talk in geaaraalflaes. The Empire as face to €ace wSth a most 6r.rsems crisns^ it lhas am enormous power;s© contend -m^, tet it is united 'as it ha* never "beem^beSore^ and there is every reason for hoping and believing tl*a4 *Tm Tesult must Tie the maintenance off the British flag in proud and mdble supremacy. What the supremacy ©f i3rctt flag represents in the world is gmerally realised; but it has been seldom, "better set forth than in the follotrhyg sentences taken from an article of Mr Arthur Mcc, the well-known editor of the Children's Magazine. "Far out into the world" (he.says, writing of the flag's record) "it has gone far and wide to the ends of the earth, so that there is not a free land anywhere, nor a free mind under the sun, that would not suffer if our flag should fall. No enemy has ever pulled it down. It Has waved on the battlefield that hay made many men free; it has 6heltered the victims of tyrants wheresoever they have been-, it has kindled the fire of i heroes, who have marched to liberty against great odds. It has been the torch of liberty that nothing could put out. It has been like a fire of freedom sweeping through the ages, or like a wind blowing, out of its path whatever hindered the free marching of the human race. It is not true that there has never been a stain upon our flag. We are poor, frail human creatures, and we go astray, and the nation is merely all of us together. There have been dark days and bad days in the story of our land. But it is true that this flag of a thousand years is the noblest friend of all mankind that the eyes of man can look upon. In all the strivings and yearnings of multitudes of men it has been on the side of everlasting Right. In the long story of ths rise of nations it has1 been on the side of freedom with honor. In the coming up of the world from barbarism to civilisation it has been on the side of humanity. It has cleansed the world from many a foul blot; it has hurled down many a blood-stained Power; it has sent many a monstrous crown and sceptre rattling to the dust] it has s&wii the seed °f human freedom, not as in a garden or a little plot of earth, but generously and widely in a boundless land for all mankind to reap." This is the flag that is in peril this Empire Day; but its record cannot have lieen in vain, and nor can the sacrifices being made for it be in vain. «