SEND HIM VICTORIOUS

Marlborough Express, Volume 86, Issue 228, 25 September 1951, Page 4

SEND HIM VICTORIOUS

: "¥-■ ' The latest bulietin from Buckingham Palaee on the e.onclition of the King's health following his operation will relieve to some extent the deep anxietv felt throughout the British Commonwealth. I;ast Saturclay's news that his Majesty would have to undergo an operation on his lung "in the near future " ' was learned with! gemtine conoern, but the announcement 011 Sunday night that a lengthy and eomplicated operation had been performed earne as a shoek. The faet that the news available is non-eom-mittal is suffieient to indicate the seriousness .of the afflietion, and fnrther bulletins will be awaited iii the hope that they may alleviate the anxiety which is felt not only by all his Majesty 's subjeets but throughout the Ehglish-speaking natians. The people of the United States of Ameriea 'kshare some of the eoncem of the British people," says the New York Times. "He is their King, not ours ; but their hopes and fears, joys and sorrows, defeats and victories belong also to us." High Sense Of Service , The King's lot is an arduous one and he has never placed his personal well-being before the sense of service with which he is inspired. It is for the welfare of his people that he is redueed to his present state of illhealth — the direct result of that selfless spirit of saerifice with which he has performed his Ro.yal duties. In his reign of nearly 15 years the King has always subordinated his wishes to tho.se of his subjeets, who are greatly in his debt. Although the people of New Zealand and Australia will regret that the Royal tour may have to be curtailed, or even postponed again, their eoncern for the moment, and their prayers, will be that his Majesty will speedily recover. No clecision 011 the score of the tour has yet been made, but it is obvious that however rapid his reeuperation the less strain the King has to bear the better it will be for him. It may well be that his medieal. advisers will prescribe a long sea voyage, away from the burden of offieial duties, and an absence from the rigours of Britain's winter. The ■present-' plans for the Royal tour need, perhaps, be only modified. If sueh is the case a ronte could be taken gnaranteeing Ihe maxirnum amount of sunshine, visiting as limited a number of ports as possible, and it might be possible to relieve the King of all pubiie appearanees. Her Majesty the Queen and Priileess Margaret are both outstanding pubiie figures in their own right, eommanding the respect and endearment of their subjeets, and possessing all the attributes the Commonwealth expeets of its Royal Family. The people of New Zealand would be grateful to aecorcl fhem a Royal welcome, happy in the knowledge that by so doing they would be sparing his Majesty strain. Could Be Relieved 1 The New Zealand Government has a eonstitutional right to give advice, and it could, no doubt. prompt the British authorities to explore ..ways of relieving the King of all work while he is abroad, so assuring that he will enjoy the type of holiday that other men eould demand as their right, He has, af'ter all, made only two voyages abroad since his aeeession — (apart from. visits to battlefronts during the war) — to Canada and the United States and to South Africa. Surely his untiring efforts on his people 's behalf have earned him a complete and lengthy rest. Canon Adam Fox, preaching in Westminster Abbey on. Sunday morning, reminded his eongregation that the National Anthem was not only a hymn, but a prayer. In singing the words "Send Him Victorious," he said, the people prayed not only for his victory over the nation 's enemies, but also for his victory over illness. New Zealand 's prayer, then, will be "Send Ilim Yictorions."