The Nelson Evening Mail TUESDAY, JANUARY 28, 1936 THE EMPIRE’S GRIEF

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXIX, 28 January 1936, Page 4

The Nelson Evening Mail TUESDAY, JANUARY 28, 1936 THE EMPIRE’S GRIEF

i'J is characteristically British that the nations which mourn the death of King George V should do so in silence; and it is to be noted that it was the dead monarch’s son, King Edward VIII, who suggested that that impressive method of mourning should be adopted throughout (lie Empire, and expressed a desire that i here should he no further loss and hardship caused by cessation of business activities. Right round the globe, wherever the Union Jack Hies, the silence is being kept. Beginning at such island groups as Samoa, Tonga, and Fiji, the silence was next kept in New Zealand and Australia, then by the groat Empire of India, and two hours later by the belt of South African countries stretching from South Africa to the Sudan. Then will follow tile observance in Nigeria and oilier British areas in West Africa, next in Great Britain itself and Ulster, about Ilf, hours after the observance in New Zealand; followed by silence in Canada at intervals during the next four hours; and finally in such Pacific islands as Raratouga, Cook Islands, and Fanning island. Tims will the rite or ceremony ho observed in all quarters of the globe, in geographical sequence from east to west, beginning and ending with islands of flic Pacific. It would lie difficult to imagine a morn effective way of uniting the nations and peoples of the far-flung Empire in a solemn observance expressive of their desire to pay homage to the memory of The dead monarch in

whose person they were united. Moreover, is not silence more eloquent than words as a means of expressing grief? Is it not more expressive and more dignified than any other exhibition of sorrow? It lias been adopted by the nations of the Empire as the simplest and most effective moans of honouring (ho great King whom, (o their inexpressible sorrow, they have lost. There are times when words are useless, and this is one of them, for there is no means of expressing the grief of upwards of 400 million people, except silence. To some it may seem inadequate. But how is it possible to express completely the sorrow caused by the death of so great a King?