THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. FRIDAY, MARCH 25, 1887.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXIV, Issue 7905, 25 March 1887, Page 4

THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. FRIDAY, MARCH 25, 1887.

\ The question as to the manner of most appropriately giving expression to the - loyal feelings of Her Majesty's sub- ■ jects towards their Sovereign, on the I completion of the fiftieth year of her reign, ia now pleasantly agitating every community throughout the Empire. The spontaneity, the unanimity, and the earnestness with which the matter hae been everywhere taken up constitute a very remarkable testimony to the universal satisfaction that has been given by the Constitutional rule, under which the Empire has grown and thriven to an extent unprecedented in the history of any nation ; and, at the same time, to the personal loyalty and !i attachment of her people to Her Majesty's person. Under these influences, ingenuity has been quickened, and the greatest variety of form has characterised the numerous suggestions that have been made for celebrating the auspicious occasion. With rare o exceptions, these suggestions have ). been local in their scope; and in the great want with all, looked > f at from a colonial point, has been "d an idea that would give embodiment 'j and significant expression to the general a - sentiment of the colonies. We venture Y to think that, among all the various proposals that have been made, there is y " no other that in all essentials comes bo >• near to what is required as the suggestion that has just emanated from a e» conference of the representatives of 110 municipalities in Victoria, that the

colonies should join in presenting to t Her Majesty a crown made of colonial p gold, studded with fifty diamonds, b representing the fifty years of her o reign. It is true, that the proposal f is deficient in that utilitarian idea r which appears to run through nearly all s the proposals that have heretofore been p propounded ; but there is nothing in it I to in any way intnrfere with any other i: local forms of celebration which the several communities throughout the I Empire may desire to carry out, while a the unity of feeling expressed in such a f gift, not less than the magnificence and e intrinsic value of it, would make it c worthy of the occasion. r The idea contained in such an offer- c ing would be strikingly appropriate. \ Many of these colonies, now in the 8 adolescence of nationhood, were unborn ( when Her Majesty came to the throne, t some of them were in the feebleness of £ infancy, and all of them have grown up ! in strength and vigour under the influ- ( ence of her beneficent sway, and now , they come, hand in hand, as if to crown her anew with the crown of empire : < not derogating from the historic glories « of the crown of England, but supple- ' menting them with the crown of empire ' —an Empire now the widest and the mightiest that ever existed on the , earth. We believe that to Her Majesty herself the significance of such a symbol would be very touching; that,to the people of the United Kingdom and throughout the Empire it would appear as an emblem of that federation of hearts which constitutes nearly the only bond of union of the British race ; while to foreign nations the incident would present itself with dramatic force as a striking evidence of the genuine and unswerving fealty of colonists to the throne of England. Looking at it in any light we may, there seems nothing more appropriate to the occasion, and nothing more strikingly significant than such presentation of a crown from the colonies to Her Majesty on her attainment of the Jubilee Year of her reign. The proposal, in its present form, as suggested by the Municipal Conference in Victoria, seems intended to be carried out by voluntary and private contributions, but for such an object as this, it seems to us that it should come more fittingly from the legislatures and Governments.of the several colonies. There would doubtless be no difficulty in raising the requisite sum by private donations, but we think that there might be an inappropriateness in such a gift as from private persons; and that as the Grown would descend an heirloom and possession of the nation, there would be a fitness in it emanating from a formal vote of the representatives of the people in the several Parliaments assembled. However this may be, and whether so treated or made the voluntary offering of the people, we have no hesitation in saying that, as suggested, a diamond crown from the colonies and the Indian Empire, constructed of colonial gold and bejewelled with Indian and colonial gems, and fashioned by colonial hands, would be of all the most appropriate form in which the colonies and India could give expression to their loyalty and love for their Queen and Empress on her attaining the Jubilee Year of her reign.