THE ROUND TABLE CLUB.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18567, 27 November 1923, Page 5

THE ROUND TABLE CLUB.

MR. MASSEY HONOURED. ■ HIGH IMPERIAL IDEALS. [FROM ot/r OWN correspondent.] V ! ': \ ''?- '■■■:■'/ •"•.':'. ■ ; ' i: :/:-- LONDON Oct. 19. : ; : r j : Mr. Massey; ■ Prime Minister of; New ■ ; ;, Zealand, s the : Maharajah of Alwar, and * Mr. L. C. Amery were elected ; Senior ■£-,£ Knight-Vice-Presidents of the Knights- of ■ -irf: the Round Table Club this week, and had r? > ■ the emblems of , the -order pinned" upon their breasts. They also drank 'from* the - moving cupa great, silver bowl—in the . ft .i< approved and ancient, manner. fc. ■ .- ; ,-< When the Knights of the RoSmd Table .> and their friends come together to banquet themselves they are an imposing spectacle with their goodly - array* of orders and :/ I decorations, and one is led to believe it . . is almost ; as difficult to become an Arthur- . ian Knight in these days as : it -was when v ■>•;•; the first King of all England held court at ; Camelok;-i; The club was formed \in the %"■: year 1720 *o carry, on the . knightly fellow-. ; ship and traditions of King Arthur. To- Wday it has among its members many distinguished men. « - Knight 1 Vice-President Sir Ernest E. , Wild, Recorder of London, in proposing " Our United Empire," said it was de- . voted to the promotion of international goodwill, and was more efficacious, if less -r pretentious, than the League of Nations, because they reached the minds of their guests by the direct avenue of their r todies. That night they were entertaining an Indian potentate and the doyen of - Pi-mo Minsters— irremovable rock of a Prime Minister. The delegates t had. .-,;- ,come expecting sacrifice for sacrifice. Their peoples had made the greatest sacrifice in the hour of national stress,; and were entitled to some sacrifice, if even ot , ? . a shibboleth. They were the only real :; friends they had in this habitable globe, . ? and the real Arthurian Circle was the circle of the British Empire., _ _. In the course of his speech, Mr. Massey referred to the efforts of King Arthur to make Britain one and indivisible. Times had changed. Britain was now a great maritime 6'. nire, an empire such as the world had never seen. It was the duty of every British citizen to So everything that was possible to maintain its integrity / and keep it together and hand it over to those who came after greater and more influential for good than it was when they came into possession. If the call came again —he hoped to God it never would— blood which was poured out like water in : ■• , Gallinoli and France and Belgium would never be forgotten, but would help to keep together the parts of the Empire. But he Relieved they could not have won : . A| the war had their efforts not been backed ~ , bv Divine Providence- Looking back upon the ; story of England and of. the Empire, it seemed as if on more than one occasion .. they had been saved by a miracle. He • , , believed the Empire and the nation had been preserved by a Divine Providence,■,-. ; because they had a mission to perform; to brine peace upon earth and . goodwill >> »■ among men. k Britain hid many enemies, ,# and, while he knew of no cloud* en the . , horizon, they must be careful to have .a i sufficient force to defend themselves in , case of need. ■ And their first line was on V the sea. They were a "nation, a com oany of nations," and it was their duty ; , to see that ■■the: Empire-w^.preserved-'m.. , tact for the benefit, not only of its en?- , , sens, but of the whole human ra©»,: •> ;r