HISTORIC EVENT

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22619, 6 January 1937, Page 11

HISTORIC EVENT

PROCLAMATION SIGNED TASK OF HON, W. NASH RECEIVED BY HIS MAJESTY [from our owx conresponoent] LONDON", Dor. 10 Hard, cold business facts and irrefutable' figures were forgotten, temporarily, by the Hon. W. Nash, New Zealand Minister of Finance and .Marketing, on December 12. The absence. in Geneva, of the High Commissioner, .Mr. W. J. Jordan, who was attending a meeting of the Council of the League of Nations, made it .Mr. Nash's responsibility to sign on behalf of New Zealand the Proclamation of King George VI., to be received by the new King, and to witness, with Mrs. Nash, the heralds proclaiming the new sovereign at St. • lames' Palace. Previously, Mr. Nash had been present, in the House of Commons to hear King Kdward VII I.'s wish to abdicate declared and to listen to Mr. Stanley Baldwin's account of the deliberations which led to King Edward renouncing the Throne. They were historic occasions which made a deep impression upon the New Zealand Minister, whose role as representative of the Dominion was far more than that of a mere onlooker. On leaving the Throne Room after the meeting of the Accession Council the King's first act was to speak to tlip representatives of the oversea Dominions and of India, who were gathered near the picture gallery. Presented by the Lord Chamberlain. Lord Cromer, Mr. Massev, on behalf of Canada, Mr. Bruce for Australia, Mr. Nash for NewZealand, Mr. te Water for South Africa, Sir Firozkhan Noon for India, and Mr. O'Keoffe lor Southern Rhodesia, in turn conveyed the loyal greetings and good wishes of the various parts of the Empire which they represented. The King spoke to each individually, thanking them for their greetings, and giving them each a message of good wishes and desire for the welfare and happiness of all his peoples oversea.