THE EMPIRE FESTIVAL.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XXXIX, Issue 10778, 29 May 1911, Page 6

THE EMPIRE FESTIVAL.

(Uy the Rif?lit Hun. the Earl ui' Plymouth. i Whatever may lie said of the success of the Festival of Kmpire —and 1 believe ■ that our most ambitious hypes will lie ' realised —we may claim already that it j is a big idea. Behind these buildings of lath and piaster which are beiny put up iiy ;i kiwi of magic in tho Crystal J'ahu-e grounds, behind the great pariurama of painted scenery which jiives ■ a wonderful illusion of natural grandeur, of climates, and of many countries, behind the commonest objects exhibited in the halls of this exhibition, there is the j;reat Idea, for which .

through the centuries men of British blood have done great adventures in •• heroism and haidship. and endurance, and toil. This exhibition in the grounds of the Crystal Palace enshrines that; great idea of Empire which, since Walter Raleigh and the Elizabethans, has been the vision and become the achievement of our race. Here, in miniature... is the vivid object-lesson of that achieve-; nient. Here, in facsimile, are the Parliament Houses of our .daughter na-j tions, telling the story of how the traditions, the liberties, and the laws,, gained after long struggles and- strife' in this little island, have been handed on to our great self-governing dorriinious beyond the seas. Here, also.

gathered in one place, are specimens of, the. Empire's great treasure —the treas--ue of its natural resources, illimitable and inexhaustible, of ; ;its; industry,;, fes-er growing and expanding, of Us' million arts and crafts, expressing the character., of its many peoples, East/ arid West; •■■ This Festival of Empire is not the glorification of the .■nprjfofi.rf] power created and upheld by the sword. Here -is the living picture of an Empire gained not so much, by, fighting, aud i bloodshed as by courage 'of'amulet Sihd [ —the courage of endurance,_ of industry,

of honesty, of long patience, naiid'sober; character. Here hbrioi- is given to those farmers and merchants and; thrifty traders who dared greatly -aiidv-suffered much .ill order to obtain prosperous homes and.; peaceful .ilives; - Tlft>«\ Jhen ] who first made the British Empire dreamed of political and religious liberty, of fat flocks and rich pasture lands, of good" red gold, of the fruits of Mother. the-, skins of beasts: #bft"'t]iesejiJxjiigs did adventure" their' lives - arid fortunes;' and for these things did they endure hardr ships';gVadly,r.fijght and die] heroically. Sometimes, also, the spirit of adventure for-adventure's sake, which will always stir young blood, sent the .'the race across the sea-.for no other object than "a" little fighting <-f a little, fun. Yet though these were the chief: imOtives ' which i inspired ■ tlic men Avho made the Empire, it has been ;i. spirit,-: of honest patriotisnu.- of real loyalty to the Mother Country, and of reverence for the traditions and honor of the race, which has held the Empire together in a. confederacy of nations. Even the men who dreamed of fat sheep and the adventurer-who wont a-liuiiting the skins 0f... beasts fhad somewhere at the bottom of ibis hcaj-t a sentiment-.for the ties iff race andvfpitthe honor cif.tli.fi ■ 'sentimenti'.litis becm 'stronger' than the' love of self 'or the love of life, and when the Empire has been in danger the.trader, and the farmer have riot ;bjeeu-.the last to step into the raiiks of the-'fighimg men. So tlie glory of the Empire, lias been built up. This Festival of Empire is a.reminder of these things. As the-old.. Roman could- say proudly;'however': poor or humble, "I am a citizen of no mean city," so the ordinary' Englishman, the "cockney," or the provincial, coming to this Festival, and roaming about its buildings.v and- ■ gazing • at: its- scenic displays and colonial exhibits, will find

himself uplifted; he will gain-,—as it w.ere," fi; -wider- mental. horizon, ulK | ] ie "After all,i the Empire means something to me.:' .1 belong- tp- a great l'dceV-'' r - ■ ; • ■-..-■ ..v.-v.'...'... , : .. Perhaps he will go away with new grit, with new strength of character, with new hopefulness. It can hardly bo denied that lately a. rather dreadful, pessimism has crept over the English - people; They* ;have been .downhearted.?. There has. been too: much talk of .national decadence. H*re in the

I urystal i'aiace grounas is xiie cure iur these melancholy forebodings. • For not a .mail- who comes to the Festival of Empire bu£ wilhigQ.. away invigorated with the sense. -.that we are not done yet, that this Empire ,of ours is the biggest thing in the modern world, that its natural resources arc prodigious, and that'it is : a, marvellous and majestic 'proof of something:in our blood that lias made Us. world-conquerors and worldbuilders. ' More than this. Here are the outward and visible signs of a. great confederacy of : bound together by brotherhood, iii'timately related, arid joined by al! the ties of family. For this Festival is not the work of a clever sliowman, exploiting the Empire for his own'interests. It has been built up by the colonies, themselves. The Governments and the great statesmen and the business men of our overseas dominions have taken a great part in its organisation. They have sent over the best and.most characteristics of their countries. They have worked with enthusiasm to make this Festival n real pic-ture-of our Imperial possessions. From our overseas 'dominions- will come in tins Coronation year vast numbers of men and women who have made their homes in far-off places of the earth, yet still look to England as the Mother Country. Many hundreds ©f them will take part in that'-great PAgeant of Empire which, under the direction of Mr Frank Lascelles, greatest of pageant masters, will tell, hi living pictures, the story of those great adventures ; by- which, the Empire was founded and' developed. And in the grounds of the Crystal Palace the Londoner will nib shoulders- witli his colonials cousins, richly bronzed by tropical suns, hardened by Canadian winters, made strong and tough by man's work in the Australian bush, on the South African veldt, on the New Zealand sheep ■ farms. The Crystal Palace, during the ■ coming months wilLbe the-meeting place ' ■ of the. Empire, where East meets' West, and the, race,, divided- by ; half■;»• and work. : will make and renew

Surely_the imagination of the dullest ■ fellow will be-stirred and quickened.by ! all- that he will "see and hear iiif -this " ' hive of Empire. His awakening wijlbe- \ gin when he travels on the "All-Red ':, Route'' from one end.:, of the Empire to ; the oth'err-iwith ~a ticket! It is a journey of but' a mile and. a half, ; yotso cleverly has it been done that he willrhave the most, astonishing illusion !' of world-wide realities, passing through ;' the splendor and the. natural majesty and the quiet,-beauty, of characteristic scenes in Canadai, Newfoundland, Australia, New Zealand, India, South Africa, and; other colonial possessions. He will see the dazzling whiteiiess at an Indian city and look into the dim mystery of an Jndian tenipLe : .. He will ,. pass through* the Vineyard's of South underi'the igrojres on rwhich the, rich grapes icliister. :fie wjJI gaze up at the glory of "Niagara, and, ajt. th& ; heights of Table Mountain. For the first time in his life he will gain a bird's-eye view, as vivid almost .as... in

life itself, of , what, the British Empire .. means,in its vastness and variety- But this first impression will be deepened and broadened, as he wanders through the. Government buildings in which, is the treasure-trove of the Empire's pro- . ducts and industry and art. It will seem to him, not without justice, thatall things which the heart of man may desire, in usefulness and in luxury and in beauty, are produced within- the

need not go beyond'oiir own borders for any of our desires. Illimitable are the riches of our: own Empire, as here shown for the first time in one place. : The man who lias not elbow room. ; at home, the man in whom there, stirs a spirit of adventure, the restless heart, desiring change of life and habits, will realise that among people of his own tongue and race, and under the rule of the same Emperor-Kin;:, there are boundless prospects awaiting him, and infinite possibilities. This Festival of Empire is not an exhibition of dead tilings. It will teem with life. It will be a drama of humanity. In this brief space here, there is no room to mention even its vavious aspects. In the .sports ground, where there are to be great meetings, the athletes of the Empire will uphold the. traditions of the manhood of our race, and in pagent colonial men will the history of their forefathers,- the, pioneers who gained the ■■•■.

Here, then, briefly, is the meaning <•[ this great Festival of Empire—its meaning to the man in the .'street, to every individual who belongs to the great brotherhood of the race. In this year, when our King goes to be crowned, it should do much to quicken arid strengthen the patriotism of the people—a patriotism based not upon Jingo catchwords, not upon arrogance and intolerance, nor upon narrow, insular jealousies, but founded deeply uppii ;i just pride in all that race has won by adventure and toil and character, and in a fuller understanding of the greatness and grandeur of that confederacy of free nations under one flag which has given us Imperial power.