ST. GEORGE’S DAY.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20431, 11 June 1928, Page 9

ST. GEORGE’S DAY.

ENGLAND’S WAR EFFORT. SIR J. PARR ON KINGSHIP. ANNUAL DINNER. (Feom Oca Own CoHnEfipoNnrxr.) . LONDON, May 2, Lord Birkenhead, Secretary of State for India, presided at the festival dinner of the Royal Society of St. George at the Hotel Cecil. The Empire menu was adorned with quotations from Shakespeare’s plays and illustrations. The guard of honour of pikemen and bowmen in mail was provided by Grenadier Guardsmen, and the baron of beef was carried into the banqueting hall by four chefs, who were preceded by drummers and pikemen with the St. George’s banner. The guests included a number of wellknown people. The toast of the evening, “ England," was proposed by the chairman; the toast of “Shakespeare” was submitted by Sir Oliver Lodge; that of “Our President, the Prince of Wales.” by Sir James Parr (High Commissioner for New Zealand); that of the “ Royal Society of St. George ” by the Earl of Onslow. Mr Howard RuS, the hon. secretary, read telegrams received from the King, who is patron of the society; from the Prince of Wales, and from branches in many countries of the world. The King sent a message from Windsor Castle:— “ The Queen and I warmly thank you and the members of the Rofal Society of St. George assembled in honour of their patron saint for the loyal good wishes addressed to us on this St. George’s Day.” The Prince of Wales’s message ran:— “My sincere thanks to all members of the society for their St. George’s Day greetings, which I heartily reciprocate.” PRIDE IN ENGLAND. Lord Birkenhead said it was somewhat astonishing to recall that the very battle cry which carried Richard of the Lion Heart into battle upon the plains of Palestine —“ St. George for . England ” was the same battle cry which carried the incomparable forces of England and the British Empire to the assault at Zeebrugge. Bridge over those centuires, recreate in their minds the crises through which the English people had passed, think of the Spanish Armada, think of the menace pf Louis XVI, think of the genius of the Corsican soldier and statesman who dominated and terrified Europe for so many years, think of the menace and dangers of those four torturing years, the memory of which would never be effaced from their minds; and, over them all, in the Crusades and the Great War, the same message on the same emblem. It did not matter how the tradition grew, in what soil it was originally planted, but it mattered what that tradition stood for and what was the spirit and heart of the people who cherished and sustained it.— (Cheers.) England during the course of the war had produced 4,921,000 soldiers, or 80 per cent, of those engaged; Scotland had supplied 677,000, or 11 per cent.; Wales, 315.000, or 5 per cent.; and Ireland, 181.000, or 3 per cent. Eighty-two per cent, of all the Empire’s casualties were Englishman. Those figures were imperfectly understood. He did not cite them in disparagement of the great martial qualities of the Scots, the Welsh, or those who from overseas came to England’s assistance; but that night their special purpose was to make it plain what England did and to feel special pride in the fact that they were English. He did not believe that there had ever been in the history of the world a nation which had produced a higher and a more inspiring strain of patriotic verse. It was of such a country that he gave them the hope of prosperity; a country which had mightily and with a proud, invincible spirit survived and conquered dangers which would have overwhelmed people of a weaker fibre. He did not pretend that at the moment we had finally surmounted all the reactions and dangers of the war, but, just as in the midst of those great dangers he never doubted the proud spirit, the will to victory of the. people of this country, so he trusted to their fundamental stability of character and to their determination that Stable elements alone would acquire influence. He relied upon them playing the chief part in contributing inspiration and enlightenment to the world to win the great peace.— (Cheers.) TEST OF BRITISH CITIZENSHIP. Sir James Parr described Kingship as being the very cement of our National Commonwealth. Kingship was to-day the greatest tie that held the British nations together. What a romance there was in Kingship—for a thousand years it hid endured! From Alfred the Great to the Norman Kings, the Plantagenets, the Tudors, the Stuarts, and now to the reigning House of Windsor. And what men many of those kings had been! When the Prime Ministers, in 1926, met in Imperial Conference, they turned to the monarchy and declared that the test hereafter of British citizenship was that every man in the dominions was the subject of the King. Its glorious and ancient institutions seemed to have been predestined to be in these later days more useful and glorious than ever. The wonderful respect and personal affection for the King and his Heir Apparent were great assets to the Empire. The King was one of the hardest worked men in England, and his devotion to duty was unparalleled. Later on the chairman referred to Sir James's “ notable speech which delighted us all, and which has given us a new view of the value of the Sovereign in the Empire. We need reminding of these things by our to Iks from overseas." Lord Birkenhead referred to the presence of his son. Lord Furneaux, who was the grandson of Captain Furneaux, wiio navigated the coasts of Australia and New Zealand, and niter whom Furneaux Straits were named, His son's name and title were intimately associated with New Zealand and the Paeitie. It gave him great pleasure to propose tlie toast of " the most loveable of all the dominions.”