THE KING

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22659, 26 August 1935, Page 16

THE KING

A PERSONAL APPRECIATION TRUTH AND THOROUGHNESS. (From Odr Own Correspondent.) (Bt Air Mail.) LONDON, July 27. Sir Walter Lawrence, Bt.—soldier, Indian civil servant —was one of the speakers at the Royal Empire Society’s summer school at Oxford. His subject was “The Crown and the Empire.” It was his good fortune, he said, to accompany the King and Queen as chief of staff when thejr visited India in 1905, and since that time he had been honoured by their friendship. “ I saw the two jubilees of Queen Victoria,” he said. “ What I saw then was wholly different from what I saw last May. The second jubilee of Queen Victoria gave me, and others too, the impression that we were at the peak of achievement, and should never see the like again. We grew reminiscent, looking down the perspective of our past. Pageants became popular, since they reflected that past. We were inclined to let the future take care of itself. The Great War shook us out of this retrospective mood. At any rate, the jubilee demonstrations of last May were different —less Imperial and more British, more homely and less majestic. To-day we are not looking down from an imaginary summit, as we did in the Victorian era; our road runs uphill to fields of new and exacting toil, for which, under Providence, we are preparing. It is many times better so.” Sir Walter Lawrence spoke from his personal knowledge of the King. “ His sole concern,” he said, “is the welfare of the realm and the Empire, and the good repute of the British family. He counts as comrade anyone who is doing his part for the family, however humble it may be. He respects and admires the man ‘ who gets on with his job.’ I have seen him with persons in every walk of life. There is the same kind voice and simple courtesy for all. Like Queen Victoria, he has a passion for truth, and the whole truth. His long and practical service in the navy accentuated his open and direct nature. It is his innate frankness which compels frankness in others, so that statesmen and men in authority from every part of the Empire, when they visit the King, instinctively give him both sides of controversial issues, as they would to a trusted colleague. They know that he is the one man who is certain to use his knowledge for the general good. “ Thus, for 25 years, he has learnt from all sorts of people the best they had to give, and it is no flattery to say that he has a wider and more thorough knowledge of the Empire than anybody living. Again, remember that for 25 years—indeed for f much longer period without a break —the King has devoted himself to his purposeful quest of the affairs that count and the policies which should endure. There is a tag ‘To know a thing is nothing unless others know you know it.’ This was never the King’s way. He does not obtrude his knowledge, but all know that when , crisis comes he is there, downright, detached, wise and fortified with knowledge bearing on it. He cares more than all things for the common good, for that, he feels, is his duty and responsibility.” QUALITY OF THOROUGHNESS. Referring to the thoroughness of the. King, Sir Walter Lawrence said: “ I was once on a battleship for some time and he kindly took me with him when he went round the ship. He noticed everything, but said little, but what he said to me showed that he was a master of the details. Yet he made it entirely lucid, and to me, a mere L.ndsman, illuminating and ducative. y experience through life, and I doubt not, yours, is that no one can bo clear and instructive unless he has thorough knowledge of his subject. “ I was asked to inspect hospitals in London. L knew nothing of hospitals, but before 1 began the King kindly sent for me and gave me some hints as to the things 1 should take care to see. They were things strange -to me, but all most practical points; and these very points proved to be the clue to some rather baffling problems. “ Once, too, some friends consulted me about an excellent scheme of welfare.

They had influential men and ample funds. All that was wanted was that the King should become patron. The King listened patiently as I laid the scheme before him, and replied, ‘ Much as I approve the idea, 1 cannot become patron. As you know, because 1 am patron of an institution of which you t - chairman, I make It my business to know all about it. I read the reports and understand its financial position. I decline to be a nominal patron, and have no time to be a real patron of this excellent scheme which you have mentioned,’ He might have added that he had paid many visits to the institution of which I was chairman. “ Perhaps I ought to have plac-d ‘thoroughness’ at the head of the list of the King’s qualities, for it is the key to his character and the secret of his success.”