Poverty Bay Herald PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING GISBORNE, THURSDAY, JAN. 23, 1936. "LONG LIVE THE KING"

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 18920, 23 January 1936, Page 4

Poverty Bay Herald PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING GISBORNE, THURSDAY, JAN. 23, 1936. "LONG LIVE THE KING"

The brief ceremony of proclaiming King Edward VIII which took place in Gisborne this morning was typical of similar acts performed either a few hours before or a few hours after in every part of the vast British Empire, in every town and city over which the Union Jack fiics as a symbol of loyalty to the Throne. Thus it is that while the body of the late King lies in state in that, great Abbey which has been the centre of so much Imperial ceremonial and with which so many of the Empire's traditions arc indissolubly linked, a new King is proclaimed and all parts of his dominions instinctively pay homage to him. The fact that the Prince of yesterday is the King of to-day, difficult though it may be to realise, gives a better appreciation of the meaning of the age-old formula, "The King is dead. Long live the King." It is n reminder, too, that, in truth, the King never dies. His title is merely a symbol of the high position he holds, and the moment the breath leaves the body of the ruling Sovereign the HeirApparent becomes, automatically, the reigning monarch of what is now termed the British Commonwealth of Nations. The King is dead, yet the King survives in his successor. While the shock of the death of King George V has not yet passod, while the arrangements for his funeral are in train, while his family and his subjects still mourn the loss of one who had occupied the highest place in their hearts, the accession to the Throne of King Edward VIII is being marked in all parts of the Empire with the traditional pageantry. The King is dead, but the Throne, that almost intangible threat which binds the many units of the Empire into one great whole, remains occupied, standing as an everlasting token of British unity and British strength. Here in this distant outpost we join with ;he rest of the Empire, with one full voice, in proclaiming our new Sovereign, in acknowledging our loyalty and obedience to him; and murmuring with a deeper meaning and a fuller significance—" God Save the King." As King George passed to his death, his son, heir to the throne of the greatest Empire in the world, assumed his high office with a dignity heightened by the bitter loss he has sustained, with his courage fortified by the knowledge of, the sympathies of his peoples and an assurance of their i steadfast loyalty to him and all that, •no and his position stand for. Eloquent of the responsibilities he has been called upon to shoulder are the cabled reports of the proceedings in the Mother Country. It was not for him to carry his grief into the solitude of his own home, but, instead, to prepare for the assumption of the new duties entailed by his position as the head of the Empire family. Discus-

sions with the secretary to the King, conferences with the Royal Family, n flight to London, a meeting of the Privy Council, all preceded His Majesty's declaration and the taking of the oath of office. The King is dead, but the King must carry en the traditions of his race, comply with the many necessary formalities, and attend to the many affairs of .State, all of which must, take precedence over his personal inclinations. There conies to him the highest honor that the world has to bestow, and the knowledge that the honor is attained only at. the price of such a grievous loss will evoke for him a still greater measure of sympathy. His Majesty comes to the Throne well equipped for the tasks that lie ahead and well endowed to maintain the high standard set by his illustrious father. It can truly be .said of him, as' of King George, that he is a man before a monarch, that he is loved, not because of what he represents, but because of what he is—a very human individual who at every stage of his distinguished career has been one of the people, sharing their pleasures and their hardships, making their interests his interests, and contributing more than his share to the fulfilment of the duties of citizenship. In truth it can be said that no man is better known, not merely by reputation, but also by personal contact, for no one has been more widely travelled and none ha? mixed more freely with the people of lis country. He is King, not only by Divine right, but also by popular acclaim, and his accession to the Throne, even in the midst of the Empire-wide mourning for his father, partly perhaps because of it, has been the signal for a rekindling of the fires of loyalty in the hearts of his millions of subjects who this day proclaim, not as a mere formula, but with fervour and sincerity, "Long Live The King."