Poverty Bay Herald. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING GISBORNE, TUESDAY, JAN. 28, 1936. EMPIRE'S LAST TRIBUTES

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 18924, 28 January 1936, Page 4

Poverty Bay Herald. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING GISBORNE, TUESDAY, JAN. 28, 1936. EMPIRE'S LAST TRIBUTES

To-day the, whole Empire, and. in deed, I Ik> whole world will pay its last, respects lo n Monarch who was truly loved and respected, not for hit kingly position lint for his many intensely human attributes. It i* just ten days since, the. first news was. re reived that indicated that His Ma jesty was in ill-health; just a wooli since he passed to the great rest that had been earned by a lifetime of ser: vice for hi.s people. And the interval has served more than anything else to demonstrate! the remarkable position which George V occupied in the heart? of his subjects. His brief illness, lacking in seriousness though it at first appeared to be, was itself a call to prayer for his restoration to health, and then, when death intervened, the whole world was plunged into a depth of grief and mourning that has no parallel in history. Even in the most distant parts of the Empire, all houghts during the past week have been involuntarily turned to the tragic scenes being enacted first, fit Sandringham and later in London. ■To read of the seemingly endless stream of people who passed in solemn, silent cavalcade to pay homage to the dead King is sufficient to (indicate the esteem in which he was held and to reveal what manner of jnan was this who could thus capture the hearts of men and women in all walks of life. Yet. that vast concourse that made the pilgrimage to Westminster Hall was merely a delegation representing the Empire as a whole; the hundreds of thousands who, with bowed heads and manifestations of sorrow, filed past the bier carried with them the spirit, of millions of subjects, scattered throughout every continent, whose grief was none the, less real because they were denied similar opportunities of displaying it. Detachment from the heart of the Empire, however, has not prevented the people in other parts of it from paying sincere tribute to

the memory of a King who, evea to them, was .something far-more than a mere symbol of" the Throne which unites them in one great, common bond. It vvas not necessary to know King George by personal contact to appreciate the many qualities that: had raised him so high in the public estimation, for it was possible to judge hint by his words and his deeds and,to realise through them the contributions he had made towards the unifying of the Empire and the betterment of mankind. His broadcast messages in recent years had done much to bring him nearer to his subjects and to give to the King a personality that previously had been lacking, and the millions who were, privileged to hear his voice were able to understand that "this great family" to which he referred was, indeed, very near and •very dear to him. They understood, also, that the head of the family was no mere figurehead, but" one who, by his whole life and his every action, had more than justified tJie great I nisi that had been reposed in him and had earned by his own conduct: the position that was his by Divine right. In the words of Mr. Baldwin, "We have. no memory of him but at .his best, nnd that best is very high." His whole life has been one of service and devotion to his people, his every deed an example and an inspiration!.;to tln* humblest and highest of his subjects. In his dying hours ii was not of himself that he thought, but of his duty and his Umpire. The scenes in the Ifoyal death chamber as disclosed by those who were present will go down in history as the hallmark of a Kingship that has no parallel, and will long be cherished as loving memories of a Monarch who was steadfast and devoted to the end. As it was in life's closing hours, so it was throughout life itself, for the whole history of the reign of King George V is a history of ' Empire progress. Few periods, perhaps, were so not abb' for the difficulties thai had to lie encountered and the trials that had to be endured, yet none has been so conspicuous for development and achievement, and in this onward march none lias been more to the forefront that! the late King himself. In these days of mourning and remembrance, therefore, it is fitting that we should think not only of what the Empire has lost by the death of a beloved King, but also of what the Empire gained by the fullness of his life.