The Stratford Evening Post With which Is Incorporated "THE EGMONT SETTLER” (Established 1890) WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 1936. THE KING’S HOLIDAY.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume IV, Issue 224, 2 September 1936, Page 4

The Stratford Evening Post With which Is Incorporated "THE EGMONT SETTLER” (Established 1890) WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 1936. THE KING’S HOLIDAY.

The warmth of the King’s w elcome wherever he has gone on his holiday tour may tempt the re ader to infer that his yachting cruise is really in the nature of a goodwill mission. Whether it was so planned, however, is very doubtful. His Majesty s intention had been to spend the summer holiday in the south of France, and it was only t|ie outbreak of civil war in Spain that compelled the change of plans.

Actually the King is following fairly closely the route of one of the most popular of Europe s holiday cruises, on which, as the advertisements say, the modern is “able for a few weeks to slip back through the centuries into romantic mediaevalism and still more romantic antiquity.” It is highly probable, indeed, that politics did not enter into the plans in the least, and it is not necessary to search for the motive that took the King to the country where one of his brothers found a bride.

There is a traditional friendship between Britain and Greece, a friendship already strong before Byron threw himself so enthusiastically into the cause of Greek freedom.

The royal visit to Turkey seems to have been an after-thought, and if so it was a most happy one, because there has long been need of a better understanding between the British and the Turks. No British king has hitherto set foot in Turkey, for the British attitude through the centuries was on of almost continuous hostility. The war and the revolution that followed it removed virtually all the causes of British antagonism, and to-day, of course, the British people are perpared to offer the Turks their cordial friendship. Bri. tain needs friends in the Eastern Mediterranean, and it is not difficult to believe that the King’s tour will have a most favourable influence. But it would be stretching the probabilities to suppose that its purpose is deliberately political.

The Arbitration Court. J , ’ The Prime Minister, in his plea to dissatisfied workers for patience, and the Minister of Labour, in his resistance to the demands of men asking him to over-ride their awards, will have the support of all reasonable opinion in the country. It is a danger inherent in all Labour Governments that the parliamentary representatives of the party may become the puppets of the trades unions, and Mr. Armstrong is to be congratulated on his refusal to be co-erced. The Arbitration Court has heard full evidence and has given its decisions impartially, and the unions should abide by the awards without squealing. There have been no “demonstrations” by employers against the often almost ruinous conditions that have been forced on them by the new awards, and there should be no demonstrations from employees. If we are to have any sanity and any stability in government, then the authority of the Arbitration Court, free from political interference, must be maintained.