KING’S MESSAGE

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 243, 4 January 1928, Page 1

KING’S MESSAGE

NEW YEAR HERALDED EMPIRE STRONG AND TRUE By Cable.—Press Association. — Copyright. Reed. 9.5 a.m. LONDON, Monday. Acknowledging the Lord Mayor’s loyal New Year message, the King replied: “We look to an unknown and uncertain future, but I am confident we will prove to the world that the Empire’s heart is strong and true.” The New Year was heralded with unusual quietude in the heart of the Empire, owing to the wretched weather. Probably the smallest crowd on record assembled outside St. Paul’s Cathedral to hear the great bell strike midnight. The underground railways, omnibuses and tramways prepared to cope with a rush, but a fall of snow early in the evening kept many people at home by the fireside, where they were content to listen to universal New Year greetings by wireless. The temperature rose slightly and turned the snow to slush, then the frost returned. The official forecast is for slightly milder weather but with a continuance of night frosts. 1,300 YEARS CHRISTIAN One of the most notable celebrations was the midnight service at York Minster, where thanksgiving was of fered for the 1,300 years of Christian ity that had hallowed the spot. The Archbishop of York, Dr. R. T. Davidson, unveiled a stone inscribed: “627-1927: Deo Gratia.” Groups of English-speaking foreign ers staged make-believe religious meetings in the neighbourhood of St. Paul’s, to make mockery of the watch- | night service. Wherever there -were ! scenes of hooliganism they were resented, and the police in one case intervened and took the ringleader to the police station. —A. and N.Z.