NATION’S DEVOTION TO KING

Taranaki Daily News, 8 July 1929, Page 12

NATION’S DEVOTION TO KING

RECOVERY FROM SICKNESS MARKED

EMPIRE THANKSGIVING SERVICES

LOYALTY TO THRONE UNDIMINISHED

Throughout the Empire yesterday representatives of every shade of Christian belief held special services of thanksgiving for the recovery of His Majesty King George from his serious illness. It is nearly sixty years ago since on a wintry day in February, 1872, a public “Thanksgiving Day” was held in London in connection with the recovery of the then Prince of Wales (afterwards King Edward VII). Though it is true that at the service in St. Paul’s Cathedral there were representatives of “India and the Colonies, the celebrations were distinctly insular. Yesterday’s services showed how much wider the scope and influence of the Crown has become during the two generations that have been nearly completed Since the last “Thanksgiving Day” for the recovery of the heir to the Throne from serious illness. In New Zealand, at all events, the note of the various services was distinctly a personal one, and in that was indicative of the influence ivielded by a monarch so constitutional as King George. Theoretically, rule by a hereditary sovereign may seem almost an anachronism—in practice, as the British Empire demonstrates, there has been nothing to equal it as a means of welding a nation and its dependencies into the greatest force in civilisation to-day. But, however greatly the Crown is appreciated as an' effective agent of government, there are occasions when the personality of its occupant is uppermost in the thoughts and appreciation of the nation. Yesterday was one of these.

Queen Victoria lifted the Monarchy on io a high plane of duty towards the State. The somewhat narrow outlook jhe took of a monarch’s responsibilities jmd prerogatives was broadened to some extent by her son, the late King Edward VH. It has, however, been left to his son, King George, to go considerably further Jn this direction. He has seen the growth of the. power of democracy at a rate that would have surprised and alarmed his father and grandmother, but has been able to see with that growth a belief in the monarchical system that is just as real and just as effective. King George has seen many political ’ conflicts, some of them seeming to contain disruptive elements of far-reaching possibilities, and it will never be forgotten that in the darkest days of the Great War x he played his part with dignity, courage and serenity that appealed even to those for whom the war spelt personal sorrow ©r commercial disaster. So when his hour of personal trial came it was no surprise to his subjects to hear that he met disease with fortitude and that he showed the fighting spirit that is of such great assistance to all that science can do to combat sickness. The King has won through physical " weakness and has begun to take up his duties again, without ostentation and without fuss, and that is the British fashion. Yesterday’s gatherings showed a nation’s appreciation of its King and Emperor, with the hope underlying that he may be spared for many years of service to the State. Nor is it exaggeration to say that next to the King the thoughts of the Empire turned most sympathetically towards his eonsort the Queen. Since King George’s accession she has supported the good influences of the Crown in ways that were open only to the first lady of the Empire, and with her also duty has always taken first place. During the King’s illness she did not allow grave personal anxiety to interfere with public duties. On the contrary, as is well known, she accepted a large share of the 'Work that the King would do in normal circumstances. QUEEN TRUE TO IDEALS. * Now that he has recovered it is not so easy to assess what this devotion to duty entailed upon Her Majesty, but she would have the satisfaction of knowing she had been true to the ideals she has held for others to aim at, and of knowing also that the Empire appreciated her pluck and jinselfishness. King George can claim some good fortune in his training for his high office. In his boyhood he was not regarded as the Heir-Apparent and so escaped the rigidity of training which was deemed essential for that high standing in those Victorian days. He had the further advantage of naval jervice in his most impressionable years, jilso in the days before it was known that he would be the future King and Emperor. When he did become Heir-Apparent he had accumulated experiences of men and affairs from a standpoint none of his predecessors had been permitted to obtain. He has had the further advantage of visiting the various portions of his Empire in person and of learning at first hand the viewpoint of the self-governing Dominions and some of the difficulties of those who are called upon to administer British rule among people of more or less complex civilisations. In addition he has mingled With all sorts and conditions of men in a manner unknown to any previous British

Sovereign. Constitutional changes have come, some of them, such as the founding of the Irish Free State, after years of political strife that led to bitterness and even the shedding of blood; others like the extension of the franchise to women, or the definition of the status of the Dominions, as the outcome of the sober growth of public opinion. Through it all the Crown has remained as a centre where all parties and questions were sure of an unbiassed opin-

ion and calm judgment tempered with wider experience than could be claimed by any partisan. Since the Great War the sphere of British influence has been widened by the mandates of the League of Nations, and to the peoples 00 governed the Crown has now become the symbol of fair and sympathetic treatment