A GREAT IMPERIALIST.

Press, Volume LXI, Issue 18410, 17 June 1925, Page 11

A GREAT IMPERIALIST.

PROPOSED MEMORIAL AT OXFORD. >bom oca owh coaßEsrosßEttT.) LONDON, May C. ; Iu recommending the appeal which an influential committee haß issued in I the hope of raising subscriptions to- i wards a memorial to the late Sir 6. Parkin (formerly, organising secretary of the I.hodes Scholarship Trust), the , "Morning Post" remarks:— ' "In the course of a busy life, Sir Creorgo Parkin was associated with many movements and causes, but ho will always' be remembered, with profound gratitude for the unliagging work he did for the Khodes Trust, and ] for tho Imperial purposes .that Trust was designed to serve. There is so much talk about 3oparatism in these days, so obstinate an insistence on local rights, and so widespread a suspicion of all movements making for the unity of tho British Empire, that Lord Milrier, Mr Amery, and tho,other supporters of the proposed memorial are well advised in their efforts to perpetuate the life work of this enthusi- j astic r and simple-minded Im'porialißt. ! "Sir George Parkin had vision and j a soul above tho narrow interests,which make for division and recrimination, and, deeply impressed dream of aunitcd Empire, lie fought* throughout all his life, with a large-hearted charity, for its realisation. Indeed; this travcllor of Empire, posting from, sea to'sea. and full of missionary zeal for his cause, serves.- to remind us how much the formation and maintenance of the British Commonwealth of Nations owes to individuals—men who had-the driving forco and breadth of outlook •to overcome the inertia.of the masses and tho forces of Nature. Whero would the Empire be apart from its chosen pioneers,' and how long would it last if there were not at its service men of the typo of Sir George- Parkin, who dedicated himself with an almost religious zeal to preaching its glory and labouring for its unity? "And it is particularly gratifying to remember that this sturdy Imperialist was the son of a Dominion which, wo arc so often told,, is weary .of tho British connexion, and. at any day may break tho Units which unit© it with the British Crown/ Wo do not believe 'theso tales, for, apart from tho profound .political, and economic issues at stake, Canada,has too many citizens,of the type of Sir George Parkin ever to consider seriously proposals which would* jeopardise the future which she lias set herself aa a nation to achieve." It is proposed to'• dedicato part of the library in the new Rhodes House .at Oxford to_ Sir George Parkin's memory. .'•-■■'■