EMPIRE DAY.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 515, 24 May 1909, Page 6

EMPIRE DAY.

THE MEANING OF THE MOVEMENT. FOUR!THOUSAND CLERGYMEN , ■ PREACHING. ...■-■ (BT ULMBArH—PEISS ASSOCIATION.) .'.. ': : ' London, May 21. Oyor four thousand clergymen will preach Empire Day sermons on Sunday. (Br TEIEGEATH—SPECIAL COBttESPONDENT.) Palmorston North, Jlay 22. Empire Day is to be celebrated at the local schools in patriotic fashion. There will bo tho ceremony of saluting , the. flag, and the lessons for the day will be of a patriotic nature, while the cadets will parade in the afternoon. ,

(BT HMORAPn—PHESS ASSOCIATION.) ' . Napier, May 23. . The annual church parade in commemoration of Empire Day took place at the Cathedral this afternoon, when there was a good muster of volunteers and veterans. .The collection was in aid of a bed in the Napier Hospital. Tho veterans subsequently met and decided to send a telegram to Sir Joseph Ward, supporting hie' action in offering a Dreadnought to the Imperial Government.

Empire Day ie'not an inspiring holiday in Wellington as a rule, and to-day promises to bo .even a duller holiday than usual. As far as can be gathered all that is to occur •is the decoration of tho Queen's Statue by the ladies of tho Navy League, and the firing for the Empire Day Cup and the Schumacher Cup by tho Karori Rifle Club at the Polhill Gully range. The Government offices, banks, insurance offices, and schools will be closed for holiday (without any "saluting the flag" ceremony). ■ .' •*.'.-.

The ladies of the' women's section of the local branch of .the. Nary .League assembled at No. 1 Committee'Room , of the Town Hall on Saturday, and were for a time busily engaged making some dozen' wreaths and garlands for the Queen's Statue in commemoration of Empire Day. Mr. Palnier was pre; sent, and obtained the ladies' approval ■to the programme of the entertainment to be heU at the Town Hall on July 1, in; conjunction with the annual meeting of ; - the league. Several items by tho Challenger are to_ Dβ given, including some clever conjuring tricks by the chaplain of the warship, tho Rev.G. Graham M'Elroy, M.A.; as in the past, members of the league are to. have' reserved soats. Before dispersing, a motion, proposed by Miss Coates and seconded by Mrs. Folk Cohen, was unanimously carried congratulating Sir Joseph Ward, and heartily endorsing the action of the Cabinet in making the' recent" Dreadnought offer . to the British Government. .'

The Earl of Meath Bays that "Empire Day," May 24, was first observed within the British Isles and throughout portions of the Empire in 1904, but May 24 had bean kept

THEEAJJLOFJffiATH. , The Earl of Meath, who was formerly in the Diplomatic Service, is an Imperialist who has been striving for tiie. recognition throughout Greater Britain of an annual Empire Day, and of the systematic teaching of patriotism in the schools. ■

for some yearsprevioasly in Canada as "Victoria Day," "Empire Day" being, celebrated by the Dominion schools on thelast schoolday before May 24. .■. The real importance of tho movement is the systematic training of the rising generation, in the home 1 and in the school, in the knowledge and virtues that are likely to mako them good citizens. Its spirit is expressed by its watchwords: "Responsibility, Duty, Sympathy, and Solf-eacrifice"; by its motto, "One King, one Flag, one Fleet, one Empire"; and bv its rallying cry, "For God, Duty, and Empire." ■ The movoment enjoins British oifeens to love and fear God, to honour the King, to oboy the laws, to prepare to advance the highest interests of the Empire in peace and war, to cherish patriotism, to regard the rights of other nations, to learn citizenship, to follow duty, to consider duties beforo rights, to acquire Jtnowledgo, to fliink broadly, to practise discipline, to subdno self, to work for others, to consider tho poor and the suffering.