EMPIRE DAY.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 1760, 27 May 1913, Page 5

EMPIRE DAY.

NOTABLE CELEBRATIONS AT HOME.

"JOHN BULL & CO."

Br Teleirauh—Press Association—OoDTricht (Kec. May 2fi, 11.20 p.m.) London, May 26. Empire Day was obsorved on a growing scale. The principal celebration in London was under the auspices of the League of Empire. It was held in Hyde Park. The.ro were present 1000 of the National Reserve, 8000 Scouts and Cadets, and girl guides and nurses. Lord Roberts took the salute, and at his instance the Princess Royal unfurled a flag.

Mr. Watt, Premier of Victoria, aroused enthusiasm at the Empire Day meeting at Queen's Hall, many standing on chairs and cheering When ho said the object of tho Imperial thinker should be to translate sentiment into organic life. John Bull and Company all over the world could do business over their own counters and sell only tho surplus products to outsiders.

Tho Prince of Wales, Princess Mary, and other Royal personages attended a. League of Mercy concert at the Albert Hall.

United States and Canadian Cadets wero entertained at luncheon at the Guildhall. The Hon. T. Mackenzie (High Commissioner for New Zealand) and Sir Newton Moore (Agent-General for Western Australia) were present. The Canadians will shortly visit Australia.

Twelve hundred Boy Scouts were reviewed at Brighton. Tho Right Hon. Walter Long, Unionist M.P., inspected the National Reserve and Boy Scouts at Marlborough.

Mr. H. Pike Pease, Unionist M.P., attended a gathering at Darlington, and the Earl of Heath tin assembly of schoolchildren at Gloucester.

Twenty-one flags were unfurled at Strat-ford-on-Avon, representing oversea Dominions and the Stratfords in Australia and New Zealand.

There were similar exchanges of flags between Annan (Ivew South Wales) and Annan (Dumfrieshire), and Highden (Australia) and Highden (Buckinghamshire).

A demonstration and sports were held at Belfast. Ten Unionist clubs participated in a 6quad drill competition for medals. Mr. Birrell, Chief Secretary for Ireland, did not accept the invitation to be present. , 1 Threo thousand Territorials, Reservists, and Cadets held a monster church parade at Godalming to-day. At Gibraltar and Malta. At Gibraltar .£IOOO wag spent on- the celebrations. Sir Archibald Hunter, the Commander-in-Chief, had a great reception. Boys' brigades and Boy Scouts furnished a guard of honour.

At Malta, Mr. Asquith (Prime Minister) and Mr. Churchill (First Lord of the Admiralty), with their parties, watched, a double march-past by the whole of the garrison. Who Made the Empire? An enthusiastio meeting of Queenslanders was held under the auspices of the Imperial Mission. Sir Joseph Ward was present.

Lord Berteford, M.P., presided. In the course of a Bpeech, he nsked: Who made the Empire? After the sailor and soldier oame the artisan, tho miner, the trader, tho banker, tho railway builder. These made the Empire. The Dominions realise more clearly than, wo do the. necessity for consolidation.

A resolution by the Hon. T. Mackenzie, High Commissioner for New Zealand, in favour of closer relations and better organisation with regard to defence and commerce, and tho placing of the Governments in mutual consultation on an. effective basis, was carried by acclamation.

LIBERAL JOURNALS' COMMENT. UNIONIST "EXPLOITATION."! (Kec. May 26, 11.20 p.m.) London, May 2G. The "Daily Chronicle" (Liberal) says the representatives of the Dominions have a difficult task to faoe in the eagerness of the Unionists to exploit thorn for party purposes. They came badly to gTief on Saturday, the "Chronicle" says, when a large body of them were inveigled to the Empire Day meeting at the Queen's Hall, organised by the Imperial Mission, and the speeches of the Dominion representatives formed a mere ' chorus to a Unionist party meeting. Such episodes, the paper concludes, are regrettable, and do not promote Imperial unity.

Union Jack "Fetish." The "Daily News" (Liberal), in attacking the Queon's Hall meeting, states that Imperialists see in nationality their cliief enemy, and they are desirous of uprooting it in South Africa, Canada, and Australia,, and substituting the consolidation of the Empire as- one whole. "We do not secure Imperial strength," the "Daily News" continues, "by making the school children regard the Union Jack as a fetish. The flabby sentimentality wherewith Empire Day is associated is the worst enemy of the Empire."

VETERANS ENTERTAINED. Molbourne, May 26. Over sixty naval and military veterans were entertained by the Federal Government on Saturday. Lord Denman, the Governor-General, was present. He eulogised the services of the veterans.