EMPIRE DAY

Evening Post, Volume CVI, Issue 8, 10 July 1923, Page 24

EMPIRE DAY

CEREMONY: AX ;JHB

CENOTAPH

HIGH JBUS^DAY

rJ4;WELL-DESERyED.TRIBUTE:

T' "."'(MtOH Ora-'OVS'TORMSPOSDEIT:).*:.-■.■ :.'■.. .:■■'.., LONDON; Ist. June.

■ITeTv people in the heart of fne'Empire allowed to forget that' the 24th'.of "id&y was". Empire Day. - Messages spoken j •by the-King; .and Que.en; into;a gramo.- 1 phone were heard by'hundreds bLthousJ ends of children. ■ Even though records oiithese .messages' may not haye;reache'd ■ New Zealand by Empire Day,-they were then, weir on.the; way, and..thps.o who •■ iear'd':tKe Kings'"voico":knew"'that"'..-tho -; fame voico ■would be speaking to other . youcg citizens in-niany other parts of the Empire: Tho Armisticoon -Gallipoli also ■'. took place 011. this day in- 1915,,- and it ■ was,fitting^that .Lady.Allon should join , sthers to .lay v .flpral,.tributes at' the foot . tif .the Cenotaph. •': . - ; - Sfioftly before" ll'o' clock 'a-, 'crowd j gathered oppositoi^.U, Downing street, ,j.. „\vhere..the. .representatives -of . the "Voter- j■' ansVAssQciatipnrand of-the Dominion and ; Grown- colonies' assembled." ' Thre& -veterans headed'a detachment of' Royal Field.; -Amongst, tho distinguished company"*- which-, followed were: Mrs". Stanley-B'aldwin,.;.the -Duchess..of". Norfolk (who;.had charge,, of a large laurel .wreath .sent by Princess Beatrice), the Duchess, of Leeds (patron of the ■ Veterans^ Association), Lord Ihverforth, Lord Meath',-' Coloiiel: Sir Arthur, Dick, General Sir .Reginald Wingate^' Sir Henry Jerninghami 'Lady"Allen,- Lady Cook, Admiral Mark *Kerr, llarchesa dellaiTaflia '(Slalta)7":Captain, Bdwderi; if.C (South 'Africa),".arid Mrs". Agius, president of the Men of Malta. -Lady Allen's tribute was a largo -.bniicH' of •-whito- lilies . of. the v'alley,^.and:ddublo.white' narcissi on a. b.ase of lerns, aud it boro the inscription.: ~ '',In memory/of- the:;gal!ant dead ol -the • of New Zealand." .' .... ...SIR,JAMES ALLEN AND THE'" ...... SCHOOL CHILDREN. ' ...ITjct'lligh: Commissioner .himself acldresEcd._thp;children at a school at.Hack.iiey- in- iho-morniiigV- arid was" much - impressed ".'.with..the,Mayn'bleu.dancmg .and. the singing.,- .From; .there he motored back to; tho-Guildhall, where a great assembly-of children-from Abe city elementary;; schools .were .being' entertained byjthe.Deputy-Lovd "Mayor and'the Elementary; Education-Committee. Here Sir James, -who was accompanied by- Lady Allen,, gavc,,a stirring, patriotic, speech figuratively., .conducting his listeners througji London,_ and pointing put -the statues '-of-the -greaf builders of Empire. The<"High. and Lady Allen were' afterwards.the.guests at.luncheon of the Jfiducation .Committee. ; •/^BOYArJ COLONiAL^INSTITUTE. " In the evening two functions had especial Dominion interest—the annual dinner of the Royal Colonial-Institute and the dinnor given by the Canadian Chamber of Commerce arid the Canadian Club, at which Lord Birkenhead presided. Sir James, Lady Allen, and Hiss Rona Allen fattended the Colonial Institute dinner, and other Ne?v Zealanders present were Mr. and; Mrs. G. A. V. Tapper, and Mr.' and Mrs. Alexander Michie. Sir Godfrey Lagdcri (chairman of council) presided, and amongst the 250 guests >vere the Earl, of Meath, Sir Robert Horn, Sir Janies Stevenson, Lieut.-Gen-'eral Sir- Travers' Clarko, • Sir Hamar Greenwood,, Sir Charles- Liicas, Sir Thoraas_/ParlpnEon_,./tho Bight Hon. V.S. Srinivasa-Sastrij-th'o-Maharaja- Jarnsaheb. of Nawanagar, and all the High Commissioners, and. Agents-General. .Messages' ,;6f from • itha branchos and corresponding secretaries overseas.- 'From.N ew- Zealand there came' a message from . the, Canterbury iranch, which; said:. "..Being the.' first of th'o jEmpire -chain-to celebrate the Jay, .send--cordial..greetings from -New Zealand'.'to"parent.i n^t'ituteV >' Wellington- members^also. sent greetings: "Meni-' hers steadily; increasing, v Feel- surp mr stitute will continue prove inestimable henefit to -Empire."-i.'• -'-.--."".!.' ~.\". ....'.. "J. „[ . The" reading of;"the"-followirig letter from the Duke of. Connaught, president of the institute, was received with loud cheers: ";I would like, to send:. my to" all assembled on Empire. :Day-^-an - anniversary which", thanks-to the ■ patriotic and 'strenuous «xertidris of .Meath",/is/being''more and more observed in Great Britain, as .well as in all parts of the Empire. I am-proud to think that the Royal' Col-' onial 1 Institute has,"from the inception of. tliis Empiro Day movement, taken a wide and dignified shard in promoting thp observance of this .day throughout all, portions."of our Empire. It has al,ways stood for. Empire unity,.'and is lendeaypuring -to ' promote -and -extond tlie-comfort- of our -many oversea visitdre| whdaro so .welcomed amongst "us." Speeches were plentiful, spiced with touches of humour. Some well worn .idkes on tho übiquitous Scotsman in "the Empire were forthcoming. Sir Robert Horn, himself a Scotsman, admitted that a member of his race went back to his own country only once, and that was to fetch his brother. Even the Maharaja made cryptic comment on,, a .story \told by Sir George : Perley- concerning the pleasures_of -smell, and the pleasures'of tajte,"when.the.object happened to bo a bottle of whisky in- the Prohibition btate.of.,Ontario, and Sir Joseph Cook rose-to the-heights' of nursery' rhyme-in the matter of ■ "Little -Robert' Homer aacl the plums, of Cabinet office," - for feir Robert .was discreetly silent, and,- as the -Maharaja", remarked,' "esceedinglv Scottish^' with regard-to his acceptance ■• or otherwise- of -ihe" office of Chancellor <>'. the Exchequer. .."'-., . .BBITISH LEAGUE OF' NATIONS. „;,?' R, obert ' ia -Proposing the toast of l United..'Empire," first referred Wthe uiealth and retirement- of Mr. Boi.ar Law. "Nothing/, ho said, couldl create such - community, of sentiment' among Itho citizens of the. Empire as the fact t.hat it .was possible for one portion of the' Empire to give, to ariother the statesinari who might rise to the most eminent post _3is. citizons could command, as Mr. Bonar. Law had done.. It showed fundamentally the community of thought that formed the.basis of tho policy wo >vere. endeavouring to carry out. He >verit on to urge the co-ordination of nil parts dE.'.the -Empire in all matters that affected its..common .interests, .even :including the arbitrament of the gravest questions 'that :fnight- demand settlement. In this; connection. 1« was. in agreement the view formulated by Sir F.- Borden, the late Prime Minister of Can-1 ada.''-that' the working policy of. Ihs Empire, should be based on the recognition, by the Mother' Country and the Dominions, of equality of nationhood. It hed always struck him-as ono of tho characteristics ol ■ tho English people—• he was «pcajcing ac a: Scotsman^—that ) they had achieved so much by complete I irregularity of means. Whenever Scotsmen had 'interfered they had been jvrong. They had. had. to 'Acknowledge ; ■that the -EngliEh had got an! instructive jgeniua for .GoveromonW Fpllowing the

-traditioM o£ tho past, he thought they .ought to. be content rather to see the Empire grow in its own way than attempt to interfere by the formation rf a permanent constitution. Sir Robert went on to speak; of the migration schemes. Some of the Dominions had. forged, ahead, and some had rather lagged behind. He hoped they would-persevere ' with those schemes and not only help themselves but help the Mother Coun•lry. In spite of certain fears, England was still to-day financially powerful and strong, and as.the, financial centre, of the ".world ..had. ..managed to. maintain her pre-eminence. ATo-day the greatest financial transactions of the- world; were being^ negotiated in London—transactions which had nothing to do with this country- or .'.the Dominions at all. . They were, j therefore, strong in this old country to 1 help -the Dominions to develop their -rich territories for the' benefit of the -whole Eriipire.. Men were looking to the League of Nations to prevent war. The only/real League of Nations which, existed to-day was the League of Nations represented by the British Empire. Long "might .it prosper for the good of the whole-world. ... Sir. George ; Perley- paid a tribute to the .energy shown .by Lord Mcath in popularising the celebration of Empire Day, -but he claimed for Canada the distinction of inaugurating the scheme 'I celebrating tho day on 24th May. He advocated more frequent . consultations between the Dominions and the MotherCountry around a table on matters which ! affected alike all parts of: the-Empire. ! His Highness the Maharaja Jamsahelt of Nawanagar, who also responded to the ' toast; said that India was proud to bo -a member oi the great Commonwealth of the British Empire, but t\\* question had often ■ been asked by nis countrymen in India whether the Empire was equally proud of India. : COMPLIMENT TO SIR JAMES . ... "•■'..■-■■;*,•. ALLEN. Sir James Stevenson referred to the British Empire Exhibition, and spoke with high hopes of its success. What the British JEnipire lacked at the present moment was embodied in a simplo .couplet: "Early-to bed and early to rise; it is useless unless you advertise." "Advertise" was to bo the keynoto of the Exhibition. They were going to show the.British public' that they could eel from tho Empire everything tlio Empire wanted. -He thought, the Exhibition would be not only a success, but a-. colossal success. Sir James : Stevenson went on to say that he had had the pleasure that' day of passing the final ■ draft of the' Dominions' agreement, a matter .which h 0 had negotiated with. Sir ■ Jariies -Allen as the representative of all the High Commissioners.' Ho wished to pay a high compliment to' Sir James, not only for the abl e manner in which; ho ■ b.ad.- handled that! particular document, but. for tho way in-which he had looked after, all the interests of the Dominions. - ■' THE TASK OF THE FUTURE, | Lord Birkenhead, speaking- at the Canadian dinner, said he believed the true' task of statesmanship at this moment; was to apply itself first to the conclusion that a long period must elapse before we could restore normal trade on-tho- Continent, and secondly 'to'sn exammation.of the resources of the Empire. We must take iir as a whole and see where ■ there was a promise of increasing mutuality of trade. -A close study of the Empire on his. part for more than thirty years assured him'that if we took our resources, our. climates, and the resourceful character of the citizens 'who composed the- population of the Empire, and dealt with the problem m" the spirit of boldness, imagination, sympathy, a.ndi,insight, w could mako tho Empire as self-supporting as thu United Slates. That was the task of the future. It would test every quality of constructive statecraft which had made this country; what it was, and in -?Eit« .pf our blunders, had maintained those imperishable tics which bound tho organisation together. Ho did not know what changes lay ■ beforo us here, but' he noticed the growing strength of the Labour Party. Ho did' not enter the company- of political prophets, and did not know whether in the near or remote future a Labour Gpyernment would come about) -but: ho was certain that whatever Government were formed it would realise the indisputable fact of■ the importance of. maintaining the association as;.close as ;it,was .to-day. • • -MESSAGES FROM -DOMINION : REPRESENTATIVES. ' A special Empire Day number of "The Empire Mail contains messages from Dominion . Prune , Ministers', and others. Mr. Massey cables: '"The keynote of all Empiro Day messages will most '-certainly -' be -the: hopp that- during the present year the Enipire will continue to . grow in unity.' and . strength. ■The\past_ yoaa- has witnessed thp na-. -lion's ; q'uiet, earnest' concentration, m the midst: of much external turmoil, upon the problems of recdneiructidri arid development. In. this respect British characteristics were never in greater evidence, and our' traditions are accordingly enriched. Internal ..troubles and difficulties will bo overcome if -the nation as .a whole'has faith in its destiny and one common !aim directs all its policies." ; Sir .James Allen ; contributes the fol-j lowing: "As my experience of conditions i in the Home Country widens, the more ] do I become convinced of the, wisdom of the institution of a day. dedicated to the Empire, which is the embodiment of a great ideal, tho creation of those early pioneers of our own blood who faced peril-.and .hardships for its realisation. Theirs was a hard,task, cheerfully undertaken' and successfully performed,' but great as was their love for the principles of liberty and justice,. which. are ! the Briton's birthright, and deep as was their political acumen, they could hot have-, envisaged. tho constitutional developments which have since taken place, aid particularly those which are tho results of the war. These developments have given rise to questions and difficulties which must be. solved, but'l do' not despair of the statesmen of the Em-' pire settling them in that spirit of compromise:.arid fair play which are among the characteristics of our race." • Under Sir James Allen's signature there also.appears a long and compre hensive article..setting out the attractions of the Dominion, and dealing with a variety of. subjects such as migration, exports, grading of produce, purchases from Great Britain, and the -economic conditions.

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