ABOUT ROYALTY

Hokitika Guardian, 16 February 1929, Page 8

ABOUT ROYALTY

(By WAYFARER.) Of :ill the compliments and congratulations showered upon the Prince oi Wales on his tour through the coal mining districts, he might well value most of all the testimony of that distinguished Labour leader Mr »L 1L G'lynes. This stalwart champion of the wage-earners has expressed his admiration for “ the fine touch of human natio e ” that (lie Prince’s visit displayed, and lias recorded his opinion that “nothing has brought the 'lhrone nearer to the troubles of the. poor than this unprecedented act of perhaps the most popular figure in the world. If the object of the Prince or his advisers had been to strengthen the bond or affectionate loyalty that unites the people to the British Crown they could not well have served their purpose better. “NOBLESSE OBLIGE.” Early one morning some time in 191. i an American war correspondent stationed at British Headquarters in Northern France, saw a ifair-headed, slender youth, clad in jersey and whiteshorts, running steadily along the road. He looked as if he were training for some cross-country event, and the American was sufficiently interested to watch him closely. To his surprise. no one challenged the runner, and Ihe sentries when he passed a'T saluted.' Then the American recognised a face that he Imd seen hundreds of times in magazines and illustrated papers—the Prince of Wales; and m one of his hooks oil the Great Mar be delivers himself as 'follows: “ Hie future King of England is not getting up at daybreak and reeling off a dozen miles or so because he particularly enjoys it—he is training for a buttle.” It seems to me that this little anecdote and the American journalist’s comments link up quite naturally with th Prince’s visit to the miner’s hovels at Newcastle. He is “in training” for the Throne, and he is determined to fit himself to discharge his duties efficiently. “ Noblesse Oblige,” says the old French maxim—high rank involves obligations and entails responsibilities. And no monarch in our times lias evei been more carefully indoctrinated with this profound truth than the Brinco of ’Wales. IRELAND AND THE KING. While deep sympathy is being expressed for the King in his affliction, not onlv in Ulster hut throughout the Irish Free State, the disclosure by the “ Dublin Star » of the part played by King George in 1921 in promoting unity and peace for Ireland comes at a particularly opportune time. The story that credits General Smuts with having composed or remodelled the speech delivered by the King at the opening of the Parliament of Northern Ireland at Belfast, on June 22, 1921, may he inaccurate in detail; and General Smurs himself gives the King full credit for what was done. At the moment when, i„ the “Dublin Star’s ” words, “the things which were done in the name in Ireland could not b e justified.’* His Majesty determined, in spite of the prejudice of his advisers in favour ol more coercion, to make an appeal to the Irish people. In words that should live in the pages of Ireland’s history, he urged all Irishmen “to pause, to stretch out the hand of iforbenrano: and conciliation, to forgive and to for* „ot and to join in making for the land that they loved a now era of peace, contentment, and goodwill.” It neoi - ed no ordinary courage and strength ol will for a British King to take such* stand as this in dealing with Frelaml >n those days, and the Irish people should never 'forgot it. —Auckland paper.