The Guardian And Evening Star, with which is incorporated the West Coast Times. THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 1931. THE KING INTEREST.

Hokitika Guardian, 3 September 1931, Page 4

The Guardian And Evening Star, with which is incorporated the West Coast Times. THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 1931. THE KING INTEREST.

During the recent political crisis at Home, everybody who followed the course of events with care must have noticed the evident effect produced by .the personal intervention of His Majesty the King. It is, of course, impossible to say how far the .King followed his own initiative or.Jiow far he was guided in this •i{fej>ect by the advice of ,Jns Ministers'.- <! But it is certain that he invited the Conservative and Liberal leaders to discuss the situation with him, and that he acted, in a sense, as a means of communication and mediation between the three parties; and it seems extremely probable that the suggestions which he made or the advice that he offered exercised a very important influence on the subsequent developments leading up to the formation of a Coalition Ministry. The facts to which, we have referred, states the Auckland Star, bring out in clear relief the importance of the King as a factor in the Constitution and the large amount of power that he actually possesses and wields. The general opinion that a modern monarch under a democratic, or even a constitutional, system is merely am impressive figurehead for the ship of State is far re«

moved from reality. “The most in r tricate, the least familiar and the most picturesque- part of our Constitution,” as Sir Maurice Amos describes the kingly office, is not to be denned or summarised in a few brief phrases. But it is remarkable how few people appear to realise the amount' of independent authority that the King possesses in the royal prerogatives alone. Writing half a, century ago, Walter B age hot enlarged upon the number and magnitude of the'changes that Her Majesty could accomplish in the political and administrative system if she felt so inclined. She could disband the army aud dismiss all the sailors and sell all our ships of war and naval stores. “She could make peace by the sacrifice of Cornwall and begin a war for the- conquest of Brittany.” She could " make every citizen in the United Kingdom, male or female, a peer; she could make every parish a university; she could dismiss moss oi the- civil servants, and pardon all offenders. The greater part of this summary is literally true to-day; and it means that the King could, by the mere exercise of his prerogative, upset the whole of our civil government and reverse the whole of our foreign policy if he were so minded. Of course, constitutional cheeks and personal deterrents combine to render such revolutionary notion practically impossible. But the King undoubtedly possesses wide and far reaching powers''which lie never exercises; a,ncl he indemnifies himself for his compartivo inaction in these respects by using his personal influence in a- great variety of effective ways. To quote Bngehot again: “The Sovereign has, under a constitutional monarchy such as ours, three rights—the right to he consulted, the right to encourage, the right to warn; and a king of great sense and sagacity would want no others.” In playing such a part a king has a great advantage over his Ministers, through the continuity of his tenure of office, “In the course of a long reign a sagacious king would acquire an experience with which few Ministers could contend.” Like the typical departmental undersecretary who knows “the run of the ropes” far more intimately and accurately than his ever-changing Ministerial heads, the King has a, permanent advantage over his advisers in his continuous contact with the successive ad, ministrations and their policies; and a tactful and sensible Sovereign such as Queen Victoria has always used this advantage to the full. There is every reason to believe that George V. possesses many of the qualities to which the Great Queen owed her success as ruler of Britain and director of its policy : and lie evidently made a, courageous and effective use of the oppoi l -' ♦.unities - afforded by his exalted position during the recent political crisis'.