“Our Cause is Civilisation” Declares King

Manawatu Times, Volume 64, Issue 305, 27 December 1939, Page 8

“Our Cause is Civilisation” Declares King

Christmas Message Broadcast INSPIRING WORDS OF ENCOURAGEMENT FOR DARK DAYS AHEAD (British Official Wireless.) RUGBY, December 25. In a broadcast message to the Empire this afternoon, his Majesty the King said that Christmas was, above all, a festival of peace and that it was “the tragedy of this time that there are powerful countries whose whole direction and policy are based on aggression and the suppression of all we hold dear for mankind. It is this that has stirred our peoples and given them a unity unknown in any previous war. “We feci in our hearts,’’ his Majesty added, “that we are fighting against wickedness, and this conviction will give us the strength to persevere until victory is assured.” The King then paid tributes and sent greetings to the Navy, the Mercantile Marine, the armies of the Empire, and the Air Force. ‘‘The men and women of our far-flung Empire,” he said, “are working in their several vocations with one and the same purpose. All arc members of a great family of nations which is prepared for sacrifice so that freedom of the spirit may be saved to the world. 1 believe from my heart that the cause which binds together my peoples and our gallant and faithful Allies is the cause of Christian civilisation.” His Majesty sent a special message to members of the Merchant Navy and fishing fleets owing to the impossibility of sending each member a Christmas card, as he did to members of the fighting forces. The King sat alone in his study at Sandringham House to broadcast to his peoples a Christmas message with the homely encouragement which marked his father’s historic broadcasts. It was a stirring declaration for its courage. The King spoke into the same microphone as lie used for his first Christmas broadcast in 1937. He then intended to discontinue the practice because it was so personally connected with King George Y. However, he broadcast to-day because his peoples wore at war. The King had Christmas luncheon with the Queen and the Princesses. A little later he left his family and went alone to h : - study. The Queen and the Princesses entered another room to wa. to hear his words through a loudspeaker. “At home,” said his Majesty, “we arc,'

*s it were, taking the strain for what nay lie ahead of us, resolved and confident. We look with pride and thank!ulness on the never-failing courage ind devotion of the Royal Navy, upon ivhich, throughout the last four months, aas burst a storm of ruthless and uncasing war. And when I speak of our Navy to-day, I mean all the men of our Empire who go down to the sea in ships —the Mercantile Marine, minesweeping trawlers, and , drifters, from senior officers to the last boy who has joined jp. To everyone in this great .fleet I send my message of gratitude and greetings from myself, as from all my peoples. “The same message I send to the gallant Air Force, which, in co-opera-tion with the Navy, is our sure shield of defence. They are daily adding laurels to those that their fathers won. “I would send a special word of greeting to the armies of the Empire, to those who come from afar, and, in particular, to the British Expeditionary Force. Their task is hard; they are waiting. Waiting is a trial of nerve and discipline, but I know that when the moment comes for action they will prove themselves worthy of the highest traditions of their great service. “To all who are preparing themselves to serve their country on sea or land or in the air, I send greetings at this time.” , After declaring he belieWd that Britain’s cause was the cause of Christian civilisation, he added: “On no other basis can true civilisatiom be built. Let us remember this through the dark times ahead of us, and when we are making the peace for which all men pray. “The New Year is at hand. We cannot tell what it will bring. If it brings peace, how thankful we shall be. If it brings us a continued struggle, we shall remain undaunted. “Meanwhile, I feel we may all find a message of encouragement in some lines which, in my closing words, I would like to read to you:— “ ‘I said to a man who stood at the gate of the year: “Give me light that I may tread safely into the unknown.” And he replied: “Go out into the darkness and put your hand into the hand of God That shall be to you better than light and safer than the known way.” * “May that almighty hand guide and Uphold us all,” his Majesty concluded. His Majesty’s quotation baffled literary authorities, who were unable to trace its course. It is reported from Court circles that his Majesty chose the quotation himself, but did not reveal the origin of it. Court circles searched vainly for it after the speech was first drafted. The Press Association says that the King himself does not know the source

Describing the unit as the finest body of men he had ever seeu, a former officer of an English regiment paid a warm tribute at Auckland to the noncommissioned officers now m training for the second echelon of tne special military force. Enlisting in the ordin ary way, the former officer is himself now a member of the non-commissioned officers* section. “For keenness and enthusiasm, these New Zealand noncommissioned officers can have no equal,** he stated. “Their keenness is remarkable, many rising at 4 a.m. in order that they could practise various aspects of training among themselves before being called to the first parade.**