The Stratford Evening Post. WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE EGMONT SETTLER. WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 29, 1913. THE OVER-SEAS CLUB.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXV, Issue 26, 29 January 1913, Page 4

The Stratford Evening Post. WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE EGMONT SETTLER. WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 29, 1913. THE OVER-SEAS CLUB.

“Believing that the British Empire, the greatest that the world has ever seen, lias been and must be built on a basis of justice, freedom, order, and good government, we pledge ourselves to hand on that heritage of our fathers uudimiuished; to maintain it and to strengthen it; to carry on, guided by their spirit, the work of civilisation, which they have bequeathed to us." This is the creed of the hundred thousand members of the Over-Seas Club, an organisation which aims to draw together, in the band of comrade

ship, the peoples from, all the four corners of the earth now living under the folds of the British flag, and of which Club a link in the big chain is shortly to be forged, when it is hoped on Tuesday next to form, in Stratford, an active branch, in other parts of the Dominion, Mr Evelyn Wrench is engaged in forming branches innumerable, but while the Club’s organiser cannot be present in Stratford, it is to be hoped that his absence will not deter citizens from gathering in force to place the branch on a Arm basis, and to ensure its future success. The Club has aims and objects which must appeal to every son oi Britain. The keynote of its endeavours may be said to be “Imperial unity,” while the rendering of individual service to our Empire, and the insistence of the vital necessity to the Empire of British supremacy on the sea, are other cardinal points in its policy. How can those tilings be {lone? The activities of branches of the Over-Seas Club are extremely varied. They include the formation of troops of Boy Scouts and rifle'associations, recruiting for the local militia, the institution of debating and social clubs, the provision of public libraries containing good literature, and the holding of patriotic concerts. Such days as Empire Day, His Majesty’s Birthday, and Trafalgar Day are celebrated by banquets and patriotic demonstrations. In South Africa, the graves of soldiers who fell in the late war are cared for by the Ciuo. An “-Imperial information Bureau,” I he Club provides enquirers with facts concerning any part of the Empire, and an endeavour is made to stimulate the interest of the young in the Empire of which they should he such proud citizens. It may lie said that such an organisation would be, to some extent, superfluous, but, as His Excellency Lord Islington stated in a

speech delivered recently, “there are other organisations doing good work but there is room for all ot them to help onwards the groat cause wo have at heart.”