SACRIFICE AND SERVICE

Taupo Times, Volume I, Issue 5, 13 February 1952, Page 4

SACRIFICE AND SERVICE

In reflecting upon the character and career of his late Majesty King George VI, whose untimely death last week so profoundly shocked the peoples of the British Commonweaith s Colonial Empire, the qualities which, in the finest sense, are associated with fine greatness, leap to the mind. Some men are born great; some have greatness thrust upon them; others achieve greatness. The circumstances under which our beloved King accepted the onerous responsibilites of the Throne sixteen years ago are well remembered. Britain was faced with a constitutional crisis of the first magnitude, a crisis that shook the Throne and sent its tremors throughout the Empire. Viewed from this distance in time the Abdication looms as a shadowy nightmarish event. But sharply outlined in the picture*of the crisis is the figure of the man who, when called upon to choose between the exacting role of Kingship and the comparative tranquility of his duca! station, saw the path of his duty to the Nation cleariy before him, and accepted the hard way. King George VI thus had greatness thrust upon him. But in his acceptance of the burden of the Throne, and in the spirit of self-sacrifice, under the appalling stresses of the Second World War and the resulting strain on his physical constitution, marked the discharge of his duties, he achieved greatness in his own right. In association with his gracious consort he presented a model of diligence and devotion to the service of the nation that stood out as a shining example to every individual citizen of his realm and the great Commonweaith of Nations which was proud to acknowledge his sovereignty for the act of sacrifice which enabled the vast British Community scattered over the world to ride safely through a dangerous constitutional storm. In this period of mourning for our well-beloved King these qualities of fine greatness shine through as an ispiration to all of us, and a monument for posterity to hotiour, But iife must g6 on. The procession of our peoples must continue along the pathway to* its destiny. The torch has now been passed to the young Princess Elizabeth and her Consort, the Duke of Edinburgh. To them, for safe custody

and preservation, has been handed a rich legacy of tradition and a heavy bur- ^ den of responsibility. Moreover, this comes to them as an endowment of universal goodwiil toward the Throne and the Royal Family created by the sterling example, public and domestic, of the late King and his queen. The prestige of the Throne stands very high indeed, and it is with sincerest expressions of loyalty and affections from the British peoples that the young guardians now entrusted with its safe keeping assume their high responsibilities.