NEWSPAPER VIEWS

Taranaki Central Press, Volume IV, Issue 301, 4 December 1936, Page 6

NEWSPAPER VIEWS

Comments By The English r Press.

(Continued from page 5). <» '' ’ kikij l iUiU«iii Crown, it must not be forgotten, is now the sole visible link of the Empire. Nobody knows better than he what the Empire stands for or has more deeply appreciated the everswelling volume, of affection and loyalty of its peoples. It cannot be supposed that he will hesitate to put those august permanent interests before his personal feelings which, however deeply they concern his personal happiness, are in that respect strictly private and not national or Imperial.” A motor-cycle dispatch rider left the Palace early this morning taking important papers to the King at Fort Belvedere, to which the King motored last night after his interview with Mr. Baldwin, states a London cable message.

Thf King rose at an early hour and read the newspapers. It is understood Major Ulick Alexander, LieutenantColonel Piers Legh and Sir Godfrey Thomas were summoned to Fort Belvedere. Information suggests that Mr Baldwin made a gentleman’s agreement with Mr. Atlee, Labour leader, that the latter would decline a commission to form a Ministry if Mr. Baldwin resigned, states the Associated Press. All agencies circulate reports from Canberra that both parties in Parliament are in agreement on the constitutional issue of the King’s acceptance of his Minister’s advice. The Cape Times states that the constitutional issue concerning the King is not confined to Britain but is one in which the whole of the Dominions are deeply concerned, report!? a Cape Town cable message. Now it has been raised and publicly discussed, the wisest course would be for the whole truth to be laid before the public without reserve and with the frankness which in greater affairs of the British sovereignty and the Empire has. always proved the healthiest corrective of vague conjectures. The New York Times says that after the editor had questioned a dispatch a correspondent reassured him df the absolute validiy of the information printed in a London cablegram stating that the King may abdicate today and be succeeded by the Duke of York.

It is declared that the impression exists in England that if the King persists in his course the Cabinet will not hesitate to force decrees of abdication. It is strongly rumoured that Mrs. Simpson will leave England to-day and that there is a possibility that the King may accompany her. The King called Mr. Lincoln Ellsworth to the Palsfce yesterday, and it is reported on good authority that the King sold his Canadian ranch to Mr. Ellsworth for cash, so (hat if the Kingleaves suddenly he will not be penniless. . Mrs. Simpson is reported to be “aghast at what is happening.” The message alleges that the London newspapers have already prepared and are holding in readiness proofs of a long account pf the Kings reign to be used in event of his abdication.