HISTORIC MOMENT

Wairarapa Times-Age, 18 May 1939, Page 7

HISTORIC MOMENT

HIS MAJESTY’S SPEECH IN REPLY DOMINION’S GREAT DESTINY. DESIRE TO SEE COUNTRY AND PEOPLE. QUEBEC, May 17. Replying to the speech of wel- ' come at a Federal luncheon the King said: “I recognise that this moment is historic. It is the first time a British king has crossed the Atlantic. I stand today on the soil of North America. Here in the past two centuries, through loss and through gain, the British Commonwealth of Nations has been largely moulded into its present form. This also is the first visit of a British sovereign to one of his overseas Dominions and it is fitting that it should be to the senior Dominion of the Crown. You in Canada have already fulfilled part of the Biblical promise and obtained dominion from sea to sea. You are now engaged in fulfilling the latter part of that promise, in consolidating government from the river to the ends of the . earth—from the Saint Lawrence to the Arctic snows. The Queen and I are looking forward with anticipation, too great for expression, to seeing all we possibly can of this vast country. Particularly do we welcome the opportunity of greeting the men and women who are its strength and stay and of seeing something of the younger generation, so soon to become guardians of the future.” The King also spoke in French, paying a tribute to Quebec as the birthplace of the Canadian nation.