KING’S SPEECH

Wairarapa Times-Age, 25 November 1943, Page 4

KING’S SPEECH

AT OPENING OF NEW SESSION IN BRITAIN MOUNTING SCALE OF ATTACK ON GERMANY WAR AND POST-WAR POLICY (British Official Wireless.) (Received This Day, 10.40 a.m.) RUGBY, November 24. The mounting scale of the offensive against Germany was the fruit of the devoted and untiring efforts of the British people, the King declared in his Speech from the Throne, when opening the ninth session of the Thirty-Seventh Parliament of the United Kingdom. In the coming year, his Majesty said, his people would, with the help of God, be able to bring to bear upon the enemy a still greater weight of attack. The eighth session of the Parliament ended yesterday, when the Lord Chancellor prorogued Parliament until today, when the House assembled in the House of Lords to hear his Majesty, who was accompanied by the Queen. Recalling that in the fourth year of the war the United Nations had assumed the offensive in all theatres, the King reviewed the successes in North Africa, Sicily, Sardinia, Corsica and Italy. ' “In Italy,” his Majesty said, “my forces and those of my American Ally are now engaging the enemy on the mainland of Europe. On his eastern front, the enemy has given ground before the massive and unrelenting advance of the Russian armies, whose magnificent achievements we have watched with ever-deepening admiration. The captive peoples of Europe are everywhere preparing to throw off the yoke of oppression, and we shall continue to afford them such help and encouragement as lies in our power. On the frontier of India and in the Pacific, Japanese aggression has been halted and the forces of the United Nations are now moving to the offensive. At sea my Navy and those of our Allies continue to maintain their mastery over the enemy and important successes have been won in the struggle against the enemy's U-boats.”

Observing that the air forces of the United Nations had maintained their ascendancy in all theatres of war and increased the weight of their blows at the enemy’s heart, his Majesty went on to refer to the increased co-opera-tion between the United Nations and said: “I rejoice in the warmth of the reception accorded to my Ministers in Washington. Moscow and Quebec.” The King also referred to facilities granted by Britain’s oldest ally, Portugal. Magnificent efforts in the field, on the sea and in the air, his Majesty continued, had been sustained and supplied by the great manufacturing industries, agriculture mines and transport by land and sea. The perseverance of the people of Britain had been emulated by the peoples of the Dominions, the Colonial territories and India. Britain had had the advantage of the wise counsel of the Prime Minister of South Africa and several Ministers of other Dominions. Matters of great importance to the future of the United Nations and freedom-loving peoples everywhere had been considered at international discussions.

His Majesty also referred to relations with China and to the establishment of the French Committee of National Liberation, and said he looked forward to the time when France would bo liberated and restored to her rank among the Great Powers. “With the growing help of our great American Ally and together with the other United Nations, we shall go forward, with confidence in our cause, until we have deliveerd the peoples of the world from the fear of aggression,” hig Majesty declared. “My Government, taking counsel with my Allies and building upon the foundations laid at the recent conference in Moscow, will devote continuous attention to the study of .plans for the future settlement of Europe. My Government will continue to concentrate its powers upon the prosecution of the war and until final victory has been won that will be their primary task. At the same time, my Ministers are resolved, so far as the future can be foreseen, to be ready to meet the different tasks that await them when victory has been wofn. They have undertaken a special review of problems likely to arise as hostilities in Europe come to an end and of the adjustments -which will have to be made when the time comes to prosecute with fresh vigour the war against Japan, and in the months to come my Ministers will complete provisional plans for the period of transition through which we must pass before the troubled times of war give place to settled conditions of peace.” The King concluded with a reference to the legislation that would be necessary as conditions changed, and with an assurance that, as measures became necessary, they would be brought forward for the social welfare of the demobilised forces and the people in general.