THE HONGKONG
TELEGRAPH, MONDAY, JUNE
6, 1988.
:
PRINCESS ELIZABETH WILL AUTOMATICALLY BECOME QUEEN OF ENGLAND
RIGID LAWS OF THE
BRITISH CONSTITUTION
By H. L. Percy
United Press Staff Correspondent.
London.
Twelve-year-old Princess Elizabeth automatically be. comes queen-ruler of England at the exact moment her father, King George VI. ceases to be king.
The British constitution lays down that there must be no interregnum, and Elizabeth, as the King's eldest daugh- ter is heir presumptive and next in line of accession. Until Edward VIII. abdicated she was only second in line after her father, then the Duke of York.
Elizabeth, of course, would lose, would she take the customary oath to her position us first in line should defend the faith, or any other oath her mother, Queen Elizabeth, give until she was 10. birth to a son, and she would drop still further for every additional son that was born. This is because boys al dayn take precedence in British law, whatever their age; and it is also why the Princess is heir presumptive and not heir apparent, although it
The Lord President of the Council (Lord Hallsharu at present) would the oath of preside, and the council's first act AWORK would be to
en formally allegiance over the Great Seal of
would then England. It approve the proclamation of Eliza-
is practically certain that the Queenbeth's accession, including the name by which she would be known, and will have no more children.
the Duke of Gloucester's appointment a regent.
nuch
The Duke would then take bis three baths,
afterwards and
prominent citizens, such as the Lord Mayor of London and the Mayor of West- asminster, in whose borough Bucking- ham Palace Dies, would be called intu the room niso to take the oath.
So for as anyone can foretell only death will remove King George from the throne, and presumably not for many years to come at that, but the constitutional law also applies should he abdicale, or is declared incnpa- leitated for
reason, any II-health.
WOULD AUTOMATICALLY BE QUEEN It does not matter how, when or He where the King should die. might fall from his horse and break his neck in India, he might be killed in a plane crash in Australia; or he might be assassinated on the Con- tinent. Elizabeth might be thousands But ol of miles away at the time. the accepted moment at which he died, be Elizabeth would automatically Queen, and history would record as the hour and day of her acces- slon.
Formal proclamations, signifying the peuple'a acceptance, and the coronation, signifying the Church's accepinnce, would come inter, but from that split second when King George breathes his last, Elizabeth
is henceforth Queen Elizabeth 17. ruler of the greatest empire the world is ever likely to know.
But should Elizabeth become queen before she reaches her majority-18 in the cose of royalty--she her 18th birthday, April 21, 1944. She could sign no bills, exercise no royal prerogatives, or take any part In the affairs of State,
years
would be quees in name only until
In fact, except for changing her title, Elizabeth's life would not be nitered one jot.
A
regent would take care of all the royal duties, at least until she was 18, and possibly until she was
bill 21 Parliament passed a February 1937. providing for such an eventuality.
This would end the Privy Council, und the next act might either be the summoning of Parliament to take the oaths of allegiance and supre- maey, or the public reading of the proclamation.
These could be held at any con- venient thne in the next day or so In the case of George VI, the Privy Council met in the morning, Parlia ment took the oath in the afternoon. and the proclamation was read in the afternoon of the next day.
Up to the Reform Act of 1857 Parliament was subject to dissolution on a change of sovereign but this is so no longer; on the contrary, the existing Purlinnuit must meet ot once, and even in the event of its having been dissolved it is tempor- tu orlly resuscitated, and permitted
CZECH PRESIDENT RELAXES
While European lenders seck International understandings, a new and knotty problem develops in Czecho-Slovakia, as Sudeten Ger- mans demand an autonomous state dominated by Germany. Czech President, Dr. Eduard Benes, is shown with Mrs. Benes in a mo- ment of relaxation on their country estate of Sezimovo Usti, near the nation's capital of Prague.
“ ”
CHILDREN TRAPPED:
MENTAL HOMES
IN
"Parents Sign Away Their
Freedom
99
Inst for se lung to six months if its ANY mothers are urged into unwittingly signing
successor has not before that been elected.
The proclamation is read from the balcony of Friary Court, St. James's Pulace, and then at Charing Cross, Chancery Lane, Just inside the limits
"MANY
away their children's freedom, and stigmatising them, perhaps for life, as mental defectives merely be- eause the children were backward at school."
Mr. W. Baker, secretary of the National Society for of the City of London, and finally Lunacy Law Reform, said this to a Daily Mail reporter,
the Royal Exchange,
Officers of arms.
laburds
medieval
commenting on the society's annual report, just issued. and three-cornered hais. attended by trumpeters and heralds, "Csacs of young people thus wrong- The mother was advised to send her but did not to the training home, When ceremony, take part in the her father was proclaimed, Elizabeth fully detained are being brought to watched the ceremony from a win our notice more and more frequent-now it was one for mental defec- dow near St. James's Palace; and ly," he declared. when Edward VIII, was proclaimed,
tives.
"Once a girt of this type finds herself forcibly detained. It hap- "It is an iniquitous system that just he and Mrs. Simpson watched trom
that all her ens, in most cases, because a child enono! read and write a window of the palace.
parents' efforts to Recure release This ends the established form- properly though he may be perfectly
prove unavaDing. nlities
until such a time as when normal in every other way-sends shoots which are Elizabeth is old enough to take oaths him to sprein! The Regency Bill, as it is called,
nothing more than "terders' mental! lays down that the next aduit in line herself, and the date of her corcnu- of necession shall be regent if the tion is to be announced, when there Institutions.
time of would be a similar ceremony to the sovereign is under accession. In Elizabeth's case this reading of the accession proclama- would mean that her uncle, the Duke tion. of Gloucester, would be regent, and
18 t
after him the Duke of Kent.
DUKE OF WINDSOR
IS BARRED
PASTOR
WHO
IF THEY ESCAPE "It is for more difficult to secure "If a 16 children at free schooin the release of a mental defective than of a person certified as insane," Mr. are still below standard-and it is a
Baker
declared. "If they cscape badly deßned standard-they become
they can always be taken back with- Government subject to the Local
out a warrant. The rule of 14 days' Mental Deficiency Committee.
liberty does not upply.
FIVE YEARS TO WAIT
The Duke of Windsor is specifically GAVE UP £15,000 rents, often poor, and suggest
barred by a clause in the bit deflaing: -disqualification: "I the person is not
n British subject of full age and resident in the United Kingdom, or
would, under the Act of Settlement,
Says "No" To London
be incapable of inheriting, possessing Pastor of a little
and enjoying the Crown.
wife
church іл the
de-
"We demand a better-defined stan- "It is then that offelals go to pa-dard for judging chlidren of 12 und
it 13 or younger
as 'mentally would be advisable if their children fielent; just because they cannot read and write properly it does not mean went to a trainlog home.
they are unfit for manual or domes- the work,
"Once mother signs this form she may never see her child again for years, and only when she tries to get him back home find that he is in
Independent medical examinations
the most
The Act of Settlement, drawn up toughest quarter of Aberavon's dock- a mental home." after Edward VIII, abdicated, pro-land, Dr. Martin Lloyd Jones a for- vided that he could marry without mer colleague of Lord Horder has can be made and occasional special the King's consent, and that neither refused an offer to become minister paroles granted, but for
and fashionable part no decision is taken as to post ife, or his children are in of the prosperous hc, his
Marylebone English Presbyterlan hie discharge from such training accession to the throne. line of
The Regency Bill, which presumes Church, London.
schools until after five years, that the next sovereign will be a
NO RELEASE male, but is equally applicable to Elizabeth, provides that "his" mother shall
hove
guardianship of the sovereign's person until "he" is 18; and that the regent will administer terian Church.
"his"
Eleven years ago Dr. Jones, a bril- lant heart speciallst, sacrificed fame,
The report citer many cases: fortune, and West End social life to
"A woman of 37 has been detuin- answer the call of the Welsh Presby-ed for 11 years under the Mental De-
flelency Acts. Although
unable to
From the church at Aberavon, Dr.read or write, she is accomplished in the sovereign's proprety and a Jones and his wife set in motion other ways, and can sew and crochet have the guardianship. of
revivalist movement that is sweeping with marked Intelligence." person.
Wales.
"Quicker medical examination of the detained is necessary, with as- surance that evidence of independent doctors would secure immediate re- lease; and finally, to prevent possible cruelty, an independent committee should be set up with power to visit patients in private."
DOCTOR TO PAY £600 FOR NEGLIGENCE
For negligence in leaving a swob labourer, after an operation in Davy- in Thomas Mahon, a 25-year-old hulme Park Hospital, judgment was given at Manchester Assizes recently The Bill differs from the act passed
They have laboured to improve the Another; "A young woman of 23, against Dr. Rowland Percy Osborne on the accession of King George V.
detention for for £816 35. 6d. with costs. This provided for the wife of the lot of working men and women in who has been under
nine years, was examined Indepen- little pastorate,
The jury added a rider that they King Queen Mary) to be regent.
To-day men in silk hats mingledently through the society's medical Before taking office, the Bill lays down that the regent must take with men wearing cloth caps in the service, and the doctor was of opinion were unanimously of the opinion that three oaths before the Privy Council: crowds entering every church where that there is no just ground for re- Dr. Osborne worked under dimcult
a mental defective circumstances during the operation. "Allegiance to the Sovereign and to Dr. Jones preaches.
the
his heirs and successors; that he will truly and faithfully executo office of regent..... and will consult and maintain the mtely, honour and dignity of the Sovereign and the welfare of his people; and maintain the settlement of the Protestant ro-
** ligion in Scotland."
THIS IS WHAT WOULD HAPPEN
Arst few days of Elizabeth's reign,
their
D
garding her as
"Bang Went Saxpence”-
By Instalments
Here is what would happen in the BELLS for the 80ft. tower of the Peace Pavilion at the Empire Exhibition, Glasgow, were cast at Croydon Bell Foundry assuming that King George was to recently, and the tradition of throwing silver coins into the dle within the next six years, or molten metal "for luck" was observed by onlookers. before she reaches the age of 18.
The Arst official action would be
the summoning of the Privy Council
to St. James's Palace, London, most probably the following day. There are in all about 300 Privy Councillors, and at the time of George VI accession over a 100 attended.
Princess Elizabeth would not be present, being
四
minor,
of
Lord Cecil and Sir Herbert Dunnico tossed in sixpences,
Sir Archibald Sinclair, M.P., and Mrs. E. M. Currio, convener the Peace Pavilion Committee, parted with threepenny-bits.
It was, of course, inevitable that there should be a joke about England's contribution being twice that of Scotland.
Sir Archibald Sinclair, chuckling, said his contribution had Neither been brought specially from Scotland for the ceremony.
Dr. Osborne said he thought there might have been à miscount, or that two swabs had been given at once,
Nurse Ethel Monica Ashburner, also sued, sald abe counted the swabs be- fore and after the operation and found them correct.
Professor John Morley told the Court that relance was placed on the count of swabs to avold unnecessary searching.
If a search were extensive and pro- longed it might make the difference between life and death.
Judgment against the nurse was set uside. Stay of execution was granted in the case of Dr. Osborne,
The man's mother, Mrs. Elizabeth Mahon, of Hancock Street, Stretford, had brought the action. Ifer son is
dead.
DEATH FOR SPIES IN FRANCE
Poria.
Espionage has increased to such an extent in France that capital punishment may shortly be reintroduced.
ክበ
The Daladier Government been studying the question closely, and it is
is understood that a decree
the
is in course of preparation which
forms various
would increase substantially
of
sentences for espionage. Some would entall the death penalty.
It is recognised at in Germany, where both men and women spies are behended, espionage has been practically stamped out. It is felt that, in the interests of nailonni de- fence, more rigorous methods should be adopted to protect France from the agents of foreign Powers.
Since 1035 all spy cases have been Judged by military tribunals, where the maximum penalty is 20 years' Imprisonment.
In 1932 seven cases of espion- age were judged in France, in-
conviction volving the
of 13 Individuals.
Two years later the number had risen to 70. Of the 85 people convloted 28 were foreigners.
Figures are not available for more recent years, but there is no doubt that the total is very much larger. One estimate gives crease.
m
SAFETY FIRST!
Danger of TYPHOID and CHOLERA banished through
'TYPHORAL' 'CHOLPEROS'
(BAYER)
MAMPEI HOTEL
KARUIZAWA
tenfold in- Karuizawa, a small scat
East France, condemned three men to prison for espionage.
The military court at Besancon, in tered town, is situated 3,080 feet above the sea Georges Knochel was sentenced to and has been known for 15 years' imprisonment for trying to
obtain Information from an Alsatian many years as the sum-
about French troops stationed in the
sceret stair mer resort where more region and about the code. Walter Knapp received similar sentence and Pierre Auer 10 foreigners go than any other place in Japan. It was discovered in 1886. Situated only three and
years.
Blackbird Irks Police
Sierra Madre, Cal. Police G. G. McMillan have started
a half hours from Tokyo,
a joint search for a blackbird which by train, it offers ideal
la pecking all the paint off their new,
shining cars. When the two men summer blackbird is
arc
around the
nut
temperatures,
there, but when they are not, the never exceeding 80 de-
blackbird is
grees.
GOLF
SWIMMING
RIDING
TENNIS, etc.
European Plan: Single rooms YS to Y9. with bath
Double Y12 to Y15.. Breakfast Y1.50, Tiffin Y2.50 and Dinner Y3.
or a la carte Entirely New Building All rooms with and' without bath
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