6 NOVEMBER 1915, Page 13

NEWS OF THE WEEK.

WE greatly regret to record a serious accident to the King. When His Majesty was reviewing troops of the First Army on the Western front the cheers of the men startled the mare he was riding. She reared up so far that, she fell and partly rolled on the King. His Majesty was at once taken away in a motor-car, and though he bravely tried to respond to the recognition ,of his troops as he passed, it was evident that he was in very great pain. As soon as possible the King was conveyed home. Thus in a wholly unforeseen manner the King has suffered like any of his soldiers from the risks of the campaign. It is, as it should be, the duty of the King's staff to keep him, so far as they are able, from exposing himself unnecessarily to danger, but the King fell none the less a victim to the chances of the field in doing his duty. Ills Majesty has borne his injury with characteristic pluck. Everybody who reads the papers has been touched by his gallant effort to continue his work in spite of his suffering. The attempt to pin a Victoria Cross on the breast of a corporal who knelt by his bedside was, however, too much for him—a proof of the severity of the accident. Bruises, when they go beyond a certain point, cause intense suffering. Happily they are not dangerous.