WHERE EVERY PROSPECT PLEASES . . .

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 4, Issue 150, 3 September 1941, Page 4

WHERE EVERY PROSPECT PLEASES . . .

WINTER has been mild! There have been few frosts, and no floods. The fine sunny weather points to a splendid spring and another record dairy season. From the county come reports of uniformly good growth in the pastures. Early production figures are high and we have everything to be thankful for! These remarkable indications of an early plentiful spring, follow last years record production and should serve to gladden the hearts of all farmers throughout the Bay of Plenty. The prospect is rosy enough to outshine the labour shortage: and the growing burden of rising costs; for it surpasses conditions in practically every other country in the world* giving fresh meaning to the title 'God's Own Country' which Richard Seddon coined, and painting a pleasant contrast in its peacefulness and abundance, by so many of less fortunate States New Zealand by virtue of its remoteness, shakes off the grip of winter and emerges peacefully into the full harmony of undisturbed spring. With the .picture of the chaos ruling in so many other countries to-day, the comparison of our own conditions should make us profoundly thankful. Perfection of climate has made for greater and still greater produce, distance and sea waste has cast a barrier about our islands which militates strongly against the prospect of invasion on any broad scale. Indeed in to-day's sunlight it is hard for us to believe that we are a belligerent nation — only the distant murmerings of the conflict penetrate the complete peacefulness of the. early spring. The question may well be asked —what have we done to deserve it ? This query arises fresh in our minds as each new: unoffending country becomes engulfed. But the fact remains that there are still great numbers of New Zealanders who fail to realise their favoured place in the sun ; who by voice and action seem only capable of raising complaints, of selfish living, and of taking their security for granted. This war was fought for the preservation of individual freedom; for the right to enjoy the prospects of our own labours.such as now appear in a vision before every New Zealander who plans for the future. We have therefore a duty to perform and in the words of Mr Ernest Bevin to the Trades Unions and workers in the United Kingdom—"Every worker who fails to do his utmost in the war effort of the nation at this time is assisting the forces of Nazism." Strong meat; yet meat which has to be digested by we New Zealanders in spite of our thirteen thousand miles removal from the seat of conflict. This is the thought upon which we must reflect and as the greenness of spring steals over the Rangitaiki Plains, and throughout the Whakatane district the pleasing prospect should stand as a reminder of our own unique, position of safety and as a symbol of the freedom and independence for which we are fighting.