"DEEDS, NOT WORDS."

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 571, 28 July 1909, Page 8

"DEEDS, NOT WORDS."

, ÜBSONS OF THE PAST. SIR 0. LUCAS ON EMPIRE BUILDING. Sir Charles' Lucas, K.C.M.G., and Mr. A. A. Pearson, C.M.G., . who aro visiting New Zealand as onvoys from tho Colonial .Office, wore tho guests of, tho Now Zealand Club at its second luncheon, which was held "yesterday, at tho Y.M.C.A. Mr. J. G. Harkriess presided, and those present included the Hon. J. Carroll, Acling-Primc Minister, and a number of politicians, Civil Sorvants, and well-known citizens, tho tables being fully occupied. .. ... ."■;■' ,:..'.-. Sir Charles Lucas, who was very weli received, said that' it' had boon entirely 'delightful to note in what honour, and affccr tion tho Old' Country was held in tho Dor, minion. .'(Hear, hear.), ,Ncw Zealand .was in-gobd sooth tho counterpart of tho United Kingdom:'..'- With l tho .exception of Wnllin ' toil, his friend and bo had only been,in 'he. South Island as-yptj but they had. seen the English holds of. Canterbury; they had seen Scotland.inland around'Duncdin, and everywhoro thoy had found the good hall-mark of tho British raco. They had-seen''-trade following the % flag and- the race, and : they had seen, the children, who >werb: a living' evidonco. that 7 'our Empire would'bo in tho keeping of; strong,, . straigh't,_ upstandiug British citizens. Ho would say, in'tho words of a.friend of bis: "Our British colonists haro proved that whatever thrives in GreatBritain thrives; better in the : Great? Britain' .of thelsouth?" V';.,-. .?.;.:'."' ■.:- '■'■ ...-.;';. •,: ,' -P "-•''.;■' ?: ji?- : TliB;Colonial Offics. ■■. ,;? , ; .; 'f} ■-.The Cplonial:,,6[Bco ,in ■tho .past,had often :,beeai' criticised. : It : had , sometimes;- ,ho thought,; been rather misrepresented;■: but it still .'survived... It .wa's.'not for, him .to say whether . that was: a caso of tho survival .'of,tho fittest, ■•' but, ho would say'that tho Colonial Office was not too old, or too wise to profit by criticism. ; Tho criticism was not resented, but welcomed and utilised. Thero were threo good reasons why he was somewhat reluctant to.mak'o a speech.": Tho vfirst was a personal pne; .he,?never. liked? making speeches, and did ? not always like, ilistenihg to them.' ?' 'flip, sccond.'reason' was .thatvhe :w ; as a' Civil Servant,.and. it. was. a.t'radition ; of thoServtcp. that its members should-not do;*muCb;.'iii;' ; tho way? of; speaking. it', was feared? that' th'cy might, become ...uncivil servants. Their trait was silence, .and silence; was. (golden. His third, reason.might bo expressed' by -a quotation from' Carlyle.: hotter;. ; than 'words'- •■•. • The speaking? man \ has indeed,in .these: clay's wan- ; dered: terribly fronvtho-'point..";; At "Homo---" h.e).'ivbu'ld*'n9t, presumo to speak of New Zealand;in: this "connection—two;,of'?.tho great eyils.i'of the present time .were the. amount of talk and tho .amount of advertisement; There was a babble bf.tohgues, and ho often wished the tongues : wero'.tied,"'. or, better .still, tinned'.:; (ljaugl\ter?),'' : . .??■'• _■ ';;. Our Great Past.;. . -,"We are 'all proud,.! hope,, of;.mir, British citizenship," "continued: the visitor;.?> "but prido goes before a fall unlcss.it is founded; oil knowledge. I plead to-day for tho study of -tho'lpast, in order that wo may have a 1 firm, grip on the present; and, a, steadfast eye.to tho fuiurc. And ?what was our ; British past? It was.apastbf deeds, not words.' Oarlyle said, .'Thy, epio unsung is written iii? liugo characters on ; tlio. face' of" tho j' planet. '- What then wero .tho characteristics 'of. tlio past;,of tho British Empirfi''?,?' ?First 'of -all, I, .'sn%ul3' : ;say, : -:i.t...was i 'madb';.b'y.':to"diyidnals and aiKJciaiiblis of individuals, and : ; .not ,by. .Govbriinieuts. I think of tliombrohant-'vpnturers of Bristol, and of 'holvv'Cabot''sailccl'j 1 from' that/ great M'es.t c-f. England: pbirt' to ,find a. liow' world, iii North .America.? I-:think of .'would have, happened -to England in India \ if thero had been .rip''East'..lndia ;Com-', 'pa'ny,. or,how far.'tlhb? making-of'; Can.'tda: could have, gone: if wo'-'had' not hiid the; 1 Hudson 3ay: Company. I think of w-hatassocia-' ti&nsliavodoueiii your pv>;ii'southern World;' and I .attribute the grca{ :^pafet T ;of'','6u'i:.'' ra'cb"; to its; great individual? men..; '. ? It \ was: Gordon." •who ':said -that England ;w'a?s Ba.vcd?r'by;;' heradventurers. Nothing", turns':'.--'up? : ' : ..unlpss somebbdy turns it up: . Those, men-did rhot 'jivait ?for things to-.turn lip. Thoy. turned "'ihihgs ;up' for .themselves.•'f.Tho.y'Pturned- up tho.land and the sea,;and'thoug'h;they?often' ploughed lonely furrows.'.thcj. ; had.put their 1 ■hands'.to : -tho.plough and' did''(not look 'backi' Asipr tho result, it has .been well said : ,that England has gono.-two blades .6f, ,; grass: grow Where only'one grew before.'- Wosanv at' Kjalgoorlie how the .water, .canned;"''.3so miles', mado not one/hut thousands of blades' of. grass grow, ivhero nono grew.:bofore.? -We? thought of tho' saying again bn : the';Cantei>. lnu-y: Plains, when : we; saw•;>vhat'?ha?d;?been dongr';th'ere ."by the enterpriseipfi'tlig;British ra'tfej-and ivo think of- it.-;sH!l..Khcii''wo aroiin'd lis on hills ana; the sea by the. patierico ; and '.enterprise of' those who. liayb? goncbefore,? '.>?■'•■'::.. :,;,V''':;?-The Gift of : Creatiusnoss;- ■?;' ; j '[Men.and'nations aro?of two kinds.-Somo are. destructive,, .whether .in an ''active or a passive way. Thoy; lay? waste, and their' paths'are ; marked with'misery and.desolation;and the? curses of; their kind, or \ they merely let things; slide,..arid their hall-mark is decay. But'other men. and nations arc .creative, and if they destroy they dp so only that thoy may put something better'in the place. Such were tho "Romans of the old days.. They.-made laws and' roads and-taught thenabions'how'.to live.. Such, too, I love to .think, is our own ;.British.race.. Thoy sow ..lands and plant vineyards;, to yield .thorn fruits .of increase. ■ ■ They multiply . exceedingly, and build: .cities.. to. ; dwell in, Alljthis.was begun:by pur fathers, and though men?.have.'short memories in theso v days/-and different .times', call' for differentlmethods,' if isgood now and then to praise famous men, and tho that begat us, .for they did .not advertise arid .talk, but they replenished the earth and subdued it. (Applause.) Thp future can, only, bo up'to;'the level of the 'past;":, if 'we keep .that, great' gift of, creativoI ness; It.'is better, to do thinfjsthan to talk, [better-to work than? to .play,-better, to "play fthan.to look- at' others playing." (Applause.) Ido not want'to preach, but I believe that young men and. young peoples should remember their Creator in the .days of their 'youth, and- -the way' to'' remember ' Him is to go and?do.likewise. ' It' is the"bpuhden'duty .of a British citizen' to make something,, however small, and to leave the world a--'little bettor tharihefound it. (Applause.) A time' is'.coming when every effort of'every man may be needed to keep what our fathers won fbr.'.us, and then,-again deeds will.be, better, than wbrds.;■'?.'We ..must work.'out,.:'not';'talk. .oujt,;;our,'iO\vn;'^ ;?j The Old Country StlH^Homk'' ? !i Mr/ A. A. Pearson; C.M.G., spoke of tho Imperial Press Conference' and ? the Conference of Chambers of Commerce shortly ?to .take placein New South Wales, and said.that such with their? friendly; interchanges of thought;'.and their kindly hospi-. tality, could dp'.riothing but..good of tho highest-kind. If one thing more than another had struck him,in New Zealand it was the intense patriotism of the people.'; It bad been gho.wn. on the South African veldt, and moro recently in the spontaneous .offor ofassistance: in' tho' defence of the Empire. (Hear..hear.) Another thine that,struck him was that New'Zcalanders'spokoof the Old Country just as ono might refer affection-' ately to one's father and mother as "the old people." The applied to it one of tho dearest words,in tho_ language—the word "home." "Long may it be Home for yoiil" (Applause.) A voto.pf thanks to the speakers was carder by acclamation. • ~.