THE BOY AND THE STATE.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1007, 23 December 1910, Page 9

THE BOY AND THE STATE.

The remarks that were made recently by the Chief Justice at the annual prizegittng. of the Barker College, Hornsby (Australia), apply equally to the boys of New Zealand, as well as Australia. He spoke of tho debt of the community to the large schools,.and of the duty and importance of a boy to the State. A community such as this, said Dr. Cullen, did not come into existence of itself. We were indebted to thoso . who before our / tirao strove to make it honest and decent and free. The boy was a most important part of the community, and it mattered profoundly to Australia what ho was doing and thinking about. No boys ever had a country worthier of pride than this. In no country was more care taken that everyone got a chance, or were men or women freer to think or say or do what they thought fit. They were told a time might come when wo should be governed by a people Who did not'speak our language, and who had little or no sympathy with our ideas of freedom. A boy said to him only the day before that if Australia wero ever taken in this way lie would get out of it. That would be easier said than done. Australians would have to face the same destiny and struggle as tho men of our laco and other free racos all over tho world. It was our duty to make our country the best place in the world to livo in, nnd sc-o that the Sowers we set up to govern it wero not eposed by any foreign Power. Such things lay at the base of tho spirit that had formed their school cadet corps. The Commonwealth provided ' for training growing boys in the art of defending their country; and it was good that boys should have these things brought before their attention, and made to feel they were already part of tho community, and a part to which the community looked, for help in timo to come.