The Times. Published on Tuesday and Friday Afternoons.
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 1921. NEW ZEALAND AND THE EMPIRE.
The large crowd that listened with such rapt attention to the Prime Minister’s speech when he unveiled the monument to our fallen soldiers on Sunday afternoon must have been struck by the note of evident sincerity and deep feeling thaW pervaded that portion of it which dealt with fche homogbnity of the Empire, and the absolute necessity for every part of it ;to carry its share of the burden of Imperial unity. That neither the people of »this country nor its Government consider we have any right, to accept the privileges of the greatest Commonwealth of all time without assuming our portion of its responsibilities was evidenced by our sacrifices during the war period; but it will not do to let our consciousness of duty done make us oblivious of what we may still be called upon to do. We must remember that the price of liberty is eternal vigilance, and not allow ourselves to be hypnotised into the belief that, because we won the war we have made ourselves safe (for ever. Mr Massey thinks we are safe for this generation, but it is an assertion that should not go unqualified. We are safe up to the day when we cease to be both able and willing to defend ourselves, and not one moment after that. And we forget so easily the dangers that arq past—one of the weakest points in our national characteristics that we constantly need the spur to quicken
spurs now, and pretty sharp ones, in two great nations bordering the Pacific which arp making gigantic efforts to out-bid the Empire for the supremacy of the seas, but our flanks are so tough we scarcely feel 'them. Let us be thankful therefore that we have a Prime Minister' who has steeped his very soul in the lessons of sane Imperialism, and a Minister for Education who has determined that our school children shall in ;uture be taught only by sound loyalists.
“We nothing extenuate, nor aught set down in malice.”
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Bibliographic details
Franklin Times, Volume 9, Issue 682, 8 November 1921, Page 4
Word Count
351The Times. Published on Tuesday and Friday Afternoons. TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 1921. NEW ZEALAND AND THE EMPIRE. Franklin Times, Volume 9, Issue 682, 8 November 1921, Page 4
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