A NEW YEAR MESSAGE.

Hokitika Guardian, 2 January 1918, Page 4

A NEW YEAR MESSAGE.

FROM Silt JOSEPH WARD

[ri'.Tl PRESS ASSOCIATION. COPYRIGHT.]

DUNEDIN December 31

Asked for a New Year’s message, to the people, .Sir Joseph Ward sends the I.ViUowing: “Courage, determination hope and sacrifice,” Let this he our motto for the new Year . The furnace fires of sacrifice must lie kept at a white heat, by throwing mi the flames every ounce of effort the nation is capable, of supplying. Each individual is capable <>l doing, something . Do it. however small the effort may nppea'r. It will all count up in the aggregate. Greater self denial must be practised. There must he no 1 unking. Action is the only thing that counts to-day.

The year just concluded has not realised all that we hoped for, hut do. spite the Russian defection and the reveuse of the Italian Army, sufficient progress was made to show the whole world that there can be but one end to this awful war. America bv throwing her whole weight into the scale, lias more than compensated for the disappointment of the past year and the enemy knows that it is only a matter of time when she must he. definitely defeated. That is why she is making such desperate efforts now to force a decision in the west efforts that are certainly doomed to failure. Without the courage .of faith in our own strong arm, without the hope that the outcome will spell a glorious peaeo for Great Britain and her Allies and without- the determination of sacrifice by each and every one of us j wo could not hope for victory, but wo I have all those tributus and wo are i strengthened in our purpose because we know that with our nation, then 1 is strongly developed the spirit of equity and Justice. We have faith in our cause and in ourselves and this gives us the inflexible will to make every sacrifice to bring about the desired end. The history of the nation is being written in the blood of our race. We would be cravens all, to allow such sacrifices to be made in vain. Let us then, with the Motherland, put- forth our mighty strength in the New Year, in a supreme effort to crush for ever a cruel foe. that in the conduct of the war has shown neither honesty of purpose nor one generous impulse. Her great frighttulness record in the struggle has been a revelation by the Central Lowers.

A peace-loving nation, we were totally unprepared oil land for war, mm that was the main factor in German calculations when she burled her mighty strength and organisation built up over a period of forty years at heroic little Belgium, with a vi

to bumbling France as a prelude to over-running the continent of Europe anil then defeating Great Britain, and gaining a world supremacy. The scene lias changed and England lifts become the possessor of one* of the largest armies in the world, second to none in courage, resourcefulness, and equipment. Jler territories are an armed camp with mighty factories turning out at a record speed, guns and all the requisite munitions of war. and the whole of her vast resources, material and human are concentrated with her Allies on the defeat of the enemy at her gates. Sucli a record of achievement has been previously unknown in the history of the world and will stand for all time as an object lesson of what a free anj democratic country is capable of, when forced inio war for her honour s sake.

The spirit of the race is magnificent, the hearts of th* people are staunch and true to their splendid traditions, and with qualities such as we possess, together with a doterniinaton to put the greatest effort into the conflict, there can he no doubt as to the result-. The people of Now Zunland would say that while this fair dominion has done more than well, vet we have felt the stress of war less, perhaps, thany otln>r portion of the British Kiu-

i pire. Thanks to the British Navy, and our mercantile marine, .our produce has been carried safely overseas throughout the war and we have prospered beyond ' all expectations. The cost of living though it has boon one of our greatest troubles and anxieties is lower hero than in any other part of the British Empire. The only time that the war is .brought prominently home is when someone near and dear to us meets his fate on the field of battle and “goes West,” as tlie soldiers say. Our hearts go -.out in sympathy to the mothers, wives, ' sisters, brothers and brothers and relatives of those who have made tile great sacrifice and wo pray that the comfort from the King ~»f Kings, may gradually alleviate their sorrows. Apart from this sad side, w ( - have little to remind us here of tlie war. We go on our way in comparative security and peace. I would like to remind the people in appealing to them to put forth every effort in the coming year, that the horrors of war are over present to the dwellers n the Mother Country. In every railway station in London throughout the day and night-, long queues of waiting ambulances are formed, every train from the Channel towns bringing their quota of wounded from the battlefronts. This, more than anything else brings liom e to the people there the stern realities of a brutal war. There are other ever-present factors as well, including the darkness of the streets at night and the searchlights /that are constantly trained on the heavens for spying out the murdering pirate s of the air, which prey on defenceless men, women, and children. TVo have much to he thankful for in this far-flung post of Empire, and surely it is not too much to ask the people to be patient, to lie still more self-de-nying, and in all tlieir actions, to have but one end in view, the winning of the war by unmistakenble and unquestioned victory. Let the Now Tear lie a period of noble sacrifice the beginning of a year of courage and faitli. No one can say when this awful struggle will end, but. I am sure the people of New Zealand share with me, the fervent, hope that , this will he the last year of war.

To the New Zealand soldiers at home and abroad and to the patriotic citizens ef the Dominion, f wish ovaryhappiness and prosperity during the New Year. Hay the after war problems whcli have to come up for settlement, provide Hu their solution an effective system based upon the highest Christian principles, that* will make wars in the future unnecessary, and prevent a recurrence of such a crime against humanity as that in which the world has been plu'.nged for nearly three and a half years by the action of a ruthless autocrat. May the people and not the self-constituted monsters he the constitutional rulers and I miners of wise humane and democratic laws, Let us all devoutly pray that the joyhells' will soon proclaim the glad tidings of a glorous peace with honor for the British Empire and her Allies. J. G. WARD, Minister of Finance.