The Guardian AND EVENING STAR, With which is incorporated “The West Coast Times.” MONDAY, APRIL 11th, 1921.

Hokitika Guardian, 11 April 1921, Page 2

The Guardian AND EVENING STAR, With which is incorporated “The West Coast Times.” MONDAY, APRIL 11th, 1921.

THE SPIRIT OP OUR FATHERS. In the very cordial welcome extended to Lord Jellicoe, Governor-General, on Saturday at the Princess Theatre, his Excellency struck a very happy note when referring to the spirit of our fathers who had helped to lay the foundations of the Empire overseas. Their spirit was one of enterprise and thusiasm in the highest sense. lhej believed in discharging their duty to their country in the right spirit of citizenship by working for it. They had their difficulties and dangers, too, for living in less advanced times they lacked many of the means to success and prosperity which are now our portion. It was toil and holiest •determination whch forged the country ahead in those days, and the same dans of energy and application ' s needed today if we as a nation would triumph over the diflicnUies besetting the nation There was no shirking in the attitude Of our fathers. They came across the seas with the spirit of achievement urging them on to eon,|Uer. and they won through. There is the same call to-day to the nation, and believing in the common sense of the people, as Lord Jellicoe expressed it at the luncheon, that characteristic "ill again save the nation. Here on the Coast the King’s representative has had a most loyal welcome. Commonsense. regards the position in its true li.rht and realises that with unity and concord all things are possible. At Home there is a deplorahe condition of affairs, hut the aggression is mainly on one side. The vast mass of the people has not yet spoken. The leaders of the nation are striving to temporise and steer a middle course which will save the position if only tor a time. But if a crash should come the nation will have to rely on the spirit ol its fathers to retrieve the position, the miners have their ease and c-laim M nnd there are no doubt genuine demands behind it, hut the claims of uo class or section of the community can override national rights, and if in the end these should he finally jeopardised. The outcome would he a desperate but « necessary remedy. The statesmen of Rritain have tbe matter in hand. Confidence must be placed in them, and the nation must accept their actions and decisions. The occasion calls for the upholding of law and order, and the display of that broad spirit of tolerance and ultimate achievement in the face of all odds which marked the times of our fathers. Those traditions are a great heritage, for they are the pride of our race, and the mainspring of national action. It is nec-essnry to live up to the past through which we have achieved so much, and by that moans carry on the life of the country in that proud eminence made possible only by the spirit of our fathers. Tn emphasising the right duty of citizenship, the Governor-General addressed the present and rising generations, both of which as parents and heirs to the national heritage haveji duty to keep it untarnished and secure lor all who come after and so emulate the true characteristic and spirit of the British race. >•