The Guardian (And Evening Star, with which is incorporated the West Coast Times.) TUESDAY, SEPT. 25th. 1923. A BIRTHDAY.

Hokitika Guardian, 25 September 1923, Page 2

The Guardian (And Evening Star, with which is incorporated the West Coast Times.) TUESDAY, SEPT. 25th. 1923. A BIRTHDAY.

Yestkhday was Dominion Day—the national day of Now Zealand. The occasion was not marked as it might have been, or as it should have been. These are times when the cultivation of a true citizen spirit is well worth while. There is at present a tendency towards the flouting of authority, even

towards disloyalty, and that is not a good disposition to encourage, when tlie greatest good for the ■ greatest number is to be derived only from unity within the family circle. There should be a pride and a pleasure in the fortunes of our country, which has not been inappropriately called by way of comparison, “God’s own country.” Xew Zealand, remote though it is in the Antipodes, enjoys a position which for long lias made her a country to ho envied. There is nothing to he ashamed of in regard to the Dominion. It lias a line traditional record, a history which has given it fame and renown abroad. There need be no false pride in regard to onr home country, and so oil its annual bin Inlay as a Dominion, one of the brightest spots of the realm owing allegiance to the Motherland, it would not have been unfitting to regard the day with a national celebration or ceremonial which would have brought home to the people, ami particularly to the rising generation, the true import of the occasion, and the need there is for all to develop a high sense of loyalty to the country which shelters them, and gives them a sense of national seeuiity and prosperity, which compared to the vast tract, of country in Europe alone, is as heaven is to hades. AYe have much to he thankful for here, enjoying peace and tranquility, undistiiihed by the grasping rivalry of neighbors nursing ageohl vendettas, or in a condition of financial chaos, so perplexing that the situation borders on national disaster, involving the ultimate fate of the country itself, l.ast week in Christchurch, the Acting Minister of Finance (Hon. AAL Downlo Stewart) told the Canterbury Industrial Association of the buoyancy of New Zealand finance. For the past five months of the financial year the net increase in revenue was £B-18,57-1, compared with the like period the previous year. The advantage, too, over the same term, in the matter of expenditure was a net gain of £363,188. A gain in the finance of substantially over a million was a good record to put up nl this time, and the report is a pleasing statement to make for a, birthday celebration. Regarding the finances of the country the result must be considered on the whole as satisfactory, for the position pleasingly indicated that the revenue was increasing, while the policy of economy was still evidenced by the expenditure figures. “I still think there is need for the utmost caution in connection with expenditure,” added Air Stewart. New Zealand was one of the few countries in the woild that was able to balance its budget and square the yard-arms of finance and he was pleased to he able to say that he was told by people ill the back country that they were now hiking forward with the utmost confidence to the future. This is a cheering statement, and it is for the people within our borders to be loyal in their service, and keen in their desire to see me country not only maintain its very proud position, hut even to emulate it. The besetting trouble in this countyy is the labor disagreements. There is one of these difficulties presenting itself just now. These problems would be less acute if the chief actors thought nationally rather than individually. Here in New Zealand where there are no class, differences, where all ranks and sexes speak with equal electoral rights, there is a more sane wav of settling difficulties than by strikes and lock-outs. The people as a whole if they had national aspirations in keeping with the possibilities of the Dominion, would have a self-centred pride in all that pertained to the liettorment of tlie country, and in a national way would strive always to make the name of New Zealand greater and more respected still. Such a resolve would bo a fitting Dominion Dav resolution.