“A Constructive Unit In a New World ”

Manawatu Times, Volume 64, Issue 308, 30 December 1939, Page 8

“A Constructive Unit In a New World ”

OXFORD GROUP PIONEERS NEW NATION CAMP On the picturesque racecourse at Bulls a camp has been established which is in the nature of a unique experiment being made by members of the Oxford Group. Styled the “New Nation Camp ” it is serving to demonstrate that a number of people working and living together, each taking responsibility and direction from God, is the pattern for the kind of democracy which must be the only adequate remedy and answer to dictatorships. For the camp it is claimed that “it begins a new enlistment of people willing to pioneer again in the life of this country, that the next 100 years may usher .in a new nation, strong and free, a constructive unit in a new world.” And bo there have gathered at Bulls from all parts of the Dominion—from as far north as Auckland and as far south as Dunedin —people representative of many occupations, teachers, agricultural instructors, carpenters, rarmers, a dietitian, a minister, a bride and bridegroom, their best man and bridesmaid, housewives and children, anxious to share in this great experience. {Starting from smaii beginnings with about a dozen under canvas on Saturday last, the family had grown to something over fifty by Thursday, when the campers were “at home” to visitors. The youngest member of the party is four months and the oldest a grandmother, included among the sixteen children being two seis of twins. The day starts with family “quiet times” about 5 a.m. when guidance is songht from God for individual responsibility. After physical exercises those who desire to do so meet again for further guidance and announce their various jobs, revealing comx>iete plans for the day in running the camp, without any overlapping.

The racecourse buildings x ,rov i^ e ample facilities for cooking and serving meals, for recreation, reading and music, a piano having been lent lor the occasion, and there is even a sick .fum available where minor casualties have received attention, and a play room for the children. Twenty minutes away across the fields is the Rangitikei River where the more energetic find pleasure in swimming, and away in the distance are the misty blue Ruahines and Tararuas.

“We are learning in this camp,” said one member to this writer, “that it is not enough if we want to build a new nation, to know one’s own job and do it well. Millions of people have been doing that for years. We have also to make sure that the folk we are in contact with see their job and do it well. ’ ’ Certainly there was evidence in this happy community of a quality of life that is greatly to be desired. As the days go by more and more will arrive to bear witness, and who knows what 1940 holds for the cause of Moral Rearmament?