A HAPPIER BRITAIN.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 5, Issue 221, 27 October 1916, Page 1 (Supplement)

A HAPPIER BRITAIN.

RADICAL CHANGE IN OUTLOOK. DEATH-KNELL 10 OLD IDEAL*. STIRRING APPEAL BY MR W M HIGHER. \i u- ™ ,r . LONDON. «f a * Y , Ht, g hes > i*rimo Minisf* o/ Australia has contributed a series of threo articles to the Sunday Herald ni winch he utters a stirring appeal to ail classes to combine in making a new and happier Britain after tho war. Ih 0 first article includes i vivid comparison of Britain hn peace time ani Britain in war time. Mr. Hughes says he sees the sunlit peaks of a new Engand whore pelf and profit count for tar less than half-starved e<-„dren •It is the verdict of the world,'' ho says, "that the British people have nlen nobly : n tho supreme hour of their trial. Ihev have done wonders, though they might have done more. The war has not added anything to the British character, but there has been a radical change in the outlook upon life 'llie Bnton sees every thng in a clearer and softer lignt. He is at once humbled, exalted, contrite, a „ d proud If he is ashamed of his former narrow news and neglect of duty to his neighbours and ms country, ,f he pales * lie looks down into the pit wheh so nearly engulfed him, the Briton is a!*., uplifted and filled with rapture as be contemplates the soul of \vs coinHrv now clearly v:sible. "Some Britons have no vsion, • ~♦. still wear the bunkers of self-interest these dread the change, /'hese .seek ws of pelf, creatures of routine, ho ( x> that whan the madness of war ha? died down «II wdl be as it was, and hope that Britain will grasp the ].;.lm of her would-be murderer again, an! bo a willnig host for the parasite. "They will welcome the German trader and greedily absorb the products of the murderers. ;i nd nouiish again tho cancer which was catm ' the very vitals of the Empire. Th.se people want to return to that nu rvv England where all went very well before tho war.

Hie old days must never <•< me bae>jrhen millions of frceborn Britons live! God knows how; men half-slaved, clad in filthy rags with their bodies stunted ■■Mid thcii souls attuned to tie: slums <i Hnif-h they existed. "The death-knell has bee i rung on that England which mumbled 'LorJ, Lord , but abased it*>lf unashamed be' tore the golden calf which made wealth, and not worth, tho standard wherebv men wire measured. "For nearly a century Britain had what men called peace, broken onlv by distant rumblings of war which hardly reached the ears of the gre.u mass or tho people fighting desperately tor the means to live. Now for twj "years we have had war, and despite the frightful horrors, it has brought to all save .-. negligible few, a great exaltation <t soul and pta.ee of mind. "A people that was divided among themselves has become united; an .Empire that seemed little more than .«, name has become a great, living reality. The people of Britain are like me i with vision dwarfed and stunted by long dwelling in a thick fog, upon whom bursts a great hurricane, sweeping away the nuasmie vapours and reUivling tiie glorious majesty of their common heritage, the- r glory and their means of .salvation. "The Avar has reve.ifed his country to the Briton. He sees that he has duties to other men and to the State, whereas formerly he devoted himself to selfaggrandisement. Duty now b. ckons the Oriton to self-sacrifice. Such a change 's a miracle. It is duo to the ennobling influence of a great idea. "'Endurance, suffering, r.nd death are not new thngs. Doubtless there was more real misery and privation before the war, but the sod spectacle attested few and ennobled fewer. Xo<v Hi. 1 !! are suffering and dying in a noble lausv. They die lor their country, tor others, for us. "Tins supreme lesson of the war, if iiid hold of and applied, will regencrat.' not only Britan, hut tho civilised ivorld. In its purifying and ennobling effect and great ideals no the hope ot mankind. Patriotism is the great ideal. The war invoked patriotism; pca.e j;vd not lay it to rest. "Tho nation lor whom millions of . rave men have offered their lives must .■•onset-rate itself to the. gi<'.;t work of unking itself worthy of them. We ow> •t to them end to ourselves that thev do not make the sacrifice in vain. "Tiii< applies not only to that Isntai:i iv.'thin the narrow s*eas, but to the ;;r< at. r !irita : n across the oceans. Let us resolve to make the Emp ; ro worthy ii! Lite era; - "ace wnerebv its exNt- < lee v, as preserved." The next rrticlc will bo entitled " \s •he Anzacs -i ■.. I's."