The Times. PUBLISHED ON TUESDAY AND FRIDAY AFTERNOONS. "We nothing extenuate, nor set down aught in malice." FRIDAY, JULY 13, 1917 THE PRIME MINISTER'S VISIT.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 6, Issue 292, 13 July 1917, Page 2

The Times. PUBLISHED ON TUESDAY AND FRIDAY AFTERNOONS. "We nothing extenuate, nor set down aught in malice." FRIDAY, JULY 13, 1917 THE PRIME MINISTER'S VISIT.

This is an age of new ideas, of rapid changes and of swift alterations of popular sentiments, but when all is said and done there is still a mellowing —we had almost said a hallowing—atmosphere about old associations that more recent ties, however close and binding, can never supply. Mr Massey's close association with Franklin has now lasted almost a quarter of a century —a long period indeed when we consider how mutable and changeable political associations usually are — and there is little doubt that the glow of cheerful contentedness that shone in his face while be addressed the crowd in front of the Pukekoho I'ost Office nn Monday aiternoon was a true reflection of the glow in his heart at finding himself once again among old and tried friends "at home" in the best and truest sense. It was an experience few men have the good fortune tocncountei —that few are worthy ol encountering. It is not often that after a quarter of a century of politic?, it is given to a man to look around him and see the laces ol (hose who recognised his merit when an untried candidate and have unfalteringly supported him ever since, and t<> be able to feel that for his own pari he has I never failed them. And that he should he able to «<<> 1 < ><>k around t with so staunch a colleague at

his side as Sir James Allen j shoulder to shoulder still as through the whole of their career, must, we should imagine, constitute a record. And, on the whole, the message he had to deliver was a cheerful one. Seven months spent at the very heart of the Empire and among the men who are the driving force of this great adventure of ours have taught him much that must remain to us a sealed book until the war is over. He cannot as yet completely lift the veil and let us see, but the peeps behind it he was enabled to give us were all of cheer and good omen. The sun of victory has not yet arisen for us, but the day-spring is already tinging the distant peaks, and if we remain but true to ourselves the dawning light will shine more and more unto the perfect day.

But we must not relax but rather re-double our efforts. Our past achievements should spur us to do still greater things. To count the cost too penuriously now may spell for us defeat instead of victory. To listen to the fatal counsels of the man who tells us we must not use to the full our man power to beat the enemy less the future productivity of the country be lessened may be to bring down in ruins the Empire which alone stands between civilisation and the hateful dominance of the unspeakable Hun. It was not the love of material prosperity but the pride of race and the pure spirit of patriotism that made the Spartan race an object lesson still pointed out to the world after the lapse of over twenty centuries. Tonchstone's "'Tis a poor thing, your Worship, but 'tis my oii'ii" still animates every man worthy of being called a man, and what will it avail us that our fields bloom and our herds and flocks increase and multiply if they are no longer our own. We do not know as yet whether the day of victory is far off or near. Prophecies are plentiful and cheap, and as unreliable as most cheap goods. One thing alone stands out clear and that is that the measure of its distance is precisely the measure of the effort we put into the struggle. To our own right arms and nothing else cau we trust, for the war must be won in the sodden fields of Flanders where every drop of British blood calls out to us for men to continue the work we have set our hands to, and which we cannot look back from without falling into the lowest depths of dishonour, degredation and despair.

To our Prime Minister and to our Defence Minister we believe we may confidently trust to see that New Zealand remains true to herself and to the Empire to the end, be the end far or near. There will not be wanting those who seek to jostle them out of the one and only path to victory, but we can rely upon them to keep their faces steadfastly towards the light. "Let us learn to think Imperially" said the late Joseph Chamberlain. We think Mr Masseyand Sir James Allen have learned to.