A NOTABLE ADDRESS.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXVI, Issue 33, 13 June 1913, Page 2

A NOTABLE ADDRESS.

CHIEF KENNEDY AT THE SCOTTISH GATHERING.

The following interesting speech was delivered by' the. Chief of the Taranaki Provincial Scottish Society (Mr W. E. Kennedy) at the second annual gathering in the Town Hall last night! Ladies and gentlemen,—Brother Scots, —I desire to take this opportunity on behalf of the Taranaki Provincial Scottish Society, at this, their 2nd annual gathering, of , tending to you a very and hearty wel.come. Especially do I wish to assure our friends from South of the Border, who have graced our gathering with their presence, how their patronage is esteemed, and to-night we'would join with them in saluting the flag of Old England (applause) ; and to our friends of the Sister Isle of Erin we offer a “cead mile-failthe,” as we do honor to the green flag of the Emerald Isle, and which, with our own glorious “Lion Rampant” conjoined, (applause) we have the conquering time flag of the British Empire that makes us brothers all. When I look around at the faces of this large audience, composed in the main of those whose ancestors bled with Wallace and followed the all-conquering Bruce, I feel indeed proud to think that Scottish loyalty and Scottish patriotism is not dead in this part of His Majesty’s Dominion. (Applause.) I seems a strange anomaly, however, that a people so loyal to the ancient Kingdom of Scotland can yet be so intensely loyal to Britain and the British Empire. Yet so it is. The Hon. J. Balfour said a few months ago, before a large gathering on St. Andrew’s night, in London “That Scotsmen had beyond all the world set an example how to reconcile, naturally and completely, and without effort, two things; two things which did not, at first sight, seem easily reconciled, viz., that ardent patriotism for a part, which yet only reinforced! and strengthened the larger patriotism of the whole. It is our duty to be thoroughly patriotic to the land we live in; we can be so, because whilst ever loyal to Scotland and her traditions we can, and are, helping to build up ami maintain that glorious heritage of us all—the British Empire. A little over twelve months ago in fear and trembling, our infant society was launched for the benefit of the scattered Scots of Taranaki. At that time many pessimistic remarks were indulged in as to the ultimate success of the Society, hut we are pleased to think that it has grown, and that its ramifications have extended to branches in Toko, Hawera, Manaia. and Ijnglewood, and very soon we hope to have a branch in New Plymouth : and by your presence and sympathy here to-night, we are persuaded that it is still a very live institution. We have this year made an endeavour to carry out some of the Society’s more im portant aims by offering prizes to the pupils attending the primary schools of Taranaki for the host essay on the “Life and Times of Sir William Wallace,” the great Scottish Liberator. The headmasters of nil the schools have been circularised to that effect, and it now lies with the parents to encourage their children in the study of Scottish historv, with a view of their

entering the competition. We, Scots, aro now in the limelight, and must expect to bo watched and criticised. A fair .criticism will do us good, an unjust one will recoil on our critics. An American, the other day, wrote of the Scot: “That he grabs all the dollars ho can, by any means he can, and holds them that tight that you can hear the eagle scream.” (Laughter and applause.) He tells us, “We have nothing to talk about, ‘but hills and heather; that we depend on England, who provides the brains, while Scotland provides the hewers of wood and drawers of water.” Has he ever been in Scotland that he thinks we have only “hills and heather?” Surely the highlands of Scotland was the “last ditch” of freedom and independence when all the South was under the Roman yoke. Was it not Scotland that gave a King and a Kingdom to England, not England to Scotland; and that to-day she is independently enjoying her own laws (though not now made in Scotland)? But if w© read the political barometer aright, it will not bo long until a Scottish Parliament is again sitting in Edinburgh. (Applause.) Sir Wilfrid Laurier, that great French-Canadian, said of the Scots: “They are the salt of the earth.” Coming from such a source, it was a graceful compliment, and the Scot is canny enough to try to live up to it. A steady diet of generations of porridge and Jiaggis, of shorter catechism and spartanic living, have evolved a type of Britisher with brawn and brain, force and enterprise, and if wo still in this new land desire to maintain tho proud position we hold, we must not overlook the history and the tradition of the past, and its lessons and examples. How is the spirit of a free people to bo animated and cheered, but out oi the storehouse of its historic recollections Are wo for ever to be ringing the changes upon Greece and Rome, and going back to read in obscure texts of Greek and Latin of the exemplars of patriotic virtue? Nay! We can find them nearer home in our own couutry on our own soil. Strains of the noblest sentiment that ever swelled in the breast of man are breathing to as, out of every page of our country’s history, in the homely eloquence of our mother tongue. We are willing to pay our tribute of applause to the great men of other countries, both past and present; we are willing to give the right to others to applaud and worship, their ,own country and their own heroes; for well do they deserve to “die the death” whose souls have not been fed to exclaim “This is my own, my .Native Land!” But to us as Scotsmen, pur. |interests, are to seek our practical lessons from tho exploits and sacrifices of our owp coun■'trymen, the characters of our,, own fathers, and the popms of ou,r •■, own bard. To our frjends, of other natinalities we are an enigma. They cannot understand the intense love and veneration the Scot has for everything that pertains to his native Land. With us it is a religion, a passion. This yearning for the home land, its nigged mountains, and heath-placl hjlls,, l: i,fs blue bells that “blossom pp,, th,e broomey knols,” his “aiu folk”. In that cold northlancl—all are tugging at his heart-strings—and lie feels as that great and distinguished Russian poet, Lemortor (himself of Scottish descent), felt when he penned the beautiful lines in his poem Zelanye (a wish): —

“Why am I not a raven of the steppe, That now al)ove me takes its easy flight ? Why, as a bird, may.l not heavenward soar 'And in ethereal freedom find delight ? Westward my rapid course I would direct, To scenes that draw me by ancestral ties— The misty hills, where still their mansion stands Deserted, and their dust forgotten lies. Upon the mouldering walls their ancient shield Is hanging, and their sword consumed by rust: There would I light and with my wing would fan From sword and shield the evergathering dust. The chords of Scotland’s harp I then would wake To mistic accents heard alone by me, The tones would echo through tfie empty vaults, Then cease, and all be left to vacancy.

But vain my dreams and unavailing prayers, * Opposed To Fate’s relentless stern decree ’Twixt me and my ancestral mountain home There lies a waste of intervening sea. The last descendant of a warlike race, ’Mid frozen snows my life and hopes decay : Here is my birthplace, but not here my heart: Oh that I, as a bird, might haste ' away!” (Applause.)

Ladies and gentlemen,—ln tlio programme that is about to be submitted to you, we have done our best to make it attractive. I hope you will find it acceptable. I hope you will ail thoroughly enjoy yourselves. (Loud and continued applause.)