THE ETHICS OF HONOUR.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 167, 21 December 1914, Page 2

THE ETHICS OF HONOUR.

PRACTICALLY APPLIED. ADDRESS I>Y TTIK MAYOR TO THE JlKill SCHOOL HOYS. A most appropriate and interesting address to the High School boys was given by ilia Worship the Mayor, (Mr J. E. Wilson)) ft the prize distribution eere- ] mouy on Thursday evening, the subject i being "Honor." I"1 want," said the Mayor, ''to talk a little .to you boys. I have thought a good deal on the choice of a subject for to-night, and 1 do not think I can take a better subject than Honor. Quito a modest word in itself, but it expresses the most important factor in the lives of men and the history of nations. Tt is intangible; we cannot not take it and subject it to microscopical examination. It is a sentiment only, but a sentiment bo powerful that it prevails over every other human attribute. There was a time when people were especially touchy about what they called their honor. If one said to a man that the turn of his nose or the parting of his hair or some other ridiculous thing was objectionable, then that man s honor was impugned and nothing could satisfy the demands of honor but that he might have an opportunity of killing or maiming the other in a duel. In these, days of liberty of spcesh we look at things more .sensibly and honor lias, if 1 may put it so,, a more honorable status in our lives. What is it that compels us, in spite of temptation, to avoid evil, to deal fairly with others, in short, to ; "play the game." Not always the fear of detection and consequent punishment, • for t)iere are many times when the risk of detection is so slight as to be an almost ; impossibility; not that, but simply the ' sentiment —honor. I have chosen to ; speak upon this subject because I look ' upon it as the basis of all our lives. So , soon as we pass out of tin? stage of : younger childhood and come to a sense i of right and wrong, this sense of honor , takes a place in our lives, and it depends upon how that sentiment is fostered whether we may become capable of the highest influences that mankind can | command, or sink to the level of the ' | men who lived only in and for tliom- ' selves without regard to their obligations to their fellow beings. You boys ' have already realised in your school life the strength and the power of honor; you know that whatever may be the ■ mental or the physical ability of a boy, unless lie is honorable in the fut- ] » lest sense, his success is a failure. He ; may be the most brilliant scholar or the 1 most wonderful athlete, but unless he ■ | can pass the test of honor, and his fel- -: lows think of him as one. who "plays I the game," without reservation, lie will f still miss the fruits of victory. And 1 so as we pass from boyhood to man- ■, and take our places in the world, there ■ is no phase of our lives in which the im- [ pulse of honor is not felt, and the more • wo foster it, the greater is our hope , of happiness in this life. You will fnul , as we. go through life how true is my . contention that honor must be the basis 3 of our lives. Especially is this so in our business lives. You will find that r the man who holds the fullest confi- ! deuce of his follow men is not the man | who is able to make the most money if he makes it by questionable means, ] but the man who carries oil his business honorably, without seeking to take un- ™ fair advantages, and who would rather let profit and wealth pass him by than | break his code of honor. How great a ® part honor plays in the business of life is very forcibly shown in the speech c made by Mr Lloyd George, the Clian- ' cellor of the Exchequer in London, in \ September last, upon the war. liefer- ' ring to the German chancellor's stateniont that a treaty was only "a scrap of paper," he. says: 'I 'have been dealing 3 with scraps of paper for the last month, i We discovered that the machinery of ' commerce was moved by bills of ox--1 change. I have seen some of them, ; crinkled, wretched, scrawled over, blotch- ; oil, frowsy, yet those wretched little ' scraps of paper move great ships laden 1 with thousands of tons of precious cargo t from one end of the world (o the other, t What is the motive power behind them? 1 The honor of commercial men.' That is 3 an illustration of what honor means in 1 business life. 1 need not toll you what honor moans in our national life. You know that men who have been educated within the same school walls as yourselves, who have played on the same fields as you have to-day, are now far away fighting for our national honor, because England could not honorably look oil and disregard her treaty obligation. ■Vow I think T have said enough to show you why I think that honor holds the highest place in our personal lives and our business and our national lives, and I hope you will find what 1 ha' e sniil of use to you" The address was listened to with groat interest and attention, being frequently punctuated by applause,