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Wairarapa Times-Age, 17 June 1938, Page 7

In a recent speech at Birmingham, the British Prime Minister struck one note on which both he and his hearers would more gladly dwell than on most of the other topics with which he had to deal, notes the “Spectator.” An ancient historian, said Mr Chamberlain, once wrote of the Greeks that they had made gentle the life of the world, and he added, in words whose sincerity none can doubt: “I do not know whether in these modern days it is possible for any nation to emulate the example of the Greeks, but I can imagine no nobler ambition for an English statesman than to win the SQme tribute for his own country.” Whatever the word be that is translated “gentle,” it is plainly a better thing intrinsically for a nation to cultivate qualities that enrich life and exalt it, and to find means so to manifest and commend them that they become part of the life not of one nation but the world, than to extend its sovereignty by adding colony to colony or to oust rivals increasingly from a share of the world’s markets. For a British statesman to aspire to be instrumental in effecting that is a high and just ambition.