TIME OF TESTING

Wairarapa Times-Age, 23 December 1939, Page 4

TIME OF TESTING

CHALLENGE TO ALL THAT WE HOLD DEAR MR HAMILTON’S CHRISTMAS MESSAGE. SACRIFICES WORTH WHILE. (By Telegraph—Press Association.) WELLINGTON, This Day. “This is not a moment for dismay or despair, though Christmas—our happiest and brightest Festival of the year —is overshadowed by the armed conflict of nations and we ourselves are at war,” says the Leader of the Opposition, Mr Hamilton, in a Christmas message to the people. “I know that men and women, throughout New Zealand will celebrate this Christmas with an underlying seriousness and earnestness because of the world situation, but this is a moment, testing and anxious though it undoubtedly is. for high courage and high purpose. "At our Centennial Christmas a test is being made of our country’s new nationhood. The challenge to all that we hold dear is bold and desperate. Christian principles, as well as rules of law, are at stake, and the forces of ruthless might are challenging the forces of right. If ever there were sacrifices being made to try and overthrow tyrants and bullies, if ever sacrifices were being made for the emancipation of the peace-loving peoples of the earth in all countries from terrors brought upon them by dictators with their necessary support of militarism, persecution and general oppression, they are being made today. And they are worth making.

TASK TAKEN UP. The task we have taken up will not be easy. It will be long. It will be terrible. But in the end we will come through terror to triumph. As has been urged by leaders at Home, we must use all our qualities—every quality that British people possess —prudence in council, daring in action, tenacity in purpose, courage amid setbacks, moderation in victory, in all things faith, and we shall win. “Christmas celebration, based on good will, in real Christian fellowship —in which giving is emphasised more than receiving—and in kindness and tolerance in thought and deed, should be for all a fingerpost pointing up the road to better understanding among both men and nations. "New Zealanders have a great tradition in both peace and war, and of that tradition I am sure my fellow New Zealanders are going to prove worthy in this hour of trial. People are just a a little apt to think, when considering the Centennial and its celebrations, that New Zealand had reached the peak of her achievement. That, is very far from being the case. There is still pioneering work being done, and much more to be started. There is still the same challenge to the bold and daring spirit, to the initiative and doggedness which was strongly developed in the character of men and women who built this country for 100 years.

OPPORTUNITY FOR YOUTH

“Boys and girls leaving school in this Centennial year should remember this, as they, too, do not need to adopt any outlook of dismay or despair. There is still opportunity everywhere, and sacrifices that are made in the spirit of true service to our country in peace or war are those which ennoble and enrich a nation. This celebration of the 100 years merely provides an opportunity to contemplate for a moment the ladder up which we have climbed. If is a ladder in which every step has been shaped, and is held in place to guide the feet of generations of new climbers by the service and sacrifice of those by whom they have been preceded. Reverence for the past, combined with faith in the future—that must be the basis for the thought of the youth of today. “Tales that the past has been all wrong and must be forgotten and despised as merely something that has led up a blind alley to a condition of chaos and tragedy are wholly malicious and misleading. We have a great heritage and our ancestors have played their part well in establishing the foundation of the civilisation we enjoy. That civilisation is worth defending and improving. To destroy it, or to allow its fundamental great ideals to be destroyed or belittled, would be to the eternal discredit of the youth of today. I know that they will not let us down. Problems arise with each new year, but they are equally resolutely engaged in battle by each suceeding wave of our manhood and womanhood. The youth of today I admire, and I believe that they will no tbe led away by false gods. “The greatest lasting contribution to the well-being of one’s fellow men is never achieved by avoiding difficulties or by following the easy path. That is not a platitude, it is a fundamental truth. If a thing is worth while it is worthy of the greatest effort and sacrifice. Hard work is wholly necessary and wholly good. This would be my message to youth: Set your purpose .high and. regardless of difficulties, 'work ceaselessly to achieve that purpose. “As I have said, our hundredth birthday Christmas finds us at war as a small but important section of the great British Empire. We are in the throes of a great struggle to preserve our heritage and principles of democracy against the ruthless and inhuman challenge of dictators.

REASON TO COUNT BLESSINGS. “I said last year that we in this country have reason to congratulate ourselves —reason to count our blessings. I also said that there is a crying need for the true spirit of Christmas to become the basis for the rela-* tionship between man and between nations all over the world. I repeat those statements with even greater emphasis this year. "We are fortunate in this country that the full tragedy of the conflict has not been brought to our back doors yet. On the other side of the world watchers are gazing into the skies for the vague outlines of bombers overhead-death from the skies; our own human molehills ready to daunt the horrors of mechanised warfare and frightfulness; heroic men at. sea are enduring the strain and hard-' ships so that their loved ones at home may have food to eat—all this is happening as we in New Zealand turn to celebrate Christmas with its lovely ideals and sentiments.

"I know that you will not forget to give thanks for our blessings at even this grave hour. And. when Christmas is in your hearts and minds, and is expressed by the joy and happiness of celebrations in' your home, think well of the real spirit of Christmas. This must remain forever an inspiration to our people. “In that spirit I am certain lies the ultimate hope for any nation and its people. Carry on into the New Year, with all its difficulties, and tragedies. Don’t be unnecessarily gloomy nor despair. Remember that we can look back with some measure of pride to the fact that our forefathers built worthily in this land, and we. and our children, will progress just as we have done in the past if our spirit is willing and our purpose high. That is the spirit of giving ’rather than receiving, of optimism rather than pessimism, of hope rather than despair. “In this country loyalty and cooperation have built a magnificent tradition. and these still must be our guiding lights.”