Wairarapa Times-Age MONDAY, JULY 28, 1941. A COMING OPPORTUNITY.

Wairarapa Times-Age, 28 July 1941, Page 4

Wairarapa Times-Age MONDAY, JULY 28, 1941. A COMING OPPORTUNITY.

ADDRESSING the pupils of Wellington College the other clay, the Governor-General (Sir Cyril Newall) spoke words of wise counsel which should be passed on to young folks in every school in New Zealand. In brief, Sir Cyril Newall enjoined his youthful Hearers to prepare themselves to be ready to deal with the heavy responsibility and glorious opportunity that would be theirs, when the war was over and victory had been won, of helping to build a. better world.

Those of us who retain personal memories of the period of the last war and its aftermath cannot but be alive to the danger that once again the war may be won and the peace lost. Each will be bound, too, to admit, in. his or her degree, a personal share in whatever failure and shortcoming is implied in the straghtforward confession made by the Governor-General when, in speaking of the opportunity that will face the youth oi the present generation, he said

I myself belong to a generation which was given a similar opportunity and failed. We are determined that you shall succeed.

Stern realities were pictured fairly by Sir Cyril Newall when he enjoined the boys he was addressing to : —

Remember always that even the horrors of these days will not suffice to rid the world of greed and lust for power; that it will take more than a second defeat to persuade Germany that might is not right. She must learn this by being given her chance to realise the advantages of a peaceful life, but while she is learning (and the lesson will be a long one) we must never relax our vigilance. We must see to it that she is never in a position to force her wishes on her neighbours by intimidation or treachery. Hitler has corrupted the whole youth of Germany, and as they grow up they will strive to get their own back. They must never be allowed the smallest hope of succeeding in doing this.

These are facts worthy of most earnest thought even, in the midst of a war that has yet to be won.

The policing of the world of tomorrow is not the only duty that will devolve upon the free nations when Hitler and his fellow-criminals have been overthrown, but it is a duty that will make imperative and inexorable demands on all who are intent upon a true and worthy elevation of the standards of human life and relationship. The indefinitely continuing task involved is one in which even the- humblest country and individual may play their part, and indeed must play that part for good or ill.

To an extent a country like New Zealand is and must, continue to be at. the mercy of world events. An indispensable condition of peace and security when the war has been won will be the establishment of an association of nations —whether it is to be called the League of Nations or something else is a matter of detail —organised to deal effectively and in short order with any epileptic detrimental like Hitler who may arise in future and with those who are prepared to follow him in a carnival of bestiality and international crime. In this vital matter New Zealand can play only a minor part, though, as a community, we should none the less on that account play our part with vigour and conviction. There are other branches of effort, however, in which the New Zealand of tomorrow, making worthy use of its opportunities, may take its stand with the leaders of mankind.

. The final triumph of influences for good in human affairs is to be won, not only in resisting evil, but in superior and overshadowing achievement. As Sir Cyril Newall justly observed: “It is our greatest strength in this war that our cause is just, but this must not blind us to the fact that we have our own failings.” In endeavouring honestly and persistently to remedy and amend the sufficiently glaring* faults and shortcomings of our own democracy and of our individual lives, we shall have the opportunity, and above all the oncoming youth of our country will have the opportunity, of contributing in no unimportant degree to the highest achevements of which humanity is capable.