NOTE OF OPTIMISM.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 63, Issue 70, 2 January 1943, Page 2

NOTE OF OPTIMISM.

GOVERNOR’S MESSAGE FOR 1943

PASSWORD IS “ATTACK.”

CHRISTCHURCH, December 31.

“We can say to-day, without fear oi error, that wo can see the first light of dawn in the sky. But let no one bo so foolish as to think that because, thank Gfod, wo have turned the corner, our difficulties are at an end. The road ahead is rough and treacherous, and if we are to reach our goal we must, one and .all, resolve to intensify our endeavours for the common cause.”

The Governor-General (Sir Cyril Newall), -who is now in the South Island, sounded a distinctly optimistic note in his broadcast address to the people of New Zealand this evening. .

A Difficult Year. The year just ended, said Sir Cyril Newall, had been hard and anxious, a year of much sorrow and grave disappointments, fateful for New Zealand, and, in fact, for all mankind. It had been a testing time, he declared, which had revealed our weakness as well as our strength. “But it iujs been a year of great achievements, too,'” his Excellency added.

“When I spoke to you last New Year’s Eve I said that the skies were very black indeed, and they were blacker than we realised. In the first months of 1942 they grew more stormy still. Many of us felt that if we could hold on, if wo could "weather the storm until the dawn of 1943 the vast resources of the United Nations would turn the tide. And so it proved, for as the old year was drawing to its close the news from every front, —and that is to say from every corner of the globe—grew more and more encouraging. “Stalingrad did not fall. To-day our Russian allies are mo,ving steadily foxward. The Bth Army smashed through the enemy lines at El Alamein. It has now driven the remnants of the Afrilia Korps hundreds of miles toward Tunisia. The heartening news that the enemy were in full retreat was followed swiftly by good tidings of the Anglo-

American landings in North Africa. And, nearer home, in the Pacific, the Allied forces met with redoubtable success by land and sea and air. Everywhere the outlook was bi'ight, for the United Nations were at last on the offensive. Guard Against Weakness. “We must take fresh heart from the knowledge that the days of the defensive are dying with the old year,” he continued. “Tho password for 1943 is ‘attack.’ It is a weakness in the British character that, just as bad news will .always bring the best out of us, good news is apt to cause us to rest

upon our laurels. We must guard against this weakness. It has been found possible, in New Zealand, to relax the lighting, restrictions and firewatching duties. That is only because the immediate threat to our own shores has been diminished—not; because victory is in sight.’’ The soldierly qualities of loyalty, courage, endurance, and discipline, said the Governpr-General, would be no less essential after victory than they were now. “Indeed they will be more essential then,” he added, “for we shall not have the stimulus of physical danger tp spur us on. Loyalty to our faith, to our ideals, and to our leadei*s; courage to face facts at al! times, to stand up to spiritual as well as physical dangers; endurance to give us strength to triumph over our disappointments, and self-discipline without which liberty can only degenerate into licence—-these are the very virtues of the founders of New Zealand.”

To the children his Excellency gave this special message: “You have a mighty task ahead of you, for you will have to win the peace when we have won the war. If you are to succeed, and we are determined that you shall, you must build upon something more sound than material ambitions. The Christian way of living must be your goal, and the basis of Christianity is family life and the home. Honour your fathers and your mothers, help your neighbours, serve your country and your King.”

Greeting to Servicemen. “To everyone in New Zealand I wish all the happiness that is possible in the coming year,” he said. “May those who have been bereaved find comfort in the' near approach to the victory for which their loved ones have given their all, and in our resolve that that victory will be turned to good account for the future of mankind.” Finally,-to all New Zealanders, who wore fighting overseas, tho GovernorGeneral said: “To you all I send my greetings. I know I am saying what is in the heart of every man, woman, and child in the Dominion when I say “thank you flor all you have .done and are doing for us.” ”