WHEN PEACE COMES.

Auckland Star, Volume LXXI, Issue 90, 16 April 1940, Page 9

WHEN PEACE COMES.

BALANCED THINKING. NEED FOR PRESERVATION. The need for the preservation of balanced thinking when the present war is concluded was emphasised by Mr. Harold Thomas in an address to Auckland Rotarians. • "If this war goes through, as we must assume it will, to a military victory, it is going to be very difficult indeed* for each one of us to preserve anything approaching balanced thinking," he said. "The war of nerves is a very real thing. Wo are living already in times of anxiety, of nervous tension and mental strain. The memory of casualty lists of the last war is still all too fresh in our memories. A military victory means that those lists will come again. Some among us will give way to mass hysteria and mass hatreds. It will be difficult for any of us to keep our sanity, but it must be done by someone if our war effort and sacrifice are to be made worthwhile."

Mr. Thomas referred to the disbanding of Rotary in Germany, but pointed out that despite this men of goodwill were still there, ready, they must hope, to play their part in the re-establish-ment of international decency when the time came. And when that time came, the speaker said, his hope was that they might be able to claim with some pride that Rotarians, while playing their part in the achievement of victory, kept and helped others to keep the real objective ever before them— the objective of peace based on mutual understanding and mutual goodwill. Pooling of Resources. Mr. Thomas referred to the unity which had been achieved between the Governments of Britain and France in their war effort. They all welcomed such unity an<l pooling of resources as a war measure, and it was difficult to see any real reason to fear a further pooling for the equally important purpose of peace. It was not generally realised that the much criticised democracies had successfully avoided war with each other for more than 100 years. Among all the possibilities they heard discussed in relation to the present war, he had heard no suggestion of any democracy coming in against the Allies. This appeared to suggest that there was something very real as a stabilising factor in the sharing of a common ideal. Just as the democracies had demonstrated that fact, so had Rotary demonstrated it.

Rotary, he said, had shown that there was a tremendous reservoir of goodwill among men, and it was the job of each Rotarian to do everything possible in helping to preserve that store, and to see that it was there when the war had been won.