TASK FOR YOUTH

Auckland Star, Volume LXXII, Issue 173, 24 July 1941, Page 12

TASK FOR YOUTH

WHEN WAR IS OVER

VIGILANCE ESSENTIAL

(P.A.) WELLINGTON, Wednesday

In a visit to Wellington College to-day, the Governor-General, Sir Cyril Newall, warned the students of tasks ahead. "The main responsibility for rebuilding after the war will be yours/' said Sir Cyril. "It will be a very heavy responsibility, but it will also be a glorious opportunity. I know all of you are anxious to make the most of that opportiuu ity. I belong to a generation which was given a similar opportunity and failed. We are determined that you shall succeed.

"The first pitfall you will meet with, and one of the most dangerous, is the sudden revulsion of popular feeling which will come when the war is over," his Excellency continued. "Peace will seem such a relief that you will be tempted to sit back and enjoy it. It will appear to you impossible that anyone will ever wish to go to war again. We thought that last time. Remember always that even the horrors of these days will not suffice to rid the world of greed and lust for power, and 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 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 she is never in a position to force her wishes on her neighbours by intimidation or treachery. Hitler 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.

Discouragement Danger

"Secondly, you must not allow yourselves to be discouraged by the magnitude of your task, which will tempt you to lose heart. You will hear others saying, and will find yourselves thinking: 'What can I do myself that is worth while, when there is so much to be done?' Arm yourselves against such thoughts as vou would against the devil himself. Remember always, it is the little drops of water that make the mighty ocean.

"Thirdly, you must guard against the habit of blaming your predecessors for all the difficulties with which vou will be faced. Such blame is as useless as it is easy. It is worse than useless; it is dangerous, for it leads at once to apathy. "Read history to find out what mistakes were made and why, but read it with eyes on the future, not the past. It is our greatest strength in this war that our cause is just, but this must not blind us to the fact that we also have failings."

It would be their task to remedy those failings which engendered hatred and called for forgiveness, said Sir Cyril. These failings had been bred by materialism out of complacency—two diseases from which democracy of its very nature was prone to suffer, and which must be stamped out.