The Bay of Plenty Times THURSDAY, JULY 31, 1947. IRRESPONSIBLE STUDENTS

Bay of Plenty Times, Volume LXXV, Issue 14430, 31 July 1947, Page 2

The Bay of Plenty Times THURSDAY, JULY 31, 1947. IRRESPONSIBLE STUDENTS

Although it amazed the Netherlands Minister to the Dominion, Dr. van Troostenburg de Bruyn, the watersiders' announcement of their intention of maintaining the ban-on Dutch shipping .(which'was imposed in 1945 when British troops engaged m rounding up the Japanese iii Java were drawn into lighting with the. Inabuesid-hs} it did not surprise many other people m New Zealand. What has surprised them however, is the fact that students of Victoria College, Wellington, have also rushed into the fray without consulting anybody. Apparently on the impulse of the moment, without any knowledge of the rights or wrongs of the case, students on both sides of the Tasman have taken independent action to express their sympathy with the Indonesians and their disapproval of the Dutch policy of using troops against them. A demonstration by Sydney students outside the Netherlands Consulate resulted in the arrest of thirteen of them, and this unexpected secpiel brought a protest from Victoria College students in Wellington. The latter however have gone a step further and have despatched a message to the Indonesian Foreign Minister expressing their active sympathy. _ ' ' The wording of this message has a familiar ring. "New Zealand students express solidarity " it began. The last word quoted occurs much in Communist propaganda. It was either ill-chosen, or it was deliberately chosen to show exactly where the young people who drafted it'stood politically. If it was deliberate it provides further proof, if proof is heeded, of the extent to which the disruptive Communistic doctrine is creeping into our educational system and establishments. Whether or not the message from the New Zealand students shows Communistic leanings in sympathy with that section of the Indonesian people who have similar views, it is a presumption on the part of any one section of the community—watersiders or students—to take independent, and often irresponsible action on a question of international importance with which it is the concern of the country as a whole to deal. It is a further example of the characteristic lawlessness and lack of the sense of responsibility which is creeping more and more into the daily life of the country, particularly among our young people. .