THE PAROCHIAL SPIRIT

Press, Volume LXX, Issue 21246, 18 August 1934, Page 14

THE PAROCHIAL SPIRIT

t LORD BLEDISLOE GIVES | WARNING ! i f NATIONAL SOLIDARITY j NEEDED ! The danger which lay in the do- \ velopment cf too great a spirit of ; parochialism m New Zealand was • mentioned by the Governor-Gen-; eral. Lord Bledisioe, in an address; to the Christchurch Rotary Club at! a luncheon tendered to him by the club yesterday. His Excellency: said that if the spirit Rotary could be adopted throughout tnc country it would da away with tnu . jealousies which were apt to arise. J Lord Bledisioe said trial Rotary j seemed to him to reflect trie spirit; that was the great desideratum pi ; humanity to-aay—and that was the j spirit cf comradeship and service. if there was one danger for Great Britain and New Zealand, it was that both were islands, and were apt to regard the outside world with some degree of insularity. If one thing was apparent to-day it was the interdependence of the whole world. No part cf the wor*d could now sutler without prejudicing the fortunes of the other parts. This j was none the less true because most j of the nations of the world were :n- j directly for the time being in pur- j suit of a hectic display of economic} nationalism. One factor that was worth emphasising was that just as charity be-! gan at home, so must comradeship! begin at home if it was going to j carry conviction outside our bcur.-j daries. Nationalism at home must I be developed before cosmopolitan j ideals. He would like to see Rotary include Li its objectives a greater .sense of nationalism and patriotism among all parts cf the covntry, so that it there was any jealousy be- j tween saw trie North Island and the South Island. 0 r Auckland. Welling- J ton. and Christchurch. not to men- \ lion Dur.edm, that local patriotism! might be induced to give way to the : larger patriotism of national solid-j axity. It was no good telling the British housewife that she should get butter from Taranaki or lamb from Can- i terbury. She would call it New' Zealand, no matter what she was told to call it. She would regard! it as a New Zealand product, and not a product cf any part of the Dominion. He mentioned this because there was a tendency to insist too much en districts, and he could imagine nothing more disastrous for the Dominion than *.~e, development cf se caratism rather I , ! I | j I j ; j i I