The Press MONDAY, DECEMBER 24, 1934. A Christmas Message

Press, Volume LXX, Issue 21355, 24 December 1934, Page 12

The Press MONDAY, DECEMBER 24, 1934. A Christmas Message

Thanks to the weather, to the price of wool, to the Unemployment Board, to various charitable organisations, and even to the Government, we can this year wish our readers a merry Christmas with some certainty that they will have no material excuse for being anything but happy. Not, of course, that bad weather or economic adversity has ever been a serious obstacle to the enjoyment of Christmas in I New Zealand or in any other part of Christendom. Because there are I citizens who remember that Christj mas is a Christian festival and that charity is the greatest of the Christian virtues, there are few New Zealand children who will look back on the Christmases of the last few years as " depression " Christmases. As for the weather, there is very ! little to it either way. Though fine weather may be on the balance '.slightly preferable, a cold spell is I some help in dealing with a Christ- ! jna.s dinner that refuses obstinately lo conform to lhe thermometer. The occasion is one of thanksgiving; and while there can be no harm in counting the weather and the state of our bank balances among our blessings, they must come a long way down on the list. Besides being a season of thanksgiving, it is a season of good will. " Peace on earth " and good will towards men " is the phrase which, in English-speaking countries, is most closely associated with Christmas; and this year it is peculiarly opportune. It is perhaps unfortunate that, in the Authorised Version, the translation departs a little from the original meaning. The rendering in the "Vulgate—"On earth peace to men of good " will"—is much nearer the meaning and more significant. The simple truth that good will is the price of peace ought to be obvious to everyone and yet in the last few years has not been obvious. Since the war the underlying motive of the international system has been fear—fear of war, fear of poverty, fear of those who live across the frontier. And though the result has been poverty, political unrest, trade strangulation, and the decline of freedom, the gospel of fear seems now to have more apologists than ever. The world is now being told, by statesmen who seek to excuse a policy they must know in their hearts to be futile, that larger armies and larger navies will bring security and peace. The answer is the answer that was given a thousand years ago. Peace is for men of good will. It is not for men who seek to overawe or terrify their neighbours; it is for men who trust their neighbours and wish them well. There are, of course, more men of good will than appearances suggest. The trouble is that governments, particularly governments in conference, are always less moral than individuals and always more concerned about national pride and ambition than the citizens they represent. One of the really hopeful signs of the last few months has been the tendency of public opinion in many countries to force governments to realise that there is far more distrust among the politicians of the world than among the peoples of the world. The message of Christmas, this year more than ever, is no mere vague and sentimental exhortation. It is a finger pointing men to the only path that leads to peace.