A REVIEW

Press, Volume LXXII, Issue 21975, 26 December 1936, Page 5

A REVIEW

TO TH* EDITOR OF THE PHESS cjr The season of year lends itself to «ke™n. The years each one runs its course the preced ing days stand cut m cl u ear °^‘ 1 " e n The first Christmas was heralded m with songs of peace on the earth an goodwill among j to the dates of kings decreed death to tne children I can call to mind quite a number of Christmas celebrations which have appeared to me o an incongruous nature, when death and destruction have been P ur ® u h ed Christcalled Christian nations The Christ mas message and the poUcy of nations have been in direct conflict and con tr To-day 1 Spain is engaged in a titanic struggle for the ascendancy of economic ideas— communism and asc In the process, men, women, and chii dren are being cruelly butchered m the most fiendish manner. War should be considered in the light of one s own death rather than m terms cf the death of strangers. The mostdestr active agent at the command of nations now is war. There can be no advanced policy of a progressive acter adopted by any nation in the best interests of the inhabitants but that can be overthrown or destroyed by the fact of war. A German min V^: r definitely prefers the making of bullets to the manufacture of butter. The Italian dictator seems to regard peace as an interval for the preparation of a still greater death struggle for empire. War can settle nothi,ng. but can destroy much, and the Eu.o nean stage is being set for a human holocaust. The atmosphere is being consciously or unconsciously created for an appeal to force on a vast scale. But I must not wander too far .n this direction. This is a children’s festival and I am interested in them and in their well being. I think that 1 can understand something of the wonder that fills the mind of little children when, with their parents. I see them looking in at the windows and tne stalls in Christchurch on which are displayed toys and presents suitable for their enjoyment. I. too. wonder if these children, attended to by fond and devoted parents, will be wanted by the State to become cannon-fodder on some distant battlefield, or will be made to writhe in death by gas fumes released by the Viand of friend or foe. I have been a pacifist since before the Boer War. nearly 40 years ago, when some Boers came to a village in the North of England to state a case for Paul Kruger. I listened to their message and was deeply impressed, and am sorry to say that these South African emissaries of peace were rudely and roughly handled by men who knew better, but were impelled by the instincts of horned cattle. There is a fundamental basis to the Christmas message. Behind it stands Jesus Christ, tne revealer of God. He points the way to peace among men and nations by men of goodwill. All methods of force and violence., in men and nations, stand condemned by the personality of Jesus Christ. —Yours, etc., MOSES AYRTON. Tai Tapu, December 23, 1936.