Lord Cobham Advises Youth

Press, Volume C, Issue 29638, 7 October 1961, Page 13

Lord Cobham Advises Youth

(New Zealend Press Association)

WELLINGTON, Oct. 6. “Probably there is no more, find no less, original sin in the world than there was in the days ot Cain and Abel," said ‘.he Governor-General

1 Lord Cobham), addressing young people at Wellington tonight.

The occasion was a civic reception, in association with the Rotary Club of Wellington, honouring youth leaders in the city. More than 50 young people's groups and the 11 secondary schools in the area were represented. But factors such as mobility and money had brought the minority of evil-doers to the outraged notice of the whole community, he said. “The Victorian squire in his pleasant country house must have read with incredulity and horror the story of Fagin. Bill Sykes and the Artful Dodger. “Now the three of them come squealing round the corner on two wheels in a 1931 Buick; and the squire’s descendant, whose car they have missed by three inches.

seizes his pen and writes a furious letter to a newspaper to the effect that "modern youth is wholly composed of homicidal maniacs.”*

The whole long sad story of mankind was mainly concerned with his misuse or

misunderstanding of power—power in any form, said Lord Cobham. Too much political power led to tyranny. Too much financial power led to exploitation. Too much manpower led to unemployment. And too much horsepower led to accidents.

Power was not in itself an evil thing. It was misapplied power which was dangerous. The problem of turning youthful power to good use had exercised the best brains in the world for 3000 years and more.

“I have a feeling that certain civilisations, notably the Jewish and the Athenian, got a good deal nearer to the right solution than we have, with all our theories,” he said.

The difference between the ancient Greek civilisation and

ours was that the Greeks* philosophical waggon was equal to its scientific load. Ugliness in any shape or form was simply not permitted. “It might influence the young.” “Is it possible that from the splendid youth of New Zealand there may arise a band of young men and women who will dedicate themselves to the restoration of sanity, decency and wisdom to our society? What a grand crusade you could make of it* Lord Cobham urged his audience to take from the past all that they needed, and discard from the present all that was superfluous. They would be surprised to find out how much both amounted to.