Governor’s Advice To Young People

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30443, 18 May 1964, Page 1

Governor’s Advice To Young People

“It,is right for the young not to take everything fpr granted that older people tell them; but sometimes, I believe, young people are apt to fall into conventional unconventionality,” the GovernorGeneral (Sir Bernard Fergusson) said in a young people’s interdenominational service in Christchurch Cathedral yesterday afternoon.

“We can’t do better than follow St. Paul’s text: .‘Whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things’,” the Governor-General said.

“This is the touchstone of every problem. I shall try to re-apply that touchstone to my own problems: and it will help me if I can think of the young people of Christchurch doing it at the same time. •“New Zealanders in general, and Christchurch people in particular, h?ve always prided themselves on seeking to embody the best traditions of society of a little over a century ago,” said Sir Bernard Fergusson. “The past is important, but the present and future matter more. We must examine our traditions to see how far they are good and how far they are encrusted with barnacles. “There are two main lines of advice which church people give us: ‘Go out. into the world’ and ‘Keep yourself unspotted from the world.’ I think it is wrong to come out of the world, even though I can respect the reasoning behind the idea. Several people from the Northern Hemisphere whom I have met in New Zealand have told me, quite shamelessly, they are here to get away from the threat of the atomic bomb. I can’t admire them, or respect their reasoning. “Don’t hold yourself aloof from the-world—‘get with it’, grasp it, direct it, find out about it, put it right. “The most worth-while teachings of our religion are not those which state Thou shalt not’. Our Lord revised that: He gave us the great ‘Thou shalts’—‘Thou shalt love the Lord thy God’, ‘and thy neighbour as thyself. “We all, each of us, know the person we want to be, and are thoroughly dissatisfied with the person we are,” said the Governor-General. "We are all in the same boat—we can’t paddle our own canoe. We are learning this slowly and painfully. Our forbears came together first as the family group, then progressively in villages, tribes, countries, as a great commonwealth, and finally—thank God—we are beginning to realise we are one world.” This sense of community, of belonging together, was basic, he said.

The Governor-General was accompanied by Lady Fergusson and their personal attendants. They were met at the door of the Cathedral by the Bishop (the Rt. Rev. A. K. Warren), the Dean (the Very Rev. W. A. Pyatt), and the verger (Mr L. C. Terrell).

The service was sponsored by the Christchurch regional youth committee of the National Council of Churches, and conducted by Bishop Warren. The lesson was read by Mr E. Dass, an Indian student from Malaysia, and the Rev. D. C. Salthouse, of the Papanul North Baptist Church, offered prayers. An interdenominational youth choir led the singing. The Cathedral was about two-thirds full. Among those present were the Mayor (Mr G. Manning) and Mrs Manning, and leaders of all the major Protestant churches. Earlier Events Yesterday morning Sir Bernard Fergusson and Lady Fergusson attended the Durham Street Methodist Church, and the Governor-General read one of the lessons. The preacher was the Rev. W. S. Dawson. Sir Bernard Fergusson and Lady Fergusson arrived at Wigram on Saturday morning from Wellington. They were accompanied by their son, Geordie, and Miss B. LortPhillips, a niece of Lady Fergusson. Miss Lort-Phillips and Geordie later left for a holiday in the country. Sir Bernard Fergusson and Lady Fergusson, who will be in Christchurch for a month, have a heavy programme of social engagements. The first of these was to receive the Mayor and Mrs Manning, and the Town Clerk (Mr C. S. Bowie) and Mrs Bowie, who called early yesterday afternoon at Elizabeth House, Circuit street, Papanui, where their Excellencies will live during their stay, . Today’s Programme

This morning, at their residence, their Excellencies will receive the heads of the armed services in Canterbury and their wives, and the honorary provincial aides-de-camp and their wives. In the evening they will be hosts at a dinner party, also at Elizabeth House.