TASK OF THE FUTURE

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2501, 30 June 1915, Page 2

TASK OF THE FUTURE

THE CHILDREN'S PART ADDRESS BY HON; J. ALLEN •Some references to tho possibilities which may arise as the outcome of tho war were made by the Minister of Defence (the Hon. James Allen), at the opening ceremony of the Berhampore. School yesterday. "One cannot 'help, at a time like this," said Jlr. Allen, "allowing one's thoughts to be centred upon the great eflort which New Zealand, the Empire, and our Allies have to make in order to establish ourselves 1 ill the future." Even the youngest child, he thought, would understand him when he said that any statesman or thinking man who looked ahead must realise that this war was only a war of to-day, and that the conflict between the nations, and the competitions of the .nations, unless some reorganisation resulted, would continue in tho years to come. The children of to-<lay be continued, tfould make the nation of tho future, and with the children of that school, and all the other schools of New Zealand, rested tile future of New Zealand. "When this horrible war was over, and they settled down to the ordinary occupations of the country, would they learn the lessons that must inevitably •come to them from tile trial and conflict of to-day? "Believe me," went on j\lr. Allen, "if the futun is to he what we hope it may be for New Zealand and the Empire, there must be at the bottom of our future life a deep religious conviction. That must endure in the heart of every man, woman, and child in this country, if the nation was to be in the future what it ought to he, and there must be a settled determination ill tho mind of the smallest child that ho is going right from the start to set 'himself the task for fitting himself for the great problems that have got to bo settled in the future." It could only be settled satisfactorily by bringing up healthy, sound children. The physical perfection of tho nation had to be begun amongst the children here. In New Zealand they had done something —not all he would have liked—but something to provide for the physical progress of their children. The medical inspection of our schools was not perfect, and would have to be made more perfect, and the physical training was only in its infancy. The two, he held, ought to be. combined under one head. But there was something underlying the physical training of the body. The children had to be made healthy and vigorous in mind and morals, or the nation was not going to bo what it ought to be. The children of Brittomart Street School ought specially to remember that, as their school was opened during the war, they should fit themselves to continue the progress of tho Empire. "We in New Zealand had boasted that we were always in the forefront, but now there was a chance to be in the forefront that God Almighty would bless us for." (Hear, hoar.) We i had got to go through this time 'of [trial, and he knew when our peoplo realised what was before them, and howgreat the task was, they would not fail in accomplishing it. (Applause.) They had reason to be proud of their country, and were determined to continue to occupy it, and wero determined that it was their duty to strain themselves to see that no weaker nation Hiould suffer undor the hands of any wicked militarism. It was a glorious task they had, and if it did not inspire them, and make them better, then they should have failed in accomplishing what, through this their time of trial, they should have accomplished. They all regretted the war, but if they came out of it purified l and strengthened'it would not have been in vain. 11l conclusion he hoped the scholars of the Berhampore school would feel that they had a speciai task to fulfil ill seeing to those ends, because of the peculiar circumstances in which the school was opened. He wished them all success, and spoke <jf the responsibilities that resteel on the teachers and the School Committee in guiding up the children to the future.