BE OF GOOD COURAGE

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 41, 12 November 1917, Page 6

BE OF GOOD COURAGE

SPEECHES OF CHEER

SILVER LINING TO THE CLOUD!

truth and right, must prevail,

1 tliwv!" ° f B ?? d cll ? er wero s P°ken by ' H? • rnor ; oenel ' al n "d tho Primo Minister on Saturday afternoon at tho ! ceremony of tho unveiling of a memo ' s"i i° tha ex-pupils of the Roseneath ; Sohoo who have fallen in the war Their ' r ar i S 6pecinl rcfel ' on CD lo tho not . voiy cheering news wo havo been receiving over the cables in the last few days. : Perhaps to-day (hero may bo an un--1 c °nifortablo feeling because things havo • not gone as wo should havo liked thorn ; |o go in the last few days," said His ' bit i!!T' ri" W °i^ Ie p , el ' ha P s 11 little bit inclined, although not willi ing to own up to it, to be just a little bit downhearted. Ladies and gentlemen, if you are students of liistorv you know that there lias never been a ' Il ar Ito ~IIS ° 110 ' in its size, or in the number of men engaged, and in no • great war/lias the ond been achieved without ups and downs. I can seo nothing' in the present situation (o indicate that our race and our ideas of liberty and .honesty will not yet como out on top. Ivono of us like to own up to being downhearted, but probably there are numbers of people hero who have been reading the cablegrams from day to day in the past weok, wondering what is going to happen. I know no moro thnn you do about what has happened. But, recollect this, that in tho biggest war in which the Empire was engaged before this one-tho war at the boginnin" of last century—we had no easy ride" In the Peninsula Sir John Moore and Crawford both had their ups and downs in what was then considered a great retirement, the retirement on Corunna. And if wo take the other side of the picture, and see how the people who are now our enemies fared in their wars of the century previous to that, wo shall see that they had a considerable number upß and downs in the time of Frederick the Great. It is hardly reasonable to oxpeot that in this war we a?e going to have everything our own way In France we have a great deal to be thankful for, and it is on the l'rench and Belgian frontier that this struggle is finally going to .be won. l lungs have undoubtedly gone wron" with our Italian Allies, but that is no! going to bo the end of all things, for us. borry as I am that things havo not gono smoothly, I think that instead of Veins downhearted we should be proud of the way in which our troops in Fra.nco have won out of a most difficult situation. Nor let us forgot the action that lias been carried out in Palestine by troops from all of tho Empire in a meritorious manner. "I Wive _ taken thw opportunity of speaking in this way because I heard that there was_ among the people of this city a disposition to bo disheartened. I ask you to take courage, and I believe that the men to whom I am about to unveil this memorial would wish you to do the same. lam certain that the troops in Franco are not downhearted, and ,when things don't go right let us take courage. • It is a little «thing for the men who' have the hard tasks ahead of them to ask ol us that we should be of good conrage. ... I wish everybody here and all the people of New Zealand not to be downhearted, but rather to look to tho great deeds that have been done and that are going to bo done by your sons, your kith and kin. and to think that in this fight right and iiberty are going to triumph." (Applause.) The Bight Honourable W. F. Massey spoke also of the great wars in which England fought to free Europe from the military tyranny of Napoleon. That struggle went on for years, and still tho iosuo remained in doubt, but it. was' a fact that reverses, difficulties, and disappointments brought out : ffie best qualities of our race, the qualities of courage, endurance, tenacity, and resource. And these qualities would inn this Var for.us as they had won other wars for us in the 1 past. "Though therp may be occasional signs," he said, 'of a small proportion of the people being downhearted, take it from- me we are not discouraged. The citizens of the British' Empire stood well up to tho reverses of the early part of the war, wid 1 feel certain that the great majority of the citizens of the Empire are determined to see this thing through, .whatever the sacrifice may be. What is money, what is property, what is human life—and Heaven knows we have paid our share in the lives of men—compared with losing the war and allowing tile world to be dominated by tho Germans, the people who have sunk to the lowest depths of barbarism, and committed atrocities at which the civilised world has stood aghast? I would rather eee A'ew Zealand and every one of its people beneath the waters of the. sea than under the Reel of Gormany. (Hear, hear.) His Excellency has pointed otvt that (here w u silver lining to the cloud, that ttiough occasionally tilings look black, Mere is always a brighter side. Our Fleet is still unbeaten, and will remain unbeaten until the end of the war. I *m BatisHed that the worst of the sul>marino warfare is over. The British tloops are doing well on every front, and o/i tne Western front, working with the gaHant and undismayed French, w<S are driving the Germans back. Haig's hamner is striking, driving the Germans back to their own frontier. Now the Americans are coining in "fresh and unwearied.

"I say this because I men'n it—the resnlt of tliis war is,beyond doubt. This war is going to be won (on the Western front.' We may have 'difficulties elsewhere, but in the end we shall win on fhe-Western front Remember that the British always win the last battle, and tliey are going to win the last fight in this war. And until we win the last fight—and may it oome soon—we as British citizens have to do our part, 1 ave to stand fast for liberty and freedom and righteousness, for the cause of the Empire to which we belong." (Applause.)