BRANCHING PATHS TO CHOOSE FROM

Dominion, Volume 19, Issue 257, 14 July 1926, Page 10

BRANCHING PATHS TO CHOOSE FROM

THE GREAT DECISION OF LIFE GOVERNOR’S ADVICE TO COLLEGE PUPILS The Wellington Technical College pupils were addressed yesterday by the Governor-General (Sir Charles Fergusson) after ho had unveiled a war memorial tablet. Three hundred and twenty Cadets in uniform, under Captain Sutcliffe, Lieut. Platts-Mills. and Lieut. Kirkpatrick, were lined up in double rank in front of the collego when His Excellency, accompanied by Lady Alice Fergusson and Captain Wentworth, aide-de-camp, arrived. They were received by Mir. J. H. Howell, principal of the college. After inspecting the Cadets, Sir Charles Fergusson briefly addressed them. He said he was very pleased to see such a large muster, because in time they would take the place of those who had served their country so well in the Great War and who had so ably upheld the honour of their school. There were throe things he would like to impress upon them—to maintain their honour, to maintain discipline or self-control, and, the greatest thing of all, to have such a sdiise of duty as to do what was right because it was right. In that way they would be doing service to their country and to their fellows. The party' then proceeded to the entrance to the college, where they were received by Mr. W. H. Bennett (chairman of the Board of Governors), Messrs. T. Forsyth. M.P., T. Ballinger, Lawrence, Guudin, L. R. Partridge, W. H. Howe, G. L. Stewart (members of the board), the teachers of the college, Mesdames Howell anil Lawrence, and Misses Ballinger and Bennett. Little Helen Braggard presented Lady Alice Fergusson with a bouquet of flowers decorated with streamers iu the school colours. The girls of the school, dressed in their uniforms of brown and gold, sang the National Anthem very sweetly. Mr W. 11. Bennett explained that owing to the difficulty of obtaining sufficient funds only a third of the original design had been completed, although the workshop* were ready for occupation. The erection of the building was long overdue. In asking His Excellency to pay a visit that day the Board of Governors had desired that Sir Charles Fergusson should unveil a tablet in memory of those ex-pupils who did their best to uphold the honour of the Empire in tho Great War. The tablet was not a personal one giving names. At the time the day pupils were too young to volunteer their services, but tho evening students were in a different position, and of those who went to the front many made the great sacrifice for the honour of King and Empire. For that reason the tablet was general in form to remind the rising generation of its duty to God, to each other, to the ruling authority, and to the Empire to which they all belonged. for, after all, it was service and sacrifice which helped the old world along. Ho asked His Excellency to perform the unveiling ceremony and afterwards to address those present. Sir Charles Fermsson stepped down to the tablet, which was covered with the Union Jack, and road the following dedication: — "So they cave their bodies to the commonwealth and received, each for his own memory, praise that will never die; and with it the grandest of nil sepulchres—not that in which their mortal bones are laid, but a home in the minds of men' for their story is graven not only on stone over their native earth, but lives on far away, without visible .symbol, woven into the stuff of other men’s lives. Who serves is greaO'Z.” He then unveiled the tablet ‘in the mime of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. Amon.” The Path of Right and Duty. Addressing the girls and boys of the college, numbering nearly six liuhdrod, the Governor-Genera] said that much as he was interested in the history of the school and its development, he would confine his remarks to the war memorial and what it represented to them in their own lives. He wanted them to give themselves up to the moment and think of what they had just done. They had unveiled a memorial to the men, and possibly to the women too, who had given everything they had. even life itself, to bring peace and happiness to each one of them there. Let them just-for a few minutes pause ami realise that that was absolutely true. People were apt to say that our men died for us, but there was a great deal more to it than that. 'When the nation went to war, men and women were called on to make sacrifices of their homes, their livelihood, their positions, and everything they held dear, and without hesitation they obeyed the call of' duty and wont to the front and never stopped to consider what it involved. What they underwent those who had not been there could not possibly realise, for the conditions were appalling. The dreadful heat was stifli'ns and the cold was intense at times; they waded through mud up to their necks: they spent hours, and even days up to their middle in water; they lived in noisome holes deep in the ground; they endured shell fire until it was a terror night and day; they were wounded and gashed about until death itself was E mercy; and they were gassed and tortured until it seemed that humanity could stand no more and exist. And the glory of it all was that no complaint was heard., no talk of pivin" up. no idea of doing anything but stick it out and, if possible, succeed in the task they had set their hearts on. Men were sent to hospital horribly maimed, set on their feet again, and returned to the hell on earth they had been enduring as if it was the most ordinary task. .And yet, through it all, despite the heart-breaking drawbacks, the brightest and cheeriest of all wore those who were enduring trials few human beings had ever been asked to put up with. They seemed to possess fcha inspiration that they had made tho right decision in the greatest crisis of their lives, and in choosing the path of dnity they believed that they had chosen the best life had to oiler them — the path of right and duty. No huma.n beings could have faced what they did without being possessed of great ideals. The words of tho memorial he had just unveiled could not have been bettor chosen. They reminded him of tlie lines: ‘‘Ten thousand glorious actions that might claim Triumphant laurels and immortal fame. Comprised in crowds of glorious actions lie. And troops of heroes undistinguished die.” The Memorial’s Lesson. It did not matter that there were no names attached to the tablot just unveiled, for there was never a war in which so many gallnut deeds were unrecognised, so manv wonderful actions were unselfishly performed, so little thought was given to sell, so many troops of heroes were concerned, or so much sclf-sacrilice was involved. lie believed that the inspiration of the tablet was to make those of the present day do something with their own liver, and to teach them something more than that, loi it had been amply proved that men and women who were neither saints nor heroes could do great things when they were put to the test. They were all just starting in life, and lie hoped that as they passed the memorial they would give a moment's though* to the fact that not so long ago those, remarkable men and women had been walking about, some in classrooms, and some in schools of Wellington like ordinary folic, but when the moment came *hev rose to a sense of their duty, and performed Iho great things he had spoken alxiut, not only for themselves, but for their country. While they were young he feowd they -quid not onJt think of i

having a good time, for each of them possessed the power to do some good, and it would be a pity if they allowed their lives to stagnate, for the picture of a wasted life was the greatest tragedy in all life’s history. If people of the idle type went through life drifting it was not only their own tragedy, but that of their children, because their lives t.>« would no wasted if they took after their parents. They should think of the difference between the life of an. idle, worthless person, and that of those brave men and women thev were there to commemorate. While they had the chance they should make up their minus to do something worthy of their country life, was full of opportunity. and responsibility which they could either take up or shirk. They could give inspiration which would carry throufch generations or thev could sink to a level not worthy of notice. There were branching paths for them to. choose from, and they could make their decision, always remembering the honour of their school, the good of their fellowcreatures, and the greatness cf their country. He advised them not to shirk a task because it was difficult, or to take a road because it was an easy one, but to do what was right and avoid what ww wrong. If they made the tremendous decision wisely they would do something which would have an incalculable benefit to those who bud to follow them. He included by quoting from a poem written by one of the heads of a great English school—- " And you, our brothers, who for all our weeping To this dear school of ours come back no more, , , Who lie.' I heir debt of honour paying, And not in vain—upon the foreign Until that day, when at the throne of Heaven , , ~ . . The books are opened and the judgment set, Your lives for honour and for country given, The school will not The ceremony closed with two verses of "All Saints' who from their labours rest,*' sung by the girls of the college.