DR T. Z. KOO WELCOMED

Dominion, Volume 30, Issue 186, 4 May 1937, Page 11

DR T. Z. KOO WELCOMED

Noted Chinese Christian Worker YOUTH AND RELIGION There were no empty seats in the Wellington City Council chamber yesterday, when a civic reception was accorded to Dr. T. Z. Koo, China, secretary of the World Student Christian Federation, who arrived from Sydney in the Awatea. The Mayor, Mr. T. C. A. Hislop, who was accompanied by Mrs Hislop, said what a privilege it was to accord Mr. and Mrs. Koo a hearty welcome to Wellington. They had come to New Zealand after a long tour of active work on behalf of the Student Christian Federation and the Y.M.C.A., and, through the distinguished position he held, Dr. Koo was able to exert a wide influence for good throughout the many communities he visited. Before he took up his present positions, Dr. Koo had had a distinguished and notable career. For many years he was connected with the railway service in China, and in 1918 he joined the national committee of the Y.M.C.A. in China. In 1925 he was appointed by 34 organisations as the representative of China on the League of Nations organisation for the inquiry into the opium problem, and his wide knowledge of the aspirations and ideals of his countrymen had made him a man of mark. He emerged from that conference with an enhanced reputation. Since then he had represented China at the congress of the Institute of Pacific Relations in America, where his wide knowledge and statesmanlike attitude earned him distinction. Dr. Koo and his wife had come to New Zealand at the invitation of the New Zealand committee of the World Student Christian Movement, and New Zealand was fortunate to have a visit from a man so strongly imbued with Christian principles, and one who was doing so much for the welfare of the world. He accounted it a privilege to welcome to Wellington such an able, distinguished and learned exponent of Christian doctrine. Mr. Hislop said that it was somewhat of a negation of national improvement when this improvement had a material basis only, yet that appeared to be so when they saw the community turning what should be a day of sacred remembrance into a holiday. On every hand there was a tendency to turn away from things spiritual, and the time had come to take a firm stand for the right. That was why they could all appreciate the work Dr. Koo was doing. Countries Contrasted. The Acting-Prime Minister, Hon. P. Fraser, heartily joined in the welcome to Dr. and Mrs. Koo. He took pleasure in extending the goodwill of New Zealand, one of the youngest countries iu the world, to one of the oldest civilisations known to mankind. When one considered that New Zealand in 1940 would celebrate its centenary and then thought of the civilisation of China, which dated back 5000 years and perhaps more, the contrast was very striking indeed. When they considered that w’hen their ancestors in Britain were leading a nomadic life the civilisation of China, was thousands of years old; when they considered that New Zealand had 1,500,000 people as against China’s 400,000,000, and when they compared the area of New Zealand with China’s 2,000,000 square miles, they gained something like a tiue perspective. While in New Zealand they were achieving something through social and economic legislation, it gave one a feeling "of humility to consider the vast, possibilities of China. He remembered reading H. G. Wells's book “When the Sleeper Awakes,” and it had given him a thought parallel. China had been asleep, but it bad been rudely awakened and that it had been treated unjustly and unfairly during recent years was not a credit to civilisation. The awakening of China was assuming phenomenal proportions, for the Consul for China had informed him or a very live movement which was sweeping over certain parts of that country and which had for its objective the regeneration of China. In China one saw an essentially hand-working, peaceful people being forced to form armies and go in for armaments in the struggle that was going on at the present time with the forces menacing them. But this movement, led by General Chiang Kai-shek, was attracting hundreds of thousands of young people who were realising that they had to play an active part in building up the nation and combating the forces of evil. Perhaps, after China having been among the most backward of nations, the effect of this young people’s movement might be that she would set an example to the world by establishing a democracy that would eradicate evil and inculcate a social and national spirit which would place her in the vanguard of nations. A welcome was also voiced on behalf , of the New Zealand branch of the Student Christian Federation by the Rev. R. H. Newell, who hoped that Dr. Koo would not only save China but would help them in New Zealand to save themselves. He commended the visitor as a scholar and a prophet and for bis "sensitiveness of soul.” In his strenuous four-weeks campaign in New Zealand he wished him God speed. Dr. Koo’s Reply. Dr. Koo said the warmth of the welcome made them feel very much at home. After an absence of nearly six years it was good to renew acquaintance with New Zealand and his friends in this country. As he moved round the world in connection with his work for the Student Christian Federation and the Y.M.C.A. he had gained the outstanding impression that the youth of the day were raising a serious question, or doubt, about the religious structure of life. Tak’ng the world by and large there was developing a group which frankly doubted the existence of God. Another group, while not denying God, made God a kind of pretension of their own minds. There was also a very large number of people still connected with churches whose concept of God had become very vague. In the course of his work he was continually encountering youths who were in one or other of these groups, and noting a tendency toward the atheistic, which was born of the general state of unrest in the world. There was a feeling experienced by most people after the Great War that some kind of unity was needed which would bring peace between nation and nation, and out of it came the League of Nations, but in recent years the feeling was just the other way. As he looked round the world he found that only two or three youths’ organisations existed which were based on the principles of true Christianity. Many unfortunately had gone by the board. Yet for all that it was still a heritage and a great privilege to give youth a vision of the godly life and all the deep-seated satisfaction it implied.