THOUGHTS FOR THE DAY

Dominion, Volume 34, Issue 121, 15 February 1941, Page 10

THOUGHTS FOR THE DAY

Comments—Reflections Intercession. Almighty God. Who rules! over even the sinful ways of men, we beseech Tbt'e to turn the distress of our day to our own good and so to the service of our fellows. Grant that as a people we may discover a new discipline and a truer scale of values, and that if Thou dost grant us victory, these may be cm bodied in the new order of tin world. Do Thou sustain all those who suffer and go down before the forces let loose in the world, by the confidence that their sacrifice will secure tbe future and tend to Thy greater glory in the days to come.

"We have only to trust and du uui best, and wear as smiling a face as may be for ourselves and others."— R. L. Stevenson.

"Think for a moment what is involved if the battle in the Near East and the Mediterranean is lost. Vast resources, the oil of Persia, the cotton and other products of Egypt, the resources of the great African colonies and of India, are lost to Britain and pass under the control of the Axis Powers. Into Hitler's hands fall the resources of some 700,000,000 human beings to be organized with satanie skill against what remains of a free world. What is meant by the holding of the Mediterranean lifeline by Britain need not be further elaborated. And in that vital chain one of the most important links of all is Palestine.” —Sir Norman Angell, speaking in Washington.

"Have you ever considered what that.* passage in the Bible means: 'They shall mount up with wings as eagles, they shall run. and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint’? It sounds like an anti-climax, like a descent from tingreater to tbe less. But 1 think that the meaning is exactly the opposite. It is an ascent from the easy to the difficult. It is the last feat which is the hardest. It is not so difficult in a great crists to rise like eagles; it is not so difficult in moods of excitement to run and not be weary. But most of the world's work has to be done at a foot’s pace, and the hardest task of all is to walk the prosaic roads of life and not faint.”—The late Lord Tweedsmuir (Mr. John Buchan).

"Anticipating a protracted war, the British Shipping Ministry has moved to build new ships iu the U.S.A., as well as to acquire available over-age vessels. The House of Commons has been informed by the Minister of Shipping that 60 cargo steamships have been ordered in the U.S.A, It is likely that the British will depend increasingly upon the construction of new vessels in the U.S.A, to offset the very heavy toll of German sea attacks. The extent to which such a ship-buliding programme can relieve a prospective shipping shortage will depend primarily upon the speed with which the new vessels can be constructed. Tn this connexion, the marked reduction effected in the period, of time required to build ships for the U.S. Maritime Commission programme is significant. The most recent ship delivered left the ways slightly less than six months after tbe keel was laid. It thus appears possible to launch a British shipbuilding programme under which vessels built would actually begin ho leave for Britain by the late summer or early autumn of 1941.” —New York “Journal of Commerce.”

"So far as the shipping position is concerned there is little cause for cheerfulness. The problem is the difficult one of priorities. If British shipyards have failed to fulfil the mercantile programme laid down for them it is due in part at least to the very heavy demands made on them for more destroyers and escort vessels, which since the capitulation of France have been needed in even greater numbers than before. There would have been little purpose in the yards building more merchantmen unless there were sufficient warships to provide adequate convoys. The pace of our merchant shipbuilding must keep pace with that of naval construction. The time factor, however, cannot lie ignored and the rate of our shipping losses has become alarming. But if the position so far as our losses is concerned corresponds with that of September. 1917, we are better placed on this occasion in respect that we have now reserves of food lu this country that would have been very welcome when the last war’s submarine campaign was at its height.

"At the early stage of the war we had ports on the West of Germany— Plymouth.and Portsmouth, and then as the result of the French collapse Germany obtained ports on the west of us. Obviously the remedy would be for us to have ports on the west of Germany, and those ports are there on the west coast, of Ireland. I said three months ago that if we could have tlie use of Berehaveu and Lough iSwiily, the whole sea war would be transformed iu a night. These sink, iugs arc taking place on the west coast of Ireland, and the world ought to realize what, we are paying fur our principles. There is no doubt about what Herr Hitler would do; every month we watch the spectacle of hundreds of thousands of tons being sunk and of hundreds of British sailors being drowned because we cannot get the ports on the west of Ireland for our navy. Yet Ireland, but for the navy, would be where Holland, Belgium and Denmark are today. I think it is a fact that Ireland pays a good deal of attention to public opinion in the United States, and it is worth while calling the attention of the United Stales, who have influence, to what we arc paying for our prin ciplec.”—Mr. Lees Smith, M.P.. in the House of Coiuomus. Keep On! Our course is onward. onward into light: What though the darkness gat beret h amain, Yet to return or tarry, both are vain. How tarry, when around us is thick night? Whither return? What flower yet ever might, In days of gloom and cold and stormy rain. Euelosi itself in its green bud agaiu, Hiding from wrath of tempest out of sight? —K. C. Trench.