The Dominion TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 1941. A DISTINGUISHED VISITOR’S INSPIRATION

Dominion, Volume 35, Issue 52, 25 November 1941, Page 6

The Dominion TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 1941. A DISTINGUISHED VISITOR’S INSPIRATION

The public addresses delivered by the Rt. Hon. Mr A. Duff Cooper, British Minister for the Far East, during his all too-bnef stay in New Zealand have impressed us with a profound sense of gratitude for their inspirational quality. They will have left us the richer in those sentiments that in days of crises promote serious reflection and with a clearer understanding of the nature and the meaning of the vast world conflict that has placed our Empire, and all other communities who value freedom and the democratic way of life in such deadly peril. In his very fine and moving speech at the Wellington Town Hall yesterday, as also in Sunday evening s broadcast to the New Zealand people, his exposition of the momentous questions tnat confront us today, of their impacts upon each and all of us, must have impressed the great majority with the sense of seeing a familiar picture from an entirely new point of view. It was a revelation o realitv that, we may hope, will inspire deep searching of hearts throu S h ' out this too easy-going Dominion remote as yet from both the fact and the sense of actual danger. _ . . . Mr Duff Cooper may have told us nothing new. The rise of German military power, the treacheries and lies of Hitler and his o-ang, the historic calamities that have bsfallen European countries a one by one they were struck down by the immense war machine Hitler had created for his plans of world domination, the days of frightful peril through which Britain passed last year, the remarkable! esurgence of British national feeling and the brave and indomitable spirit ’ of women suddenly and tragically thrust into the firing-line in their own country where for generations their forebears had dwelt in peace and security—this grim cavalcade of the war has passed betore our own vision. But Mr. Duff Cooper has placed it in a clear perspective, and in such a way that its real implications stand out stark and revealing, a shock to our complacency, and a warning note as to the vital nature of the struggle. Even in England, he says, there aie people who, escaping from immediate peril for the time being are too prone to relax in the feeling that perhaps the worst is over. 1 hey fail to realize that these dangers are merely incidents of a long and deadly struggle in which, if the Nazi power is not utterly destroyed, it will destroy us. That, he reminds us with telling emphasis, is the fundamental issue we have to face. _ . v *+i «• What we need here is that feeling of anxiety m our hearts that kindles vigilance, redoubles energies; that demands of everyone the utmost effort, and the complete abandonment of self and sectional interests, to strengthen our combined resources against the common danger We are not anxious enough about the situation. We are too prone to that fatal spirit of complacency that has been the undoing of so many countries on the other side of the world. Mi. Duff Cooper was kind enough to say that he had been very favourably impressed by our national spirit and war effort. Many no doubt will find it in their conscience to reflect that he had let us down rather lightly Admittedly a great deal has been done, but there is still a great deal to be done, and done with the utmost energy and singlemindedness of purpose, before it may be.possible to feel assuicd that we are prepared for all conceivable contingencies. Toward that end our distinguished visitor has made a notable and inspirational contribution in the manner in which he has presented the picture, and his eloquent emphasis of the danger that faces the Empire and ourselves.