PREPAREDNESS

Evening Post, Volume CXX, Issue 115, 11 November 1935, Page 11

PREPAREDNESS

THE PEICE OF PEACE

INTERNATIONAL LAW

Declaring that international law and order must be firmly enforced before nations could enjoy the desired sense or security, and that part of the price of peace was preparedness, Canon Percival James, in a sermon at the Armistice Day service at St. Paul's ProCathedral yesterday, contended that force must be available and pledged to restrain any aggressor who might violate covenants and pacts.

The service was attended by the Ist Battalion, "Wellington Regiment, under Colonel Saunders, and veterans of the Wellington Regiment, N.Z.E.F. Also present were Captain L. V. Morgan, R.N., and Lieutenant-Commander Head, R.N., Lieutenant-Colonel O. H. Mead, and Captain S. F. N Allen (General Headquarters), and Colonel.l. T. Standishj 0.C., Central Command, and staff.. The lessons were lead by Colonel Saunders and Colqnel W. H. Cunningham.. . . Canon James said that all men everywhere desired stable and permanent peace ■on - earth: but present events warned us that this was no time to indulge in -fond fantasies. We must be ready to pay the price of peace; and part of that price was our preparedness, not only for our own defence and the defence of the Empire, but also for our due contribution towards the defence of the growing law of nations. That was the price of peace in the present stage of human society. No Christian could contemplate that as the final stage. We believe that the day would come when the Christian Gospel of love would have, been so far accepted, and the peoples of the world would have attained so great a measure of good will, that there would be no need for threats and penalties and ultimate compulsions of force. But that day had not yet come. The nations must first be schooled to obey international law, and to accept and employ the machinery of international justice, before they could learn to live together in universal brotherhood, which, was the Christian ideal. | RESTRAINING AGGRESSORS. | International law and order must be i firmly established before the nations ! could enjoy that sense of security,! which was the essential prerequisite of peace ■ and disarmament. There would never be a sense of security until force was securely harnessed to the chariot of justice. There must be such force ■ available and pledged t<j restrain any aggressor who might violate covenants and pacts, that resistance to it would be unthinkable,. In welcoming the representatives of the Wellington Regiment, Qanon James spoke of their Old Colours laid up in that church. Those colours were a reminder that the traditions of the Regiment were rooted in -the very early history of New Zealand and had grown up through the South African War and the Great War, in which the members of the Regiment had rendered gallant: and distinguished service. There were no more convinced advocates of peace than the veterans of the Great War who were present. They knew more than any others of the full cost of war. MESSAGE TO YOUTH. Their message to the young citizen soldiers was this: "We have confidence in you; we believe that the great traditions of the Wellington Regiment are safe in. your hands. Freely you have volunteered-to-be trained for the defence of-your country. , You have received scanty encouragement from the great bulk of your fellow-citizens. Indeed, some of you have had'to face opposition as passionate as it is unreasonable and mistaken. May God keep alive' in the men of this Dominion that patriotism and sense of duty that compels men to offer themselves -to defend the honour of this dear land we love so well, and to enable -her to discharge her responsibilities not only in the British Commonwealth of nations but also in the wider world family of nations. He who loves peace from his heart and not with his lips only is prepared to pay the price of peace. For you, young men, your part of the price is readiness for service and sacrifice. May j duty, patriotism, and honour ever be I your guiding principles."