IDEAL OF FREEDOM

Evening Post, Volume CXXII, Issue 149, 21 December 1936, Page 12

IDEAL OF FREEDOM

THE HUMAN DESIRE

SPEECH BY MR. NASH

(From "The* Post's" Representative.) LONDON, November 28.

When Mr. Walter Nash, New Zealand's Finance Minister, revisited his native town of Kidderminster, he was the guest of honour at the annual dinner of the Old Carolians' Association (old boys of Kidderminster Grammar School).

The danger in the world today, as Mr. Naah saw it, was between two conflicting forms of government, dictatorship and democracy. It was not between Britain and Germany or Italy,1 Hitler or Mussolini, but between the two strong ideals they represented which were fighting for supremacy in the world.

The future of the human race in the next century would be determined" for good or ill by which of those ideals won. "War, I hate it—good can never come from it," Mr. Nash said, touching on the danger of the clash of ideals leading to war. "Up till 1933, as I say it, it was impossible for a Christian to take sword or gun in hand] and destroy another soul. Then in one of the mightiest nations—Germany —much that was good and noble refusing to fight was crushed and nothing left of it. Then I did not know where I was, but I felt that serious thinking was required to find some way to combat the type which wsje endeavouring to force itself not only' on its own people but on everyone. If dictatorship wins, as I see it, we are lost. Inherent in all human beings, of whatever class, is the desire to think for themselves and express themselves. If that desire is suppressed, even if the individual himself or herself acquiesces in the suppression, it is only for a time: The desire for self-exp,ression will arise again, and before the century is out their children or their children's children will fight once again for the right to be free.

"What we call 'democracy' is the guardian of that freedom of the individual. lam glad to be associated with" that section in the world today which is fighting for democracy in the real se.nse. It is difficult to sec the path along which we must move; but I hope that all sections of the free people of the British Empire'will hold on to the ideal of the right to freedom."

Referring to his many years' association with the Labour Parly in New Zealand, Mr. Nash said that ho was at once an ardent Socialist and a strong Conservative. He wanted everyone, of whatever political views, to contribute his or her quota towards the necessary services and good of the country in which they lived.- If they made that contribution they had a right to have food to eat, clothes to wear, and shelter from the elements. He believed in collective security—for individuals as well as for nations.