PRIDE OF RACE

Evening Post, Volume CXXIV, Issue 146, 17 December 1937, Page 7

PRIDE OF RACE

ADVICE TO BOYS

THE WORTH Of THE SCOT

The ., importance' of pride of. race, md' of an, effective desire to carry on the traditions of that race, were emphasised by Mr.' Justice Ostler in an address delivered at the annual prizegiving ceremony of Scots College last evening.

Mr. Justice. Ostler confined his re- . marks exclusively to the boys. He said'that when a'man was 40 years or more on in life he was lucky it he had made four true friends. - He himself haa'been lucky, and he could say that every one of the true friends had'been Scotsmen. His listeners were New Zealanders, but were mostly of Scots descent. New ideas were springing up in which patriotism and nationalism were: at a discount as militating against internationalism. 'He called upon the boys-to retain. their lave, of the country whence they came," and of its institutions. "The Scots : have played by far the most distinguished part'in the formation of our.' Empire overseas,"' he went on.' "When you grow up and have children/! pif your own, you should send them to ijrour:-; own -. institutions, for if there is one '••thing; that-./every,. Scot since John,' Kribx has known, it is how/to' gain knowledge and impart it.'? ; •.Tftfe'l speaker stressed the. value of honesty,''industry, thrift, and service as ''practical;: rules for. success in "life., He.-ljelieved that the purpose for which men".* were:, created • was to. make -the. world a better place for those who came after. m By honesty he meant such honesty in a man that the people who knew him best would say, "That man's word is his bond." A new, school of thought, considered that it was not morally wrong to evade the irksome conditions of a bargain. He •warned the boys not to have. anything to: do with that belief. When they made a bargain with irksome conditions,' they should not go whining to Parliament asking to be let off those conditions. Steady work and endeavour accounted for more than mere genius ; in this world. A new doctrine that thrift did not pay was surely wrong. Thrift not carried to -the extreme .of meanness •was-'a-great virtue. The whole of civilisation was based onNthe fact that men^saVed-instead of consuming as they produced. - • • Much happiness in life was achieved in serving,others. In every walk of life a man.should satisfy himself that he.-was giving full value, for. every penny received. It must be remembered, also that the highest pleasure in life , was that achieved by helping pthers.. ...■.:■