WORLD SAVAGERY AND THE POLICE STATE

Greymouth Evening Star, 14 October 1947, Page 6

WORLD SAVAGERY AND THE POLICE STATE

(P.A.) CHRISTCHURCH, October 13. Archbishop West-Watson, Primate of New Zealand, in his address at the opening of the Synod of the Diocese of Christchurch this afternoon said that the difference between the United States and her ideals and Russia and her ideals had, unfortunately, been accentuated during the past year. Between these two great Powers stood Britain, with her Commonwealth of Nations, puzzled and anxious. She was conscious of the contrast between her power and influence in the nineteenth century, and her critical and difficult position today. She was conscious, too, of her responsibilities, in spite of her diminished resources, for playing a. leading part in the saving of Europe from utter ruin and despair. , Her economic prospects were gloomy, but her courage was undimmed. Under such a strain, all depended, in the last resort, on spiritual strength and vision. “The whole future of the peace for the world depends on the ability of men and of nations to trust each other, and to work together, and nothing seems to be more plainly revealed by recent events, than that, when human beings lose faith in God, they lose faith in each other,” said His Grace. “World savagery and the police state are evidence enough. Our good news of the love of God in Christ is brushed aside today as almost an impertinent irrelevance, when things are so serious and tragic. But we meet here today as men who feel the high responsibility of being entrusted by God with the responsibility of stemming the tide in what is being written off *by the calculating and the half-hearted as a lost battle.”