Grey River Argus and Black News

Grey River Argus, 31 December 1914, Page 4

Grey River Argus and Black News

Dellrottd " eVery morning in (Jreyinoaili, Eumara, Hokitika, Dobson, Wallsend, Taylor, villa, Brunnerton, Stillwater. Ngahere, Blackball, Kelson Creek, Ahaura, Ikamatna, Waiuta, iiaetvou, Cronodnn, Eunauga, Dunollio, Cobdaa, Baitei's, Kokiri, Patara, Kaimata, Acatifca, Eotnxu, Moaj>a, Burn, l'e Eiiiga, ilotomanu* "Foeroa, I bonsie, Jaakscma and (Him 1 :

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 31, 1914.

The year 1914 is now rapidly drawing- to a close, but its passing is the most stormy that the world has ever seen, and its final breath will be drawn to the accompaniment of the crash of guns and the shouts of deadly strife of a world in arms. How many brave young hearts' that made good resolutions at the end of last year have gone down in the grim struggle that is now going on. Thousands, nay millions, have already fallen, and many more will be added to the list before the curse of German militarism is finally overthrown. No day so vividly brings before our minds the fact of man's mortality as the closing day of the year, but the average human being casts aside these gloomy thoughts, and fixes ihs mind with cheery optimism on the new year that is about to be born, and which, he trusts, will be one of prosperity and good "health for him and his dear ones. Every^ one makes good resolutions, but old habits are not to be thrown oft' by the mere fact that after twelve o'clock to-night we must write 1915 instead of 1914. It is a sad but incontrovertible fact that the man or woman who was mean and despicable before midnight will continue to be so after the final stroke of the hour has passed, and the sound the bells that ushered in the new year have faded away. On the threshold of the New Year we are, however, prone to take stock of oui\doings and those of the world around us in the year that has gone. We may not, it is true, alter our course of life very much from the lessons we may learn from our investigations, but they are valuable just the same. We find that many of those whom the world calls great have laid down the burden of the flesh and that however much we prized them while they were living we find that this old world of ours goes on just the same . ' ' All the world 's a stage, ' ' and poets, philosophers, statesmen and soldiers all act their little part in the great world pageant, and then make their exits with an accompaniment of applause or disapprobation, according to the way their actions met with approval or condemnation from the great mass who merely act as the chorus in the passing show. Look back through 'the pages of history and compare the then with the now, and we shall find that there is nothing new under the sun. There is the same old material served under a different guise. The German nation posed before an admiring world as the model of civilisation and the acme of culture. All this, we now find, was a mere cloak, and that the Germans in ..reality are the Goths and Huns of old. Still we endeavour to blind ourselves to these truths. Hope springs eternal in the human breast, and the joys and sorrows of the past year are the unstable -foundations on which we build our prospects foi* the future. The year 1914 has been one of the blackest in the world \ history) and has thrown back the advance of human progress a century or morel Did ever such great events have' such an apparently trifling beginning. Who wo.uld have thought twelve months ago that the assassination of an Austrian archduke and his wife, of whom very few had ever heard, would lead to the outbreak

— ■ ~ ••-* of a veritable Armageddon? This serves to show that the instincts of the men are to-day are those of primitive man, and that it takes very little to stir up the blood lust that lies dormant in us all. In every war that has ever taken place each side tries to convince others and itself that its cause is just and right, and that it is advocating the cause of the weak and oppressed and victory for its banners will be for God and humanity. In order to get at the truth it is therefore necessary to seek our information from the impartial spectator, and making him our arbiter we find that our nation never took part in a more righteous cause than that which she is, now advocating. With that fact before our mind avc can pursue our course with steadfastness and courage, undeterred by losses, confident that the God of Battle will give to us the final victory, and that our nation, chastened as by fire, will emerge from the conflict purified and ennobled. Our soldiers are fighting gallantly at the front, and have already added a store of gallant deeds to the annals of the British army. The silent arm of the service is also doing its part with a thoroughness that is such a-char-acteristic of the British sailor. It is to the navy that we must attribute the fact that the seaway is still open, and that our ships can trade with practically as much safety as before the war. The year has been a stirring one for New Zealand. The county. was just beginning to get on its feet after the great industrial upheaval of the previous year when the news of the declaration of war came. Right nobly did the Dominion respond to the Motherland's call. In a few weeks after the appeal was received a New Zealand contingent had landed in Samoa and had added this important German possession to the British Empire. Six months had not elapsed before a splendidly equipped New Zealand expeditionary- force had landed in Egypt, ready to stand shoulder to shoulder with men from Australia and India in repelling the invasion of the Turks. Every man and every shilling that we possess is at the disposal of the Mother Country in this her hour of darkest trouble. This year the "eneral election has had to take a secondary position. Parly politics have not been allowed to obtrude during the great crisis, and all parties have worked together most loyally to assist the Empire. Public opinion as to the relative value of the rival parties as administrators of the Dominion's affairs seems very evenly divided, and we have the position at present of the two parties being equal and one seat still undecided. Two unfortunate disasters occurred during the year — the Huntly mining disaster and the wreck of the Kairaki, events which bring home to us the dangers attending the work of those who delve in the bowels of the earth and of those who go down to the sea in ships. Far from the ■ great struggle that is going on, . we know nothing of the hardships : that the poor unfortunates in Belr gium have to undergo, but the tales that have been told have roused within the Dominion the . spirit of sympathy, and all classes • have vied with each other in doing something and giving soinethina- that may help the homeless , and bereaved in Belgium to bear their lot with fortitude. New Zealanders have their own little troubles but these are all forgotten in the sympathy with those whose sufferings, are intense. The year 1914 has been one of unparalleled calamities in the world, and few will see its passing witl\ regret. Every cloud, however, has a silver lining and we look with hopefulness to the new year to bring about a change for the better, and it is in this spirit of optimism that we wish our readers old and young