The Hawera Star. SATURDAY, MAY 16, 1925. “THERE IS NO CLASS.”

Hawera Star, Volume XLV, 16 May 1925, Page 4

The Hawera Star.

SATURDAY, MAY 16, 1925. “THERE IS NO CLASS.”

Delivered every evening by 5 o’clnol; -n Hawera, Manaia Nrcmanby, Obaiawa, lOltham, MangatoUi, Kaponga, Alton. Uurleyville, Paten, Waverley, Mokoia, Wbakamara, Ohangai. Meremere, Fraser Koad, an Ararata.

Grave, national danger, un restrained rejoicing and deep sorrow have this in common: They draw our people, together in ai clovser understanding. In the great loss which has shaken the Dominion this week we have lorgptten our difference® .of outlook, of polities, oi station; and no. one will deny that we are the better Tor it. The pity is that our moments of perfect harmony should be iso fen- and far between. No two. men will ever think alike, no two men will ever view life from exactly the same angle. But men, not in twos and threes, hut in hundreds and thousands, are thrown together in daily association. While they differ in many things, there are big issues in the life of the. community and the nation Which, call for united action. It is the mark of a big m.ui that, lie recognises .such when they arise. Taking the sphere of politics, which, is only one of many, there are indications in Britain that the. men are coming to the front who will steer t!m national welfare safely through the rocks of petty discord and. bitterness. When the chairman and directors of the Great Western Bailway enter-

tained old colleagues, in London six weeks ago-, the principal speakers were Mr. Stanley Baldwin, a past direcitoi, and Mr. J. H. Thomas, who started oil the G.W. as an engine-cleaner. “My friend, Jim Thomas,” wais the wav in -which the Prime Minister of Britain referred to the engline-cleaner who has beootmle Privy Councillor. For his part, the ex-Secretiairy of State for the Colonies wais clear-cut and emphatic in declaring his attitude to the prevailing spirit: There is. a lot of talk to-day about class bitterness, class hatred and class superiority. I not duly dissociate myself from- that- cry, bint. I join issue with it. . ... Whatever may be the political differences m this country, however much your Prime Minister and myself may find ourselves arguing, quarrelling if you like, across the Boor of the .Honfie of Common®, T feel, like him, that, when this country is passing through not only a difficult-, but a dangerous stage, when folks talk to. me about the cost of the dole and a| financial burden to the country that is in itself staggering, that is .secondary bo tire moral deterioration of our” people. You cannot- have men of IS, 19 and 20 years of age, whose brain® are very much like a. sponge ready to snp up evil as well as good, walking the streets day after day without a moral deterioration. Those of us who value the future of our race gravely regard the prospects of their being the fathers of the next, generation. There will -be criticism of my presence here to-da-v. Many of my friends will interpret it. as an indication that J have deserted the class to which. 1 belong. There i-s no cl aisis, to which T belong. T refuse to believe that brains or virtue are. the monopoly of anv section.

There is no class! What ai clarion call to mankind, is that. Too often it seems that, there, are two classes: on the one hand, those, whether masters or men, who are ceaselessly searching for grievances, who would rather he idle than think another might he working less than they, in whose hearts! bitter hatred has replaced, love; ia.ncl on the other hand those who find enjoyment in . thenwork, who are always ready with help for a fellow, to whom life is an opportunity for service, rather than personal profit-. A mloment’s reiHectiiom will show of which the world hais need; and it is going to> ibe worth, many lifetimes of effort to, win through to the day when there shall be, not no. class, but only one class —the men and women whose' hearts and characters rise 'superior to all the baseness and the dross of a commercialised civilisation.