CITIZENSHIP

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLVIII, Issue 220, 15 August 1928, Page 4

CITIZENSHIP

AN ARCHBISHOP’S VIEWS

“MY COUNTRY RIGHT OR WRONG.”

“My country right or wrong” is just about as w r orthy an ideal as the common saying “business is business” when meant to excuse wrong-doing. This was introduced by His Grace, Archbishop Averill, in an address delivered to members of the Auckland Chamber of Commerce. Prefacing his remarks by the statement that citizenship did not* consist only of privileges, but also involved responsibilities and duties, the Archbishop said lie would yield to no one in his devotion to his adopted country, or in admiration of its institutions and of its citizens, but ho would assert that the best friends of any country were not the men who declined to denounce from the housetops any weakness that existed. Those who resented references to any unwholesome tendencies were lacking in their duty to the country and to the Empire. BIG VISION NEEDED. A big vision was necessary in considering matters of citizenship. There was first the citizenship of one’s own locality, but the scope must be extended to embrace a citizenship of humanity. Even the adjuration to think imperially was too limited. The Great War had implanted the truth of the axiom that tho individual existed for the State, and men died for their country’s sake. Conscription was perfectly right where the safety of the State was at stake. Whole souled men were needed, said His Grace. We boasted of our patriotism and rightly so. He believed in patriotism and the inoulcation of a national spirit; not the patriotism that cost nothing but mere flag waving and singing of songs, but something higher. A narrow self-centred nationalism based upon superiority to the foreigner was degrading. “Gentlemen,” declared the speaker, “we have something to learn from those little Japs who were here.” The real citizen was he who wanted to see his country worthy of its place in the panel of nations, and was prepared to give personal service and make some sacrifice to attain this ideal. Something more than keeping the trade routes of the world open was desirable. As an empire we had stood for the non-exploi-tation of the native races: “Let us not refer to them as inferior races, backward races if you like.” In an eloquent peroration His Grace declared that tli'e ideals of the British nation would have been realised when the world recognised that the British Empire was indispensable for the order and peace of the world.