THE WORLD TO-DAY

Manawatu Standard, Volume LIII, Issue 20, 20 December 1932, Page 2

THE WORLD TO-DAY

NEED FOR DEEP SPIRITUAL LIFE, MISSION OF THE BRITISH PEOPLE. “There has never been anything like the British Commonwealth of nations in the world before; it is something unikue. We are not here for nothing. It is up to us to put the world on its feet again. If we don’t do this, who will? It is lip to us to lead the way.” So spoke Miss Dora West, 0.8. E., when addressing the social gathering of the Palmerston North Rotary Club last evening, the title given to her address being “How to Make a Living.” Miss West was formerly a member of the secretariat of Rt. Hon. David Lloyd George, and was the original general secretary of the League of Nations Union with headquarters in London. She was the Liberal candidate for Rotherhithe, London Docks, at the general election in 1920.

“I come as a crusader in the cause of common sense,” said Miss West in her opening remarks. “I am ‘dead practical’ in a hard working business world. My philosophy has been hammered out in the hard school of politics at Home.” It had fallen to the lot of the men and women of this generation to have their lives in the darkest hours of history, she continued. In their hands was the hard task to pull the world together again. Nurse Edith Cavill had said: “Patriotism is not enough,” and they knew now that that was right. They all loved their own country, but they knew that patriotism was not enough. They had thousands of panaceas offered for their troubles, but they were not enough. They bad protection, free trade. Capitalism, Socialism, Mussolini in Italy and Sovietism in Russia. Every quack and every demagogae was talking. Those things were only palliatives; they did not go to fundamentals. Material things would never set the right; things of the spirit might. Sir William Beveridge, head of the London School of Economics, had ''suggested, Miss West said, that if he were a dictator he -would remedy the world’s troubles as follows:—(1) Wipe all the war debts and reparations off the slate; (2) begin to break down the tariff walls; (3) let each nation devise the formation of a system of permanent unemployment service; (4) find five wise, honest men to form a committee to devise a scheme on a capitalistic basis; (5) if the former failed, tp try out a scheme on a Socialistic basis if it could be devised. But economists were not dictators, and they had to look elsewhere. LESSON OF EMPIRES.

In reading and thinking one book had been very useful to the speaker, and that was “This World First,” by J. H. Curie. They had seen how each Empire had had its day and. had faded, and there was the thought that the end of their time had come. But Guide pointed out that the old Empires had lived watertight lives unto themselves, but we were different. There had never been anything like the British Commonwealth of nations in the. world before; it was something unique. We were not here for nothing. It was up to them to put the world on its feet again. If they did not who would." It was up to them to lead the way. They were the only country in the world with “Great” before their name. “We are being hammered out to bring the world back to propserity. I believe we can do it, but I am not sure that we are quite ready.” Sir Francis Younghusband, writing in a publication at Home, had said that the public felt that our spiritual training was just in the kindergarten stage, Miss West added. He had said that England was destined to be the Messiah of the nations and that England must not waste any more time. She thought they could get ready if they went the right way to work. Curie had said we were having a hard time because we were moving on to a higher class, that our troubles were because we were at the growing stage. Curie considered that there were three stages, of evolution; first, there was physical development; next, there was the phase that was material, mechanical, inventive, and that seemed to have reached the high water mark; now they had to go forward to the next stage, the spiritual. That was man’s next stage and they were due for it. Every epoch in man’s trek through the ages had been marked by. some special feature. The speaker traced the various stages down to the mechanical age and asked, “What would they say was the sign manual of to-day ?” Air, light, speed; that was the demand to-day. That showed that we were due to go forward —not in the material, but in the mental and spiritual life. What man needed was to get back to God, back to the faith of his fathers. Men were now thinking that there was a lot in religion. Religion and life had gone different ways and the results had been disastrous. It was the things of the spirit that made for successful living

BOOK OF RULES. Proceeding, the speaker said that many people had neglected the higher things. That had to be altered. If they wanted to get a Jot of practical rules, they could not do better than get back to the Book of Rules that was given to them a long time ago—the Bible. For the first time in her adult life she was reading the Bible, and they would brighten their minds and spirits if they would get back to that Book of Rules. After speaking of the very fine English of the Bible, Miss West said she could give them a life line in a word —God. The speaker referred to two men in the Bible who found it paid them to trust .their God—Joshua and Daniel. What did we know, she proceeded, about the natural laws? How could we afford to flout the Book of Rules? There had been notable Englishmen who were not ashamed to trust their God and let people know it. There was Henry V, who led a little army into France and who prayed to the God of Heaven. Then there was Cromwell, who was a type of Godfearing Englishman who was ready to tackle a job and do it. There was no better combination —fear of God and British determination. Then there was Mr Lloyd George. The speaker referred to an incident that took place at No. 10 Downing Street, in tho dark days of March, 1918, which she had heard from a Conservative Minister. In the hall strong men were crying, but when they got the Prime Minister out of bed he bad comforted them. “It will be all right,” he said, “we can’t lose the war.” She bad heard afterwards that the Prime Minister got his inspiration from a hymn book. What he did tell them then was that they must have one Supreme Commander and that must be Foch. “If we are now in a difficult patch of life, I don’t despair,” said Miss West. “If we go after the higher things, others will fall into line. ‘Seek ye first the Kingdom of God.’ It is the driving force of- God that wo need. If we are in a difficult place it does not matter. God only tries out the good stuff.” A vote of thanks was accorded the speaker on the motion of Rotarian J. C. Young, who said it was not often that they had a sample of the fine lady speakers that England possesses

—and, no doubt, Scotland, too. On behalf of those present, he expressed their deep debt of gratitude to Miss West for her visit and their appreciation of the message she had delivered.