A GREAT NIGHT

Maoriland Worker, Volume 12, Issue 303, 20 December 1922, Page 12

A GREAT NIGHT

December 6, 1922.

I have been in Wellington's Towr (Ball on many occasions, glad ant } cad, but never have I beea so thnlles as to-night. No man or womSi.a with a soul etmli: .possibly look at that great living Ibrefathtag mass o£ Humanity, and no) ■be moved in some vniy. Thare were such magnificent posr sibtlities in. tliat wonderful crowd ®' people, all animated by the same Thought—all inspired by • the sam« Idea, • ' The very atmosphez'e was charged with Victory—a kind of subtle essence Uiu. passed from one to another. It was truly, a "Great Company"— that swayed, and surged, and clapped and cheered, as the Spirit moved over it. If. was Just the culminating point —the grand climax, .to a series of the most inspiring meetings that "Labour has ever held in this cily. And all around stood the Unseen Helpers—the Invisible Ones of Yesterday. To mc they were just i*» real as the actual speakers on the platform. For one brill-ant, never-to be-forgotten hour. Time was annihilated. PAST, PRESENT and FUTURE were linked up together—the past sorrows and defeats —the present dawning of better things—the futui« GREATNESS THAT SHALL BE. . * * * *■ This mass of human energy was the Moving Power that could make it all possible. Multiplied by millions —all simultaneously seized by the same Grand Ideia—unified in Aaction—THE WILL OF THE PEOPLE could sweep away the last remnants o£ the OLD WORLD, and br-'mg; THE NEW into being. . The thought rushed over one Uke a great wave, moving and. thrilling ©119 to the core. J understood and sympathised with the speaker who said that "He felt like letting himself go!" , vr "X , "3? "W i If was truly, a great night—splendid and unforgettable. « # *. * While I stood on the step 3 watch--1,-ag the vast crowd pouring out, I thought of another time when I had stood in a .S reat crowd on the selfsame spot. A little larmy of men in khaki, with bravely smiling faces under the.ii , flower-wreathed hats were marching past, with flags flying a»d bands playing. . They were marching "to , a great victory for Humanity" (so they were told) but they were marching, in the,ir iiV-staken enthusiasm, on the road that lead to Death. The though!; flashed .across mc that this army of men and 'women would be marching to-morrow, with THEIR 'COLOURS FLYlNG—marching to a victory that will help the world a little further along the road that leads to LIFE! , ■*### ; And THEY DID IT! And we have won, In. proportion to our. numbers, a great victory! Not all bur enemies' heavy artillery of leagues, and lies, and misrepresentations, have availed to stop our advance. "The people have spoken," and here, as in the Old Land, with' no uncertain voice.

"The people/ at last, have reaped their own power—"The people," hare •'found themselves." • .

It is ours now to lose age that we tyave gained—to stand solidly together—and to GO FORWARD TO STORM THE NEXT TO3-