BISHOP OF NELSON ELECT

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXVI, 24 September 1934, Page 8

BISHOP OF NELSON ELECT

AN INSPIRING ADDRESS UNITED EMPIRE At a luncheon held by clergy and others in honour of the Rev. Canon Hiliard, Bishop of Nelson elect, reference was made to a speech delivered by the guest at the annual dinner of the Royal Empire Society, Sydney. The speech was so very approriate to the occasion that the Council of the Society decided to have it reproduced in order that all th c members, many of whom were not able to be present, should not be deprived of knowing what had been said in response to the toast ‘United Empire.’ I n a covering letter to Nelson the Rev. Kelso King says:— “We arc all most sorry to lose a friend so very highly qualified and who has given such valued service to our community, but we take comfort in realising that thc gain is yours and that the selection you have so wisely made may increase that bond of friendship- so closely associated between the Dominion of New Zealand and tile Commonwealth of Australia. With kind regards. THE ADDRESS I remember reading once of a nervous old lady who was taking her first ride in a London taxi-cab, and was greatly alarmed by the eccentric and perilous course which the cab was pursuing. Agitatedly rapping on the glass partition which separated her from the driver, she exclaimed: “I do wish you would be more careful, young man; remember, this is the first time I have ever ridden in a taxi cab.” “Oh, that’s alright, Ma’am,” came thc comforting reply, “this is the first time I have ever driven one.” You see, it is always possible for things to be worse, and you can have the same distress as others, and have it in a more exaggerated form. That story came back to my mind to-night, when I listened to the speakers who have preceded me, regretting that they had been left but the fragments from the oratorical banquet. If it had been hard for them, how do I fare, who come last on the list? I suppose I must just do my best, and if I shrink from the impertinence of assuming in this distinguished company the right to respond for the great Empire whose unity has just been pledged, I can at least take the opportunity of saying something about the subject' itself. I suppose you have heard of the outback country funeral, when the village identity, “Old Pete,” was being buried. No address has been given, and, as the company stood round the open grave, one of the members said: “Well, it seems rather callous to bury him in silence. Can’t somebody say a word about ‘Old Pete’?” There was a .silence for a time; then one little man stepped forward and sai/1: “Well, as nobody seems anxious to speak about

poor ‘Old Pete,’ I should like to take the opportunity of saying a few words about the single tax.” BRITISH EMPIRE Perhaps I can take this opportunity, then, of saying a few words about the British Empire. I speak as one who is an Australian, and proud of being an Australian. I rejoice in her blue distances and her vast resources, her honourable past and her starry destiny. I believe that in the years to (Dine, when the gerat peoples of Asia have awakened .to a sense of their power and taken to'themselves all the treasures and resources of Western civilisation, Australia’s position in the Pacific will be of great strategic importance, and the Empire will find in her a useful point of contact with one of the world’s great centres of influence. But, though I glory in her golden possibilities, I always think of this, my native land, as a distant country of the Empire, whose centre is in those little islands in the grey mists of the Northern Seas. When I speak of the Empire, of course, I am not thinking of any poliitical party, social class or economic system with which it may be associated, but thc great body of the British race as it corporately finds through all the changes and circumstances of the rolling centuries a satisfactory expression of its spirit and ideals.' To such a great body, it is a splendid privilege to belong,' and tonight the blood races more quickly through the veins as the names of Drake, and Raleigh, and Nelson, Wellington, and Marlborough and Clive, Gladstone, and Chatham and Burleigh, Shakespeare and Milton and Wordswotli, Alfred, Elizabeth and Victoria, Wolfe and Cook and Cecil Rhodes, Livingstone and Florence Nightingale, Shaftesbury and Wilberforce —and how many more ? —rise before the memory and crowd each other out. EMPIRE’S MORAL PRESTIGE There are at least three good reasons for desiring a united Empire. First, I desire it because I am an Australian. I believe that, for very many years to come, we in Australia shall need the material support and the inoral prestige of the British Empire, and, even in those days that lie ahead, when we are developing beyond the need of material help, we shall be saved from the circumscribed and petty and parochial in our oulook, and get a sense of vision from our association witth the great world Empire to which we belong. It is not without inspiring significance that Anzac Day should fall just two days after the Festival of St. George. Our Australian destiny is interwined with that of the Empire, and we look forward here to a fresh expression in new conditions and under Southern sunny skies of that noble British stock which is our own. Secondly, I desire a united Empire because I am a Briton. After all, we Australians are British —we are not Russian—and while we shall ever be prepared to learn, and learn with gratitude, from the successful and welltried experiments of other lands, we shall refuse to fling away the priceless heritage of the centuries, and we

■ shall incorporate all the lessons we : may learn from others in a system which expresses the essential genius of the British race. It is worthy of remark that the movement "for Empire celebrations seems to have originated , in the Colonics. A lady in Canada in- ' augurated the celebrations in the > schools, and it was our dear old friend, ! Archdeacon Boyce, of Sydney, who was : chiefly responsible for its extension to • the wider life of the adult population. Thirdlv, I desire a united Empire, ' as a citizen of the world, for I believe l that the British Empire is the greatest • influence for peace in the world to-day. • When we contemplate the terrible cost i of war, we cannot but be anxious lest; ! her influence at the council table of the ■ nations be weakened by division i among her children. I am not speaking : now of the tremendous material cost ■ of war —that is a small thing com- : pared with the lives snatched from the t ways of leadership and the paths of ; usefulness, the careers cheerfully flung 5 away, thc prospects abandoned, the ; hearts broken or seared, the homes wrecked and made desolate, the persont alities warped, the bodies maimed and - twisted, the' lives robbed of colour : and warmth and taste. These are the - terms in which the cost of war must ; be reckoned, and we cannot but be 5 grateful for the splendid influence of - our Empire in the cause of peace. It is - not perfect, we know, huts its. disl memberment to-day would be an intert im 1 ional calamity.. I believe, moreover, - that in the days that lie ahead, the r Empire has a magnificent, contribution i to bring to the realisation of the un'i- - vcrsal brotherhood of men. It has been able to gather within itself, peoples of ’ everv colour, of many languages, of - every clime, and to all it aims to give , the full privilege of British citizenship. , It lias; helped the nations of its Com- , monwealth to solve the difficult probl lem of finding satisfactoy self- ; expression, and all the liberty that reason could demand within the larger unity of the far-flung fellowship. Is not' this a picture of the world as all idealists worild'have it he? Is not 3 this a, foretaste of the day when wo shall have a definite and organised i expression of the universal brotherr hood of men? j WHAT IS NEEDED For , these three reasons, at least, I - feel that we. should desire and labour 1 to maintain the; unity of the Empire 3 to which we belong,- but’ let iis remem--1 ber that the mere drinking of toasts will not accomplish what we desire. I " once saw a quaint little rhyme which 3 illustrates nly thought:— “It was only ,an old beer bottle, t Which was cast - ' up by tlie tide, : V But it bore a sad, sad message On a paper found inside. , These words were written on, 1 ‘He who finds this old beer bottle L ' Will find the beer’s all gone.’ ” j , Well, now, there was a time when 3 for some people, that bottle had a 3 value, but, its contents having been t poured out, it is now of value f to none. } go, when the rich wine of a nation’s ■ spirit has been exhausted, it is cast • up like an empty bottle bn the littered 3 shores of history. There was once a time when men ; could boast of their membership in the Roman Empire, the Empires of Greece, of Egypt, or Assyria, but now the wind of the centuries howls above the ruins of those ancient empires. We speak of the glory that was Rome and tlie splendour that was Greece, because generations arose who were content to glory in tlie past, without setting themselves to he worthy, of that past and breathe .its spirit into the generations still to come. God save us in the days of crisis and catastrophe from a. supine folding of the hands, which is the~ncgation of our glorious birthright! God save us in the day of our strength and prosperity from a comfortable and selfish complacence, which opens the door to inevitable decay! We are the heirs of a priceless heritage which it is not ours to barter or to give away. The British Empire is the heritage of the valiant, the steadfast and the brave. It will continue to be the heritage only of the valiant, the noble and the brave. - I am reminded that on the 24th ' May, 1.572, Francis Drake sailed forth from Plymouth Harbour on that voyage during which he climbed a tree in Panama and caught a vision of the vast Pacific Ocean beyond. He made up his mind that, if God allowed him, li c would sail those unknown seas in an English craft. This resolve resulted in his voyage round the Globe. .So may we here to-night, on this Empire Day, get a new vision of what our Empire ought to be, and set ourselves to make tlie vision real! Let us labour to make and keep ber an Empire where we “Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and unto God the tilings that are Gods.” Then, in the days of crisis, we shall face our difficulties and our dangers unafraid, even as we did in the days of the European War. You will remember how it was predicted, immediately before the War, that the Empire would fall asunder —India would take the opportunity of asserting her national independence, it was said—South Africa would be glad to renounce the recent British yoke—Australia and Canada would stand aside from the terrible cost of war. But what happened? Australia pledged herself to the last man and the last shilling; an Indian Chieftan came to the British Viceroy with the question, “What orders for me and my people from thc King Emperor?” And even little Niue, a small island in our Southern Seas, sent her contribution of troops from “The little child of the Empire.” Let us do our best, and let us stand together. I close with some words of Henry Lawson’s, who, in an extraordinary degree, had the capacity for expressing Australian sentiment. Looking back across his life in a great and last < review, ho comes at length to these concluding lines: “Tell the bushmen to Australia and and each other to be true, Tell the boys to stick toegther; I hav 0 held my last review.” If we may substitute a word or two, I would say as my last words: “Tell the British to Britannia, and each other to be true, “Tell the folk to stick together, this is what I say to you.”