GREAT CALL TO YOUTH.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21131, 14 March 1932, Page 6

GREAT CALL TO YOUTH.

[PRINCE OF WALES' APPEAL. •'AWAY WITH DEPRESSION." PROBLEMS TO BE FACED. [FROM OTJR OWN CORRESPONDENT.^ LONDON, Jan. 28. The Prince of Wales addressed a remarkable audience at the Royal Albert Hall last night, and his speech was broadcast throughout the country. The meeting was arranged by the National Council of Social Service, of which the Prince is patron. Every type of school, from the elemontary stage to the universities, was represented, together with all those organ- 1 isations concerned in juvenile, educational, health and rural work which make up the social service of the country. Similar gatherings, on a smaller scale, were being held simultaneously in over 260 towns and villages, and the broadcasting of the Prince's speech meant that millions of people were given the opportunity of hearing his call to youth. "I believe there exists in many minds," said the Prince, speaking of the economic depression, "a feeling that while our trouble is largely duo to outside causes, it is not due to these alone—that while political and economic changes may be effective to avert financial disaster, they cannot in themselves ensure a true and Bound growth of our national life. Whatever the coming years may hold of hardship and difficulty, wo can win through triumphantly if only we will recognise that tho future is in our own hands. By all means let the State do all for us that it can, but it cannot do much more than give us conditions in which our individual task is made easier, and neither the State nor anyone else can relieve us ■ of that task. 'Tor the Duration." "1 want you to understand that we ere not just facing a few months of 'grin and bear itbut that we must get into training for a long period of work—- * hard work and effort, sustained despite possible discouragements. You must be prepared, as others have been before, to enlist 'for the duration,' without asking how much-may in the long run be required of you. ' On the subject of unemployment the Prince said: —'-'My appeal here is not to statesmen, nor <;ven to philanthropists, but to all those who are in work, to play the part of neighbour and friend to the men out of work. That is the open road of duty ami. a short cut to happiness all round. There is no central machinery here i'.i London that can provide a substitute for the good neighbour. Good Sense and Good Humour.

"The enemy t'>-day is depression and apathy. Let us attack them with two of our old-fashione.l characteristics—good sense and good humour. I believe there are groups of tt3 unemployed here and there, dead sick of prolonged idleness, who are themselves feeling out toward ways of giving "tiieir unhired labour in co-operative effort.' for the help of others in need. It is 'ip to us to back such attempts with ev=:'.ry possible support. "Get together vherever this burden lies heaviest, face up "o the most urgent local need, and see if the community on the spot cannot makn its own self-directed contribution toward this great problem. So far as is humanly possible, let us break it up into little pieces and refuse to be brow-beaten into paralysis by its 6ize.

"As far as my part is concerned, many paths in life are closed to me. Much that I would like to do I cannot. But I have tried to bring more closely together the people of the Empire, to bring more closely together the Englishspeaking peoples, .i.nd to further our interests abroad. I have had my failures, I know, but in the se years, with few precedents to guide us, to have no failures is to have attempted nothing. Prince's Threefold Message. "Let us make it quite clear that I am not asking anyone to launch yet another organisation. Far from it. Ihe message that I have tried to give you is a threefold one:— "First, for a fre<h response to national service; for a greater spirit of unselfish and adventurous helpfulness in the midst of problems which the ablest in our midst find difficult to unravel. The second point is th;it the opportunity for service is at our o'oor —in our own village, in our own town. And my third and last point is this: That depression and apathy are the devil's own—they are not English, so awiy with them. "Many great audiences have filled this hall, many great causes have been pleaded from this platform. But n.sver, I am confident, has there been such a gathering of both young :ind old, eager to help the service of their fellow men. Let us make ourselves fit for that service and dedicate ourselves to it to-night." (Loud cheers.)