RECENT CRISIS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 23172, 19 October 1938, Page 15

RECENT CRISIS

SIGNS OP REACTION DANGER IN SITUATION WARNING BY PRIMATE BRITAIN AND HER CRITICS By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright British Wireless RUGBY, Oct. 17 Speaking at the Canterbury Diocesan Conference, the Primate, Dr. Cosmo Gordon Lang, referred to the recent crisis. He said there were already some signs of reaction from the first thrill of thankfulness and he wanted to say a word or two about the dangers of that reaction. lhere was bound to be a relaxing after the strain of the swift and sudden transformation from fear to thankfulness. The glimpse which the people had had into the abyss of war had not been long enough to impress their imagination and voices of criticism of the past policy which were rightly and most commendably silent during the days of the crisis now had been set free.

Dr. Lang said he knew it was said by some that war with the dictators of Europe was inevitable sooner or later and that it would have been as well to have seized the opportunity now to havo fought that issue out. Ho could only say that he could not understand how any thinking man could justify staking the whole future of civilisation upon the uncertain prediction of an unknown future. Gambling With Lives of Millions Again it had been said that they might never have been brought to the brink of war if it had been stated earlier and definitely that Britain was prepared to fight—that what was said as a warning ought to have been delivered as a threat and then no war would have happened.

The Primate said, ho could only say that the game of what was called bluff seemed to him like gambling with the lives of millions of human beings. Therefore, to use the words of Earl Baldwin: "I decline to admit either the inevitability of war or the effectiveness of bluff." There was a tendency to sink into the accustomed ways of living and thinking, and it was impossible to stress too greatly the responsibility laid upon the generation which had lived through these times. In a secular sphere they must look to the Government to lead the people, to gird up its loins in defence of its security and for the enlisting of all the people in some form of national service. Insane Race In Armaments On those matters, said Dr. Lang, he would only venture to say two things. The first was that one light of hope which had sprung from those days wtw the revelation of the deep longing for peace even in such countries as Germany and Italy, where the rulers had been the loudest in glorifying preparations for war. It was plain that the people longed for peace, even where their rulers seemed to make ready for battle.

If that were so, and Dr. Lang said he thought it had been proved overwhelmingly during those last few weeks, then surely the time was approaches when the rulers of all nations would endeavour once again by general agreement to limit, and then end, the insane race in armaments, which not only was a tremendous burden upon all the peoples of the world, but also itself as much a menace to peace as it was a means of security. The Primate said he hoped there might be a widespread desire on the part of all sorts and conditions of people to seek and take some place of service to the State.