CALL TO LEADERSHIP

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23221, 19 June 1937, Page 23

CALL TO LEADERSHIP

" In my view the British Empire has a solemn duty to the world at this time, a duty which scribed in the words Spiritual Leadership,* said Mr Stanley Baldwin (now Earl Baldwin), in a broadcast address. “When we look round and consider the state of the world to-day we see on every side bewilderment and doubt. There is no country but has its difficulties, no country but is faced by danger- I am no pessimist. I believe that in the end the countries of the world will find peace and prosperity, but that the road will be a long and a hard one. For such a journey there is need for common effort, or resolution, of endurance, and above all there is need of leadership. No one country, no group of countries is so qualified to provide that leadership as the British Empire, of which it has been well said free institutions are its life-blood, free cooperation is its instrument, peace, security, and progress are sm°ng its objects. We, the peoples of the Empire, in our relations with one another, have-set an example of mutual co-operation in the solution of our problems such as I believe no group of nations has ever before achieved. We have demonstrated to the world in actual practice that difficulties can be resolved by discussion as they cannot be resolved by force. Our representatives meet in conference not to ratify pronouncements of policy, but to exchange ideas and by discussing those ideas to arrive at the largest measure of mutual agreement. In this we find not weakness, but strength. Tolerance creates con» fidence and confidence harmony.”