EMPIRE’S GRAVE DILEMMA

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19519, 29 December 1937, Page 14

EMPIRE’S GRAVE DILEMMA

WAR TO END AGGRESSION RISKS EMPHASISED PRETORIA, Nov. 11. An appeal for national unity and international understanding was made by Sir Patrick Duncan, Governor. General of South Africa, in a speech at the Armistice Day ceremony here to-day. “To-day the nations are rearming on a scale never before attempted,” he said. “Aggression is stalking naked. Millions of youths are being reared on propaganda and taught that they must be prepared for war and that peace is a refuge for the weak.” Machinery for peace existed, Sir Patrick continued, but the spirit to make it work successfully was lacking. “In the peace of 1918 the dominant motive was punishment and suppression. This has brought us face to face with a grave dilemma to-day —either aggression must go unchecked or we must risk another war if we are to try to prevent it by force.” Sir Patrick Duncan advocated first of all “a better understanding within our own borders, all working for national unity among ourseives. “Then let us,” he added, “carry this work beyond otfr borders for the better understanding of the nations of the world. “In the last resort we must be prepared to make the last sacrifice for our country and for freedom, which is its birthright.”