LORD BLEDISLOE

Southland Times, Issue 22130, 26 September 1933, Page 8

LORD BLEDISLOE

PROUD OF NEW ZEALAND TRIBUTES TO PEOPLE THE WILL TO CONQUER (Per United Press Association.) Wellington, September 25. Pride in the courage and determination that the people of New Zealand had shown during the last few difficult years and confidence in the nation’s future welfare, were, expressed by Lord Bledisloe speaking at the Dominion Day reunion of the Early Settlers and Historical Association of Wellington this afternoon. “It is on this day more than on other days of the year that we look back and look forward,” his Excellency said. “There are many countries in the world that cannot consciously and confidently look back with entire selfsatisfaction to their past history. There need be no qualms in this country, however, in looking over its comparatively short history and feeling not only a pride in the past, but also buoyant confidence in the future.” Twenty-seven years ago this . then so-called colony became a Dominion, entering into the status of a great selfgoverning unit of the greatest Empire in the world, he said. “That is a distinction conferred on but few other countries and a distinction in spite, of its size and relatively small population of which New Zealand has shown herself to be abundantly worthy. During the last two years she has found herself in the greatest economic crisis with which the world has ever been confronted, a crisis from which the world has not yet completely emerged and a problem which the great economic conference has failed to solve, but I want to take this opportunity of saying—because now we see the light on the horizon and we believe that brighter times are coming—that I feel proud of the courage and determination, self-reliance and resourcefulness, that this country has shown during the difficult years that have lately passed.” Referring to the manner in which those in want had fared during the situation, his Excellency said it was the strongest evidence of the deep-rooted stability of the country . which was going to carry it to a higher position than it had ever occupied.