“LAND OF CONTRASTS”

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 1073, 10 September 1930, Page 1

“LAND OF CONTRASTS”

ADDRESS BY LORD BLEDISLOe| “WORLDLINESS AND PIETY” Press Association WELLIXGTOX, Today. “This is a land of contrasts, of wind and calm, cold and heat, love of sport and diligence in work, full cinemas and empty churches, worldliness and : piety, extravagance and thrift.” These remarks were made by the GovernorGeneral, Lord Bledisloe, at the anniversary meeting of the Sailors’ Friend Society, over which he presided. “A short time ago,” he said, “I entered a truly magnificent picture ! house somewhere in the Dominion, one j with every luxurious appointment, ! every up-to-date mechanical device and full of potentialities for good and : evil. The manager told me with pride 1 that it cost a quarter of a million, and j added that it was likely to prove : quite a good investment. I wondered hopefully whether it would be as good j an investment both morally and ! otherwise for the nation as it would for the proprietor. “Passing along the streets of Weil- ! ington on the way to the Seamen's ; Institute ou a peculiarly dull, wet diy ! I tried to picture the impressions of a young stranger, a seaman, possiblv ; belonging to a foreign country, lafid- ! ing after a long voyage on the streets of this city, feeling a bit lonelv. Perhaps it would be muddy underfoot and cold and drizzly overhead and with nothing much to arrest bis attention ; except the cinema posters, some of ; them cheerfully dramatic, some uhin- i spiring, but innocuous, and one at least [ of demoralising suggestiveness. While ' i so cogitating I passed into this build- ■ ing and theicontrast v. vs irulv delightful and interring.''