The Daily News. TUESDAY, MAY 1, 1923. THE MISSION OF SERVICE.

Taranaki Daily News, 1 May 1923, Page 4

The Daily News. TUESDAY, MAY 1, 1923. THE MISSION OF SERVICE.

All who read the eloquent and appropriate address delivered by the Archbishop of York to the Duke of York and his bride at Westminster Abbey, as part of the wedding ceremony, will assuredly have been struck with thfe pointed, reference made to the duty of service. The Archbishop quoted the highest example in this respect, emphasising that being content to serve, no matter how exalted a position was held, was the hall-mark of true nobility. In every phase of life the demand for service is insistent. Unhappily there are comparatively few who are content to serve; by far the greatest mass of humanity eraves to be served rather than to be useful to their fellows. Plenty there are, of course, who yearn' for public positions in. which they are supposed to serve the community to which' they belong, moved thereto by aims that are not always altruistic, but that is not what is meant by true service; it is a spurious sentiment that parades itself under a false name. What is it that has caused the greater part of the world’s troubles in recent times? Nothing but strife and the desire for power. Let there be no misapprehension on this point, for the obvious reason that the sense of the common welfare of the people requires reconstructing on a different basis. The great need is for helpful and absolutely unselfish service for the common good. In every department of national life there is a persistent call for helpful service. There are men and women who, realising the need, answer the call and do their best for the general welfare. They are the willing few on whom the press of service constantly falls, and it is not always they are fitted for their tasks.-It is the men of gifted ability who have become equipped with more than average talents that are needed to help in national and local affairs. While there is no difficulty in obtaining, partially or wholly, the service of such people, yet, in the general way, “unless it is worth while,” they fail to find either the time or the trouble to extend their efforts beyond their own affairs. The result of this selfishness is that when able and unselfish men do volunteer for .service their motives are impugned, and they are passed over in favor .of timeservers and loud-voiced egoists who are bent on securing their own ends. Some day, probably, the public will awaken to the true value of altruistic service, and let up hope sincerely that, in the meantime, the stock of benefactors will not have been exhausted. That is why all right thinking British people should welcome the exhortation of the Archbishop of York at the recent royal wedding, and it is the example of the highest in the land

that the people of all grades will be inclined to follow. The more they do so, the greater will be the prospect of human and national welfare. Once the true spirit of service is thoroughly grasped there should be an end of all strife and a linking together of all the forces that make for happiness, good government, progress and prosperity.