NEW ZEALAND LEGION

Taranaki Daily News, 15 August 1933, Page 3

NEW ZEALAND LEGION

NORTH TARANAKI CAMPAIGN. ENROLMENT OF MEMBERS. “Following upon Dr. Campbell Begg’s address of last Thursday evening in the Empire Theatre, New Plymouth, which was listened to with such interest and quiet approval, it is desirable to establish the New Plymouth centre widely and firmly by. enrolling members, and f r that purpose a public meeting is being held on Thursday next in St. Mary's Hall, Vivian Street,” writes Dr. George Home to the editor of the Daily News. “All electors, both men and women, whoare not yet familiar with the general scope and aims of the Legion, are invited to attend, also all intending members who have not yet joined. It is particularly wished that New Plymouth womankind should take this opportunity, for they were almost of necessity left out of the initiation of the Legion. The reason for that was mainly that, first o£ all, the feeling of the country had to be rapidly and almost secretly tested throughout to ascertain if the Dominion' at large would be receptive of the Legion’s message, and a rough drafting of lines of procedure had to be' made.

It was felt that men- are perhaps the more active and mobile pioneers of thai sort of thing. It was recognised all along that the active and sympathetic co-operation of our New Zealand women would be necessary to establish arid round off the Legion movement, for as Dr. Campbell Begg put it, it is a national moveinent, and not in any sense : a party. That being so, there is room in it for all shades of political belief. “In a great national crisis party and A opposition disappear, as in the Great War, and all creeds and classes work together for the national benefit. That is the only helpful and sensible thing to do. If that is so in war time why not also in peace time, if such times as these can be called peace time? “In this our present crisis it is surely more than desirable that everyone should sink party opinions and leanings, and that all sections of the community should ignore their differences and cooperate for the good of New Zealand. Therefore all electors are invited into the Legion, if only they feel that they are able and willing to 'fall in with the obligation printed on the membership card. The membership card calls on the member to sign the following obligation: ‘I, realising the present serious national emergency, and the necessity for all good citizens to subordinate private and political interests and to make any necessary, personal sacrifice for the sake of the country, agree to become a member of the New Zealand . Legion and to further loyally, by every means in my power, by vote, example and personal influence, the objects of the Legion. I further, pledge myself to be loyal to his Majesty the King, the British Empire and the New Zealand Constitution.’ The objects of the Legion are given as follows on the enrolment card: (1) The Legion represents an emergency movement to meet a national crisis; (2) it aims at organising the whole people of New Zealand for the safety and security of the Dominion; (3) it proposes by means of the organised ard! directed voting power of the people themselves to secure a government composed of men and women of. integrity and intellect,, freed from the trammels of sectional pressure and actuated solely by the motive of patriotic effort for the sake of the country; (4) its sole aim is more efficient government, central and* local, and government based on national, not sectional interests. Its pledge iS loyalty tn the Constitution. The enrolment fee is fixed at one shilling,;so that ' no one shall be excluded by financial stringency. > ' “It'is frequently stated in adverse criticism of the Legion,” continues Dr. Home, “that it has not produced, anything constructive as yet, and has not declared any policy. The Legion movement only began in February, 1933, and

its first .and main object is to promote or provoke in people’s minds thought for the welfare of our' country as apart from political party, province, town, electorate! or individual.' It is therefore 'an ‘ attempt to till or cultivate the mental soil of the Dominion for the planting of seeds and plants in the form of practical plans for the benefit of all sections of the community. Premature output of such plans is inadvisable for two reasons. The minds of the people may not have had sufficient preparation, or the plans may lack sufficient detailed consideration. Any plans, therefore, are as yet tentative, but the Legion is enlisting and mobilising in its service the best brains of the Dominion, brains from all classes, brains that do not make or find their way into Parliament. It is parti- t cularly desirable that all sections and classes of the community shall be represented on the New Plymouth Legion Council to assist in the progress of the Legion movement.”*