NEW PLYMOUTH VICTORIA LEAGUE.

Taranaki Daily News, 15 November 1934, Page 4

NEW PLYMOUTH VICTORIA LEAGUE.

The decision of the New Plymouth branch of the Victoria League to continue operations will be welcomed by all who have any knowledge of the beneficent and educative functions the league has performed in Taranaki during the past 23 years. Most social organisations have found it necessary to draw on their reserves of courage during the difficult economic conditions the Dominion has suffered from in the past few years. It would have been deplorable if one of them that stands pre-eminently for belief in the value of the Empire to civilisation and for pride in membership of the British Commonwealth of Nations had found it necessary to cease operations. Last night’s meeting of the League was not carried away by any wave of enthusiasm, nor did it overlook or minimis® the difficulties with which the organisation must cope. On the contrary, it set itself to devise ways and means of doing so and to reawaken interest in the League and its work, particularly the endeavours to keep in sympathetic association with settlers in the hinterlands of the province. It is but a plain statement of fact to say that the needs and the opportunities for such cooperation* between town and. country were never more insistent than at present, even though there are now more organisations attempting to satisfy such needs than there were when the Victoria League began its work in Taranaki. There is also wide scope for the educative work of the league, in reminding its members and others of the privileges of British citizenship. Such education does not mean flag-waving and high-sound-ing public addresses. Demonstrations have their place in the functions of such an organisation, and so have efforts to teach the children in the schools of the Dominion the value of their heritage as members of the Empire. But these operations are supplemented by acts of kindness to the strangers in the community and to those who are striving to overcome the loneliness and sometimes the poverty that accompanies pioneer settlement. The New Plymouth League has a fine record of accomplishment in all this work, and it is to be hoped the future of the organisation will be even more successful.