The Timaru Herald SATURDAY, DECEMBER 31, 1932. NEW YEAR MESSAGES.

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXXVII, Issue 19379, 31 December 1932, Page 8

The Timaru Herald SATURDAY, DECEMBER 31, 1932. NEW YEAR MESSAGES.

In a short; and expressive message addressed to the people of New Zealand, the. Prime Minister offers best wishes to his fellowcitizens for a happier and brighter New Year. Mr Eorbes briefly refers to the trials that have beset the people in the year that closes to-night, but he suggests that present indications give some grounds for hope that the coming year may witness a measure of recovery from the economic depression, which has so long held in its grip all countries in the world. “The times have called and still call,” says the Prime Minister, “for the exercise of that British tenacity and pluck which we have always been proud to regard as characteristic of New Zealanders.” The people are reminded that if they continue to face the future with a calm determination, the country will certainly surmount the difficulties of the forthcoming year, and with a full realisation that this spirit predominates among our population, the Prime Minister offers good wishes for the coming year. The .Leader of the Opposition, speaking on behalf of the Labour Party, addresses a much longer message to the people. He made up his mind to take no risks, as far as the newspapers ai'e concerned, since tie offered his message conditionally i*pon the full text being published, otherwise he preferred to have the whole withheld from publication. Nevertheless Mr Holland’s message strikes a high note, and his observations will be read with no little interest. It is regrettable, of course, that Mr Holland could not persuade himself to give a little credit where credit is so manifestly due. If the difficulties now confronting New Zealand, could be traced to purely local causes, the solution of the country’s troubles would be almost as easy as Mr Hyland suggests. It has remained for an Australian banker, however, to point to the cold facts of the present economic situation, and show that a solution of the problems confronting all producing countries reposes in increased commodity prices. As a matter of fact, if the price of wool, meat and butter were to rise, all the clouds that darken the financial and economic horizon in New Zealand would disappear like the mists before the rising sun. There is much in Mr Holland’s message that will appeal to thoughtful people. The message is carefully and expressively phrased, and in the main, a lofty idealism is expounded. There is nothing new in the statement that the country presents an amazing paradox. In this respect, New Zealand is not peculiar. Obviously what is required is unity of purpose and co-operation iri tackling the big problem confronting this country. The year going away to-night has been one of terrific significance, and the people go forward into the new year with some misgiving. No path of roses awaits the human family. The world presents, as has been repeatedly suggested, many amazing paradoxes. It is, as Mr Holland suggests, foreign to British character quietly to allow women and children to starve while plenty abounds, and this phase must be faced and solved. If a loftier social consciousness is needed —a call for a higher state of society—an immense responsibility reposes on the. leaders in all spheres of the affairs of the nation. So much is involved in the fortunes of the people of the Homeland, that it is encouraging to note that distinctly optimistic notes may be discerned in the views being ex pressed by commentators on the economic situation in the Old Land. But the nation must look to its ideals if it is to flpurish. As Bishop Brodie remarks in a New Year message: “In the sphere of true citizenship, New Zealand, our island home so far removed from other lands, offers us scope which no other land can offer. Given that peace promised to men of good will, especially the allimportant factor of industrial peace, which will ensure an unbroken unity and an unflinching fixity of purpose, there is no task which will not be accomplished with honour and success. In the same spirit of citizenship we can study the complex problems of the time with a view to offering every effort of constructive helpfulness to those entrusted with the arduous task of guiding the destinies of the nation.”

THE RULES OF THE GAME. ‘‘To your own self be true, And it must follow as the night the day, Thou cans’t not then be false to any man.” Inspired by the profoundest knowledge of the power lying in the human being, of which many are probably unaware—a power that can raise to heights undreamed of—Shakespeare thus expounds the fundamental rule of life which points the way to the gradual unfoldment of human individuality toward fuller selfexpression. Obviously the greatest possible discovery to the individual, is to come to a knowledge of real self. Expounding the same fundamental rule of the game of life, Emerson insists that “all men are unawakened Gods.” But

who will say that the leaders and the rank and file of the peoples of the Earth, have well played the game according to the rules, for never in the whole history of mankind, has there been such widespread and such appalling discord and distress as surround the human family to-day. The rules of the game provide that life for each human being should be a stirring and glorious journey, warmed and brightened with the sparkling sunshine and radiant health, happiness, plenty and peace, but for too many it is a drab and dull existence darkened with the deep shadows of pain, disease, sorrow, poverty and fear. Why should this be? The Leader of the Opposition, in a New Year message to tin* people of New Zealand, which we publish this morning, declares that “never in this country's history have the Christmas bells pealed and the Christian carols been sung to an accompaniment of such unparalleled want and misery as in this year of 193,2.” Mr Holland stoutly supports Lord Melchett in his statement that: "In a world laden with wealth, great masses of the population are living in the worst degree of poverty and in the most pitiable circumstances; "The world’s stocks of all the principal necessaries of life are greater than they have ever been before; “That the command which man has on the forces and resources of Nature is greater than during any period in history;

“And there is not the slightest need for the appalling poverty that is now prevalent.” Mr Holland rather distorts the picture when he declares that “never has any country presented a more amazing paradox.” Obviously the problems that beset us are not geographical, as the Leader of the Opposition would appear to suggest. They affect and bewilder every member of the human family. The world over the props of civilisation appear to be weakening. In every quarter of the globe, there is concrete evidence of human discord and national ill-health. Obviously the game is not being played in the letter and spirit of the rules. Deep-seated and far-reaching defects have undermined the whole scheme of things, and the existing system is literally reeling under the prolonged shocks, which have so grievously harmed millions of people in all lands. In every country, confused and distressed minds are searching for the panacea which will lighten the darkness and enable men and women to live happily, healthily and successfully. Mr Holland, in his New Year message, declares that “the call to-day is for a higher state of society—a loftier social consciousness.” Generally speaking, however, universal confusion has forced men and women of all classes and races to ask themselves whether there may not be some definite laws in life by which the nations are required to conduct their affairs; laws or rules which have been ignored and even violated. Moreover, thoughtful men and women are beginning to recognise that the people themselves and not some malignant fate, lias produced widespread discordant and distressing conditions. In other words, the human family lias transgressed against the rules of the game, and there is a growing realisation that man alone does not control his destiny, but that regard must be paid to a perfect system of law and order, since no blind medley of forces moves the world. But do the people know the rules of the game? Obviously not, if Thomas Henry Huxley is sound in his reasoned conclusions:

“Supposing it were perfectly certain that the life and fortune of every one of us would, one day or other, depend upon his winning or losing a game of chess. Don’t you consider that we should all regard it to be a primary duty to learn at least the names of -the pieces; to have a notion of a gambit, and a keen eye for all the means of giving and getting out of check? Do you not think that we should look with disapprobation amounting to scorn upon the father who allows his son, or the State which allows its members, to grow up without knowing a pawn from a knight? And yet it is a plain and elementary truth that the life, th* fortune, and the happiness of every human being do depend upon a knowledge of the rules of a game infinitely more difficult and com plimented than chess. But have they? The answer is seen everywhere. On the chess board of the world to-day, the pieces are strewn in tragic confusion, but unless and until more regard is paid to the fundamental rules of the game of life, chaos and resultant misery are inevitable; for, as the poet-philosopher has said, “each man is in truth his own judge, the dispenser of glory or gloom to himself, the decreer of his life, his reward, his punishment.”