“YEAR OF GREAT ACHIEVEMENT”

Timaru Herald, Volume CLIII, Issue 22469, 2 January 1943, Page 4

“YEAR OF GREAT ACHIEVEMENT”

1942 In Retrospect

Governor Sounds Note Of Optimism

(N.Z.P.A.) CHRISTCHURCH, Dec. 31, “We can say to-day without fear of error that we can see the first light of dawn in the sky, but let no one be so foolish as to think that because, thank God, wc have turned the corner, our difficulties are at an end. The road ahead is rough and treacherous, and if we are to reach our goal we must one and all resolve to intensify our endeavours for the common cause.”

The Governor-General, Sir Cyril Newall, who is now in the South Island, sounded a distinctly optimistic note in his broadcast address to the people of New Zealand this evening. “The year just ended,” said Sir Cyril, “has been hard and anxious—a year of much sorrow and grave disappointments—fateful for New Zealand, and, in fact, for all mankind. It has been a testing time,” he declared, “which had revealed our weakness as well as our strength. But it has been a year of great achievements, too,” his Excellency said.

Previous Grave Situation

“When I spoke to you last New Year’s Eve, I said that the skies were very black indeed, and they were blacker even than we realised. In the first months of 1942 these grew more stormy Still, many of us felt that if we could hold on, if we could weather the storm until the dawn of 1943, the vast resources of the United Nations would turn the tide, and so it proved, for. as the old year was drawing to its close news from every front, and that is to say from every corner of the globe, grows more and more encouraging. Stalingrad did not fall. To-day our Russian Allies are moving steadily forward, the Eighth Army has smashed through the enemy lines at El Alamein. It has now driven remnants of the Afrika Korps hundreds of miles towards Tunisia. “The heartening news that the enemy were in full retreat was followed swiftly by the good tidings of AngloAmerican landings in North Africa, and nearer home in the Pacific Allied Forces met with redoubtable success by land and sea and air. Everywhere the outlook was bright for the United Nations who were at last on the offensive. "We must take fresh heart from the knowledge that the days of the defensive are dying with the old year,” he continued. “The pass word for 1943 is ‘attack.’ It is a weakness in the British character that, just as bad news will always bring the best out of us, good news is apt to cause us to rest upon our laurels. We must guard against this weakness. ,‘lt has been found possible in New Zealand to relax the lighting restrictions and fire watching duties. That is only because the immediate threat to our own shores has been diminished, not because victory is in sight. Soldierly Qualities Essential “The soldierly qualities of loyalty, courage, endurance and discipline,” said the Governor-General, “would be no less essential after victory than they were now. Indeed, they will be more essential then,” he added, “for we shall not have the stimulus of physical danger to spur us on to loyalty to our faith, to our ideals and to our leaders, the courage to face facts at all times, to stand up to spiritual as well as physical dangers and endurance to give us strength to triumph over our disappointments, and self-discipline, without which liberty can only degenerate into licence. These are the very virtues of the founders of New Zealand.” To the children his Excellency gave this special message: “You have a mighty task ahead of you, for you will have to win the peace when we have' won the war. If you are to succeed, and we are determined that you shall, you must build upon something more sound than material ambitions. The Christian way of living must be your goal, and the basis of Christianity is family life and the home. Honour your fathers and your mothers, help your neighbours, serve your country and your King. “To everyone in New Zealand I wish all the happiness that is possible in the coming year,” he said. “May those who have been bereaved find comfort in the near approach to victory, for which their loved ones have given their all, and in our resolve that that victory will be turned to good account for the future of mankind. "Finally, to all New Zealanders who were fighting overseas, the GovernorGeneral said; “To you all I send my greetings. I know I am saying what is in the heart of every man, woman and child in the Dominion when I say 'Thank you for all you have done and are doing for us.”‘