Urged to pull our weight

In his seasonable message of greeting Mr Massey has reminded the electors of the desirability that each and every one should pull his full weight in the national boat. The New Zealanders are an energetic people. The manner in which they spend their holidays is evidence enough of that. Their capacity to keep the national boat moving very steadily ought to be beyond question, allowing everything for adverse currents. In the holiday season, during the Christmas and New Year interlude, the national boat may of course be permitted to look after itself. There are other calls — loud, imperative, and irresistible — the call of all those things which ever seem to the vast majority to make life most worth living. There is a clamant invitation to indulge the mood of holiday. There is the open road, the sparkling sand, and the jocund sea. There are fetters to be spurned in the general rush towards a thousand avenues of recreation. And the oars of the national boat will always be handled the better no doubt for the bracing interlude.