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Salient. The Newspaper of Victoria University College, Wellington, N.Z. Vol. 19, No. 3. March 24, 1955

Lack Of Opinions

Lack Of Opinions

The Editor,

"Salient."

Dear Sir,—Some time now has gone by since the Congress at Curious Cove. There, many subjects were discussed and mighty decisions reached. A little later there was a Catholic students' congress at Raumati. Here again some of the subjects from Curious Cove have come to the fore and, as at the Cove, much hot air has ascended to the skies—and was doubtless recorded there by the tally clerk on the credit side of the ledger. How clottish he must feel when, after such a long time, nothing more—either for or against—has come from the students of Victoria.

Sir, I ask you, must we wait for Dr. Sutch or Sir Carl Berendsen to turn the handle before we squeak? Have we no minds of our own? What is this paper for, if not to air our views on the subjects discussed?

And so we move on to a subject which received much attention at Curious Cove: the relationship of China. Formosa and the United States. The problem is not quite as simply as certain people make out. Formosa, it appears, is little more or less than Chinese property: the Nationalists, a group of rebels opposing by force the attempts of the Communists to unify the country: the U.S.A. an imperialistic power trying to influence the fall of the cards to favour its own ambitions.

But does not even a minority have the right to express its views, to speak and be heard in public? Does the Communist Government offer the Nationalists or anyone else who opposes it in any way, the right of free speech? Are we morally justified in standing quietly by and watching a faction of thought exterminated by the Sword?

Are we as Christians justified in allowing an enemy of all we value, to run riot across the world? Do we quietly permit the hard won principles of Christianity and democracy to be thrown overboard in country after country?

"Students, my students, wherefore art thou?

Speak now or forever hold thy peace."

Yours, etc.,

B. [unclear: Callingham.]

(Reader Callingham will find much to be discussed in our first of a register series of political commentaries by "Polemic," elsewhere in the issue—Ed.)