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8
The blue-print of things to come has been drawn
up. It is not for me to say good or bad about the blueprint,
but I do think it does behove me, and many
others who, like me, have given their lives to work
under the old order of things, to say what has been
achieved and wherein we have failed.
It is possible to write thus now when the course of
things has been determined, because there is now no
opportunity of influencing policy, and I believe it is
obligatory that this should be done in order that the
work of the men and women of my generation shall be
recorded for the historians of the future, that is, if,
having regard to the advent of the atom-bomb, we are
to have a future.
It has been the fate of people who have been
pioneers that they resist the necessary codification and
regimentation which are necessary in the more settled
state of affairs which follows the freedom of pioneering
days.
To a certain extent, no doubt, I am influenced by
this general tendency, but, insofar as all that I have to
say is fact concerning the days that are gone, I do not
believe that any personal factor can invalidate the story
I have to tell.
To begin with, I want to set forth the services which
have been achieved in the past.
I am,
Mr. Mayor, Ladies and Gentlemen,
Your obedient servant,
C. LEONARD WILLIAMS,
Medical Officer of Health: