BRITISH SPIRIT

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 60, Issue 290, 14 September 1940, Page 2

BRITISH SPIRIT

INDOMITABLE COURAGE. TRIBUTE BY MR FRASER. (Per Press Association). WELLINGTON, September 1:3. Admiration for the spirit of the British people and their indomitable courage during the present bombing raids on London and other English towns and cities was expressed by the Prime Minister (the lit. Hon. P. Fraser) in an interview to-night. He expressed the sympathy of the New Zealand Government' and that of the citizens of the Dominion with relatives of the hilled, injured and homeless. New Zealand shared the world-wide sorrow and regret at the fate that had overtaken so many thousands of the people of London, particularly in the workingclass areas of that great city. “One must feel the highest admiration for the spirit of the people of London and of the United Kingdom as a whole,” said Mr Fraser. “I have personally received cable messages from friends in the areas bombed, and in them the predominant note was expressed in the terms * Thumbs up ’ and “Smiling through.’ Similar evidence is available from all parts of Great Britain. The British spirit found .eloquent expression in the forcible and moving address of Mr Winston Churchill broadcast in New Zealand yesterday morning. Every glowing word breathed the spirit and indomitable courage of the British people and the fixed determination of the British Commonwealth. The lit. Hon. Arthur Greenwood, in a broadcast from the British Broadcasting Corporation to-day, also expressed in striking and graphic fashion the soul of Great Britain. They both spoke for the millions of people in the British Isles; and Miss Dorothy Thompson also, in a most impressive way, to-day has voiced the sentiments of the overAvhelming majority of the American people. “While New Zealand sympathy with the. victims of these bombing outrages is deep and sincere, the barbarous attacks on them strengthens the resolve of the people of this Dominion to put forward even greater efforts, if possible, side by side with the Mother Country and the other members of the British Commonwealth, in the fight against the evil thing called Nazism, and to carry on that struggle to the final victory.”

Mr Fraser said the members of tho Government and all former colleagues in Parliament of the High Commissioner for New Zealand in London (Mr W. J. Jordan) were relieved to learn that thei’e were no casualties at New Zealand House, and that the conduct of the members of its staff through the trying time had been most ■ praiseworthy. The following cable message was received by Mr Fraser to-day from Mr Jordan: “I have to inform you that a delayed-action bomb fell close to the office. All adjoining premises were closed by the police as unsafe to enter until it exploded, I have made temporary arrangements elsewhere for urgent business affairs. The action and spirit of the staff are excellent.”