EMPIRE FIRST' SELF LAST.

Auckland Star, Volume XLVIII, Issue 55, 5 March 1917, Page 4

EMPIRE FIRST' SELF LAST.

CALLING THE SECGNB Division. WHAT IT MEANS. "Are we doing our best in New Zealand to prepare to meet the many can. : tingencies which must arise as this war goes on?' was the somewhat hard problem submitted to-day by a prominent ; commercial gentleman who is also interested in the farming industry. Con. tinuing, he said: " Have we seriously contemplated what the calling up ©f th* Second Division means? The Dominion by that time will have lost its best phjr. si—illy fit men, men who live in most cases, and carry on their work under the direction of others; men who look to the guidance and brains of those" n.a who are next to go. The greatest lots to a nation are those who combine beta brains and energy—who are the leaders,' the ones who have an experience by the ' responsibility of married life which forces progress. It must be recognised that this is true, and if so, what is going to happen? , p "It is the farming industry that requires to be considered in this connection first, as it is our main source of wealth, the industry which at the present tiaw makes it possible to carry on; the lever from which every bit of machinery ia this Dominion is set moving. That is, supplying the food not only for tha people of the Dominion, but providing supplies needed for the Old Country, and also the men who are fighting tha battles of the Empire. The question », what is to become of the farms held i_ ; every direction by men who will be eKfible in the Second Division? The city 'will, of course, lose its young men, hut the country its married men. "The next question to be considered is the position of the women who an left behind on the farms; also what am be done to keep up the production of foodstuff- so urgently needed. Another point is the state the farms will be in when the owners return at the conclusion of the wai. Of course, men in town have thrown up their businesses and professions to go to the front, and will also lose, but in the case of the farmer it is the question of a decreased . production that has to be faced, and the problem is to what extent will our in* ternal affairs suffer? "What I want to emphasise ia tha urgent need for organisation. Surely this should be the first care of the Government, and I am glad to see that the Efficiency Board has been moving in tha matter. Business and manufacture* ia the city all "will suffer, there can be no help for it. But people must get out of their heads that the essentials are to be fostered not because of the individual but because of the absolute imperativeness of keeping our internal affairs at the maximum. And the great lesson which has not yet been learned here in New Zealand has got to be, at once ■ - Empire first, Dominion second, Self last "We have not got to -work now as ' separate units for self, but as one large ' family under one parent; that parent should be the Government."