WAR AIMS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXXI, Issue 13, 16 January 1940, Page 6

WAR AIMS.

I would suggest that no helpful purpose is served by such impracticable and mischievous views as those expressed by the Hon. W. E. Barnard. The peate aims of the Allies have frequently bee stated in terms sufficiently clear for the average person, and it seems equally clear that victory on the battlefield WW* first be achieved before those aims ®aa be more fully elaborated. Mr. quotation from 1L G. Wells carries bo weight. Can you imagine anything farcical than the statement that "<*»• currently with this war we want a great debate. . . It is something much more important than the actual warfare"? To certain types of a"® philosophers words are always jnP r ® important than action, and this particular writer's (Wells) philosophy aim? turning the bulk of mankind into spiritless, mindless automatons, with some kind of Utopian State supreme overallBut surely the world has already seen more than enough of the fruits of the various brands of Socialism. Til? 1 portion of Nazi propaganda which blames tlie Treaty of Versailles for all evilspast, present and to come, is apparently having some effect, but we sboiijd remember the statesmen of 1918 diu their best under the and conditions of their time. If unwitting'} they sowed the seeds of future discord, their "successors are equally responsible for cultivating those seedp; and not least blameworthy are those countries that opeuly preached and practised ® policy of self-sufficiency, with a complacent disregard for the welfare of *h e other fellow. If Mr. Barnard is 6l ? anxious about laying the foundations ot an enduring peace there is ample scope t'loso at hand for him and his Parliamentary colleagues in uhing that practical lead for which the people of this Dominion (as a united jiople) a re Mill waiting. In the meantime there seems every reas-on to bclicw that when the Allies prevail o\er the armed forces of evil the statesmen of Britain and France will begin their treaty making iu a right spirit, being aware that cooperation and compromise and tolerant* are the foundation and the very essence of freedom and peace. ACTIVUS.