DIGGERS' PAPERS

Auckland Star, Volume LXXII, Issue 137, 12 June 1941, Page 15

DIGGERS' PAPERS

SPIRIT REFLECTED

TENACITY OF PURPOSE

New Zealanders, as a race, seem to be prolific producers of newspapers, no matter where they may be nor under what conditions they labour. A recent example was the effort of Now Zealand Diggers in bringing about a small paper on Crete while the bombs fell around them, and there are also tales of literary effort under fire in Greece. Now coming to hand are copies of papers produced on shipboard, some wriiton by men who were journalists before the bigger game called them, some of them obviously the work of enthusiastic amateurs and none the worse for it. "The Cruisaiders," "The Grapevine." "The Blitztourist"—these and many other periodicals, written to the heaving of troop transports, all have their tale to tell. To Defend Holiest Things In a way they reflect their authors. Mainly flippant, and occasionally blasphemous, there is yet a deeper undercurrent to them. Their editorials are in every case written soberly enough, reflecting the stern purpose of the men, and, as for the rest, it is explained in a foreword to one publication written by I.ieutenant-Colonel N. L. Macky, M.C.: "War is a serious game. So serious is it that one must laugh often to retain that strength which will cany us through to victory. I say we will win because we will retain our sense of humour in adversity and have a laugh at the end." "The Cruisaiders" expresses the idea when it states at the commencement of a hilarious volume: "As tight ing men, we really have a serious purpose in view, and that purpose is enshrined in our title. We are on a cruise, and we have the very definite objective, as the old crusaders in Lion Heart's time, of aiding in a sublimely noble cause. "As fighting men, again, we do not like talking too much of this, but without ostentation and sentimental display, we are keenly conscious of our mission, which is not to free the holy pla.ces from unholy hands, but to defend the holiest things—the priceless things — justice, liberty, our Christianity—for our fellowmen, [or our Empire, for those we love. "Please God, our efforts will be successfully crowned, as were those of Lion Heart's men."

Home Is Not Forgotten

''The Blitztourists," a literary safety-valve which appeared after New Zealanders had seen something of the England of to-day, expresses much the same idea in a different way: "We have seen for ourselves the desolation that war has brought to the land that New Zealanders still call Home. No further comment seems required on the insanity and cruelty of our times, or the grim necessity of the task we have set ourselves to do. To us will be given shortly the opportunity to deal a blow for all those ordinary families of Britain who, month after month, have endured the constant threat from the skies so that we might be given time to train and prepare." There is one more aspect of these journals which is particularly apparent when they are read away from the circumstances in which they were written. This is the everpresent assurance that home has not been forgotten. By far the greatest proportion of the jokes have their foundations In comparisons of the old civilian life with that which the men are now leading. And given prominence are those unforgettable lines. "To a Soldier and a Man," particularly the couplet: " She tolls, she waits, she prays, till side by side You stand together when the battle's done."