CORRESPONDENTS' VIEWS

Auckland Star, Volume LXXII, Issue 272, 17 November 1941, Page 6

CORRESPONDENTS' VIEWS

IS THERE A WAR OX?

(To the Editor)

I read of women in the Homeland working on the wharves, unloading ships, of an organised Women's Home Guard determined that they are going to be prepared, of older women replacing younger ones in non-essential jobs, women by the thousands working on munitions, in the various defence organisations; doing wonderful work in the bombed areas, etc., and here in New Zealand we have thousands of males who are just about as interested in the defence of their Homeland as an j Alsatian dog is in a cauliflower. I read of 53,000 men classed as unfit for the army up to date. Of a certainty the standard of fitness has to be high, but I ask how many 0 f those turned down \ have offered themselves to organisations such as the Home Guard and N.M.R., or E.P.S. Not many, I am afraid, else our parade strengths would be greater than they are. I am in the Home Guard. When our company was started we were about 150. Now we are lucky to average half number. Every male eligible for service, not yet called up, every one called up and their time of joining extended should be compelled to join one of the voluntary movements in defence' of this country. They would be all the better for it when their time for service did arrive. Hold a race meeting on a Sunday morning and you would see thousands of eager males full of enthusiasm for a gamble. This war is not gamble—it's stark, tragic realityyet we keep on fiddling while the fire slowly comes nearer and nearer to our shores. GUARDSMAN.