CORRESPONDENTS' VIEWS
SHIPS SUNK BY TONGUE FIRE (To the Editor) During almost the whole of this week a rumour has circulatcd that a certain New Zealand-owned ship has been sunk by enemy action. Kindly folk have seen to it that this "information" was not withheld from wives and families of members of her crew. I have seen somethin™ of the anxiety and suffering it has caused. Unnecessary suffering too because there happens to be no'truth in the report. Similar rumours from time to time in currencv have been exploded by the safe arrival of shms allegedly lost, but to be proved a liar never deters the rumour-monger from fresh efforts. He is encouraged by the foolish and credulous and by an extraordinarilv widespread hunger for doomful tidings. Indeed I would wager that news of the safe' arrival of a ship sunk by tongue-fire will not travel one-tenth so fast or so far as the false report of her loss Wives and families of seamen no less than those of soldiers, in these days live under a weight of anxietv for the safety of their men. If ft is too much to expect the Icosetongued amongst us to refrain from adding to their burden, we can at least treat those who spread such rumours as the fifth columnists they undoubtedly are. T. F. ANDERSON.
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Bibliographic details
Auckland Star, Volume LXXIII, Issue 44, 21 February 1942, Page 6
Word Count
223CORRESPONDENTS' VIEWS Auckland Star, Volume LXXIII, Issue 44, 21 February 1942, Page 6
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