IN THE PUBLIC MIND

Auckland Star, Volume LXXV, Issue 182, 3 August 1944, Page 4

IN THE PUBLIC MIND

CORRESPONDENTS , VIEWS , ESSENTIAL WORKERS £ j » (To the Editor) ' Reading the various letters refer* ring to Worker First-class and Essential Workers, one is almost asked to believe in the standards of the real honest in purpose essential worker, who really believes and is doing ah important war job. How many. A grade single and married men hav>e used essential industry as a cloak to hide them from, the Army and ja real war effort? I think the blame for the state "of affairs can be fastened on the Government and trie Appeal Boards in not inquiring more diligently into the hundreds of appeals of A grade men. They rushed into essential jobs before and after they were called up. In numerous cases men who had never dirtied their' hands hurried into unpleasant jobs because they were essential to dodge doing their -share in a man's way for New Zealand. What of the all too numerous A grade men whose appeals were-ad-journed sine die because of the Home Guard and E.P.S.? Now that those institutions are defunct, why. don't these men do , their bit and why doesn't the Government call them up? Can anybody deny that A grade clerks, storemen and other semiskilled jobs in essential, industries could be filled by returned boys, after giving them a few weeks to learn the "run of the ropes." When. my little son grows up I won't have to say to him what I heard one "of the weak appealers say to his son: "The Government wouldn't let me go." ANOTHER SOLDIER. "Worker First Class" , letter is-a" typical example of the emotion and appreciation shown for the hardships and sufferings endured by our men; of the Services. Do you who have been living in safety and comfort during these past five years, really mean to say that there is no difference between the man in # overalls and the servicemen wh.o~h.ave made the supreme sacrifice,' the servicemen who have 'returned- to-'.this country to occupy our mehtal''h<)S i " pitals, and those who have returned minus limbs? Yes, there really. ; are such men, you know. * Are these ;tke men you envy? I do not regret-.my service overseas until I read such letters as "Worker First Class."rHTs smugness, lack of interest in the well-being of the returned ■ servicemen, and idea of equality of sacrifice are matters to be deplored.' ■ FOUR YEARS IN MIDDLE EAST. THE TRUTH AND THE LIGHT Your contributor Canon ■ C.. W» Chandler would dispose of the* Old Testament prophet Elijah in terms which remind us of the Duke of Wellington's summing up. ; ! of Napoleon: "The fellow isn't really, a gentleman." But Elijah, -Jifce Napoleon, represents something altogether too massive to" be 'a- dismissed with an epigram. Candrj Chandler says: "Neither dp Tbelievfe that all the churches in Christeridom are big enough to . contain \a'H there is of that truth that leadeth to eternal life." Yet, when he'was ■ordained a priest of the Church ;ol England Canon Chandler declared that he was persuaded that''.'the Holy Scriptures contain sufficiently all doctrine required of necessitylfor eternal salvation through faith''lit Jesus Christ." King Ahab, the-life-long foe of Elijah, one of; those liberal thinkers who object, to/lany suggestion of religious exclusiveness. He encouraged alongside the worship of the austere Jehovah the:religions rites of his wife's fellow-countryrnen —the ' 'gentlemen''. who inhabited ;the rich and civilised mercantile communities of Tyre and Sidon! The reactions to this policy on the.part'of ! Elijah were savage, but whb dare say that, considering all the circumstances and the greatness of the issue ,at stake, they were not necessary. Elijah may not have behaved , "like a gentleman" in his treatment, of the priests of Baal. But I am sure that Caiaphas, in his treatment fof Jesus, behaved wi,th the utmost regard for social propriety andYreligious good form! So what? . "■-!;.:,':. D. STEWART MILLER.^ _;— ■'■- ;...'•-( MENTAL HOSPITALS' REPORT The Director-General of Mental Hospitals in his annual report seeks to relieve the mind••of -the,public from undue responsibility with regard to our returning.soldiers.,He refers to "exaggerated reports as to the number of servicemen admitted to mental hospitals of: the j Dominion." The public conscience is all. too ready to evade action and not w&rxy over the unfair position that' Auckland finds itself in with regard^to observation wards for the nervously affected men, whether few or-many.. The fact remains that at Wellington or Dunedin a soldier can be"tfeatted as a "patient" in a building far'removed from asylum precincts, while an Aucklander goes- -to a mental home. One great ' advantage of taking hold of mind sickness in its earliest stages without marked reference to mental danger or deficiency is that men or women walking about with some mental state of apprehension, insecurity and unhappiness will, be willing to place themselves .under supervision. To prevent nervous breakdowns before they happen is'to strengthen what is generally the weakest link in our armour.. Why then are the authorities failingvto arouse themselves and to fail-' to grasp opportunity? Why not acknowledge their deep responsibility? Notwithstanding the somewhat soothing annual mental report, it is. a..fact that great numbers of men cannot possibly stand the strain, especially of present day warfare. '.' A. S. . ■ . ■. •■ i CONSCIENCE AND THE LAW' It is a pity that J. W.. Perrett, who probably proudly claims tofbe a law abiding citizen himself,- should, in his inexplicable anxiety to.'haiie the military defaulters released, offer the R.S.A., the Army,-and :.spl' diers generally, the gratuitous insvdt behind his comment on the soldiers who have been admitted to mental hospitals in New Zealand. For the same simple reason that the world over murderers, sneak thieves, tax. dodgers and wife-beaters (all,. presumably, with ungaugable coftsciences) are gaoled, these. military defaulters have been deprived-of their liberty. They broke the law, but, unlike the other criminals, the law they broke was a very necessary law made, in the very hour of democracy's greatest peril, at a time when man's innate common sense should prevail over "conscience." Instead of recommending the R.S. : A. to investigate the reasons for the insanity of 127 soldiers, Mr. Perrett might be serving the cause of. democracy better were he to persuade someone else to investigate the sanity of the military defaulters .or the sincerity of those who -vould pillory the returning soldier- at the expense of those whose only contribution to the defence against the vilest horrors this world has ever known was "an ungaugab'e" conscience and- a broad yellojif streak, - G.H PLANK: