RESPONSE IN THE CRISIS

Press, Volume LXXV, Issue 22894, 15 December 1939, Page 12

RESPONSE IN THE CRISIS

UNANIMITY IN BRITAIN EVEN PACIFISTS “JUMP TO IT” The unanimous response of the British ' people in the national emergency has surprised many foreign observers, and an example of how everyone in Great Britain has answered the call is given in a personal letter to the manager of a flourmilling firm in Christchurch. This letter is from an Englishman who spent some time on a New Zealand sheep station and who \vas well known by his friends in the Dominion to have strong pacifist leanings. The writer, Mr J. O. Thomas, took up newspaper work on returning to England, and he is now assistant editor of the magazine, “Milling,” one of the world’s leading flour-milling publications. This one-time pacifist writes to Mr A. E. Bartrum, manager of D. H. Brown and Son, Ltd., as follows:—

“Wo are certainly having lots of fun and games now, what with air raids and one thing and another, but everybody keeps full of beans. The truth is we are all too busy to spend time worrying. As you may have observed from ‘Milling,’ I have become a fireman, and I am going practically 24 hours per diem. 1 have organised a fine squad _at the office —all very keen lads—for service during the day and in the evening I am on duty with the Auxiliary Fire Service. With the latter body I have crammed in 26 hours of training during the last eight days (we have 60 hours to do) nd hope to pass out as fully-fledged fireman on Saturday week—having got three months’ training into three weeks! I am not swanking; one bloke has got 40 hours in during the same period—but you will see that we are taking this w 7 ar quite seriously. “Practically every able-bodied man and woman is enrolled in one or other of the Services, either at home or oversea. Ribbentrop sadly misreaa the character of the ‘effete’ democracies! Even ardent pacifists like myseli just ‘jumped to it’ as soon as the veil rang, and ’we do not intend to back down until we have either won or dropped in our tracks. It’s a great life if you don’t weaken.”