Vietnam

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30762, 28 May 1965, Page 10

Vietnam

Sir.—ln exercising his right to discuss current topics, Dean Pyatt must have known that many thousands were sufficiently anti-Communist to flee south from North Vietnam. Quotations from the Manchester “Guardian” does not explain why the Labour Prime Minister so strongly endorses American action. Surely the Dean must know that the offer of food, ser-

vice, etc., which he advocates, has already been made to both Vietnams, only to be contemptuously rejected by the Communists. South Vietnam receives American supplies but the ravaging and murder must be stopped. It is not bunkum to say that the whole of South-east Asia, including Malaysia, is at stake. Just recently a Baptist minister, resident in South Vietnam for eight years, has given his experiences. Why have they been totally ignored by the Dean?—Yours, V. WILKINSON. Ashburton, May 27, 1965.

Si r _Do the children reported as dying of starvation in South Korea feel they would rather be “dead than red”? I would imagine the cost of one day’s bombing raid on North Vietnam could fill many starving mouths with food.—Yours, etc., R. FRIZZELL. May 26, 1965.

Sir, —“Diogenes” is rather presumptuous when he states that because American planes have been bombing North Vietnam bridges for 16 weeks and there has been no nuclear holocaust, this will not eventuate. American predictions may be wrong regarding retaliations. They were proved wrong in Cuba at the Bay of Pigs. After all, a prominent British authority considers that the war could go on for five years, so there is still plenty of time for the matter of Vietnam to become a nuclear catastrophe which could leave our world a charred and desolate globe. Communism is a disease that breeds on poverty and despair. Remove. the rottenness that the germs breed in and you eradicate the disease. Spend on development, not destruction, and the cause of communism will be removed, but it will not be done by military means.—Yours, etc., JOHN FORSTER. May 27, 1965.

Sir,—So far New Zealand has been realistic enough to see that our front-line defence lies in South-east Asia. Rome fell through defeatism in the face of the Hun menace. It is only necessary to read Ralph S. Wheeler's party-line propaganda to see that the free world is faced with a similar menace today. “Where Britain goes we go” struck the right note. America, of course, is not Britain: but Britain has warned us that she is too far away to protect us forever. We were proud when America told our cold-war enemies to keep out of Cuba. We have a chance to protect New Zealand today by helping to maintain the status quo in South-east Asia. Yours, etc., T. M. SHAW.

Westport, May 26, 1965

Sir, —I commend the wisdom of “Church Mouse.” Our sympathy and loyalty should be to our Prime Minister, a Christian gentleman who has to make a momentous decision on an exceedingly grave matter, watched all the time by a relentless opposition, ready and eager to make political propaganda out of an embarrassing situation. Undoubtedly our Prime Minister is in possession of many facts regarding the Vietnam situation which he cannot just pass on to “the man in the street” and we must trust him and the Cabinet to act wisely, with firmness and good judgment. Apparently the public are divided on this subject. It would be a great pity if it divided the church, too.— Yours, etc., ANOTHER CHURCH MOUSE. May 25, 1965.