"THIS MOST PAINFUL POSITION "

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 2897, 9 October 1916, Page 6

"THIS MOST PAINFUL POSITION "

NEW ZEALAND'S PART IN THE WAR A PLAIN-SPOKEN APPEAL "Formerly our contribution to the external defence was nothing but one-twelfth of our fair sharo of the cost of the British Navy. Now we pay a less proportionate share to the Navy, and we send "only one soldier to every two sent by Britain, and we pay nothing to the general expenses of the war. Thus, despite the sacrifices we have made, we lean on our British relatives and friends for much over half of our defence. . Their politeness and our distance awav conceal this most painful position. "I venture to say each one of us here vehemently desires, as I do, to support the Government in. completely fulfilling their selfreliant polioy, and_ that of fifty years ago, by insisting on sending more men, and sharing all burdens from the commencement- of the . war. , "S. A, ATKINSON." The above is a copy of a cablegram addressed to The Dominion from LonJ don by Mr. S. A. Atkinson, the well' known Wellington solicitor, and now a member of our Expeditionary Force< The message speaks for itself, and will no doubt be read with both interest and concern. We have referred to it in our editorial columns..