WILL TO FIGHT

Dominion, Volume 33, Issue 266, 5 August 1940, Page 9

WILL TO FIGHT

Character Of British People

ODDS OVERCOME

Epoch-making Events Of

History

Momentous events in British history, when great odds were overcome by the valour and determination of our forefathers, were recalled by the Minister of Public Works, Mr. Semple, in an address last night. “When we look back over the long road that the British folk have travelled,” said Mr. Semple, “the years that stand out foremost in our history are those during which the real character of the race revealed itself in the will to fight and to hold on against all odds. The present time is one of those great moments of British history. This year 1940 is destined to belong to the imperishable class of Armada, Trafalgar and Waterloo years. Has it not already given us Dunkirk?

"•If Britain and the Empire were not threatened with an unspeakable fate, if anything short of unlimited courage and unquenchable faith were enough to avert disaster, then there would be :io special reason why 1940 should become, as I believe it will, undying among the years,” said Mr. Semple. “If ever there was a time for us who live at this far end of the world to feel proud of the stock from which we have sprung, that time is now. There was no moment during the titanic and bloody struggles that have confronted the British race in the years that jire gone when the pulse of Britain beat as strongly as it does today. When I hear men like Churchill, Bovin, Alexander and Priestley speaking, and others, too, who are not in the public eye—men and women alike, sailors, soldiers and airmen, who have already gone through fire and blood, women who have driven ambulances in battlefields and stood up to air raids —when I hear these people speaking without boasting, hopefully and cheerfully and bravely, I have felt time and time again like getting up and cheering. For what hearts they (have, these men and women of Britain. People Enduring Invasion.

-‘lt is said that they are awaiting invasion. How far short of the truth that is. These people are not awaiting invasion, they are enduring it. Day after day, night after night, the murderous bomber hurls death and destruction down on them. No one knows when or where the next shattering blow will fall. Not one home in Britain feels itself secure. Every man, woman and child in Britain is under the shadow of death, not next year, not next month, not even next day, but now, and knowing it they face the future undismayed. “Does Britain cry out tor help or pity? Does she seek a craven peace so that she can escape the trials that beset her? What is her answer, given by the Prime Minister, Churchill, whom her enemies single out for their hate—hate born of fear—What is Britain's answer? She will seek no peace, she will tolerate no parley. She may show mercy, she will ask none. Let us have no fear for the Old Land, she was never greater than today—never, I think, so great. She has unflinchingly accepted the moral leadership of the world. The cause of civilization is in her hands and there, under God’s Providence, it is safe. Hard Hoad to Victory.

“But the question for us in New Zealand still remains. What are we going to do? Are we going to play our part? Are we going to stick it out as good comrades? Are we going to be worthy of our kinsmen beyond the sea? We all realize now that the way to victory is going to be long aud hard.

“For years Germany has been slaving for this day, her people driven to work 60, 70, even 80 hours a - week, to prepare the mighty engine of war She has hurled against us. It would be stark madness for us to regard this colossal effort as having been wasted. It is for history, not for us, to pronounce that sentence on it. That effort continued during the-years when the statesmen of Britain and her partners in the Commonwealth were bending their thoughts and energies, not to the forging of engines of destruction and enslavement, but to the constructive building of a brighter, better, freer world—a world fit for people to live in, a world where the nations would dwell in peace together as members of a great family.

“In the light of present events there are some who say that that policy was wrong. True it has brought us face to face with trial and tribulation, but by maintaining unrelentlessly the stubborn faith of our forefathers, ay keeping unshaken our faith in ourselves and the righteousness of our cause, we can win through, and when history comes to be written the endeavours •which the British Commonsvealth of Nations have made to build a brighter an'd better world will shine forth as a beacon light in a dark and troubled world. Gospel Of Hard Work. "But we must work. -The Germans and Italians have not stopped working for victory and they will not stop working for it for a long time to come. They have as yet no doubt as to the result. Their propagandists have seen to that. I am confident we shall beat them, but we shall have to toil to do it. We must give every ounce of effort of mind and, body, every bit of material we have ours is the better enu.se. but that cause must be backed by .superior power. As yet we have not. developed to the maximum of our power and no mere wishing, hoping, trusting or grieving will give it to us. Only planning and toiling, only sweat asd effort and sacrifice will do that. The Germans and Italians are lighting for a great prize an'd well they know it. It is nothing less than world control and let us have no illusions as to what their victory would mean for us. Some of my listeners will hardly believe me when I tell them that to my certain knowledge there are people in this country who think that a Nazi victory would bring little, if any. change into their lives. 'They imagine they would be just as"well off under Nazi rule as they are now. What a fool’s; paradise to be Jiving in. "The conditions in France today are worse than they were before Hie Revolution. Tens of tlioiu-'ands of people are homeless and ixmuiless'. The public men who would have led them to iictler things, have fled for their lives, are in concentration camps, or are deml. A hat doos tlio future hold for those people. 'l’ho winter that is approaching will bring starvation, disease, ami death to thousands of them. Would we not have to face the same terrible conditions, and anyone that protested against it, would meet with the same fate. Could we expect better terms than those poor souls in the vanquished countries.

"Wimr. really honest-to-(tod sacrifices have tho.so of us who are not represent-

ed In the fighting forces yet made in New Zealand?” asked Mr. Semple. “Has there been any shortening in the supply of food and 1 drink? Is the totalizator just a memory? Are the cinemas empty ami our amusements curtailed? There is no one groaning with the pangs of hunger in New Zealand. I am not arguing that all recreation and pleasure must be abruptly cut out of our lives; what I am arguing is that the war hasn’t touched' us yet. Even so some people—more vocal than numerous—• whimper at the tiiioughtof having to pay 1/- in the pound, which represents their contribution toward protecting this country aud the British Commonwealth from the same disaster that overtook countries that I have previously referred to. Do these people ever ask themselves where the pound would be if Britain were beaten. It would l not be worth the paper it. was written on. We, in common with the rest of the vanquished people, would be hurled back into slavery. “We are going to win, but we shall have to give and give and work aud work till it hurts, and so when victory comes, as come it will, we shall value it 4 and be worthy of it. Thousands of brave men and many brave women have already loft these shores to fight, in common with rncn and women from every part of this vast commonwealth of mir.s: thousands more will follow. Mon and women of Hie same stuff bent on doing the same job. Wherever toe fight is, New Zealand will be there.

“The time will come when Britain with millions of well-armed soldiers will carry the war to the enemy on land, on the sea, and in the air. When that, time comes the nations that, are now lying prostrate will rise again and help us to hurl tho invader back. Hitler Ims struck down people after people. Today be soars over Europe like a preying vulture with his talons dripping with the blood of his innocent viclims, and liisi situation looks brilliant to his propaganda-sodden countrymen.

“How long shall Hitler and his conspirators be permitted to shut the gates of mercy on mankind? How long they shall be permit ted to spread agony and misery throughout the world dejM'iids on us.—the people of the British race. There is no lime for doubt or hcsilation or fear. We are the protectors amt defenders of the freedom-loving peoplr-si of Un- earth.”