Evening Post. FRIDAY, JUNE 18, 1915.

Evening Post, Volume LXXXIX, Issue 143, 18 June 1915, Page 6

Evening Post. FRIDAY, JUNE 18, 1915.

SEVEN THOUSAND FOR A FLAG While all th© news that reaches us from the Dardanelles testifies to the consistent manner in which our troops are maintaining the reputation won by their share in that first brilliant feat of arms at Gaba Tepe, the casualty lists that come to hand from day to day are evidence of the terrible price which their glory is costing them. Upon those who are not privileged to accompany them to the front and share in their great deeds these records of death and suffering are having at least as great an effect as the glamour of their military success. Britain did not go to war for the sake of glory, nor has she carried on the war with a light heart. New Zealand has been as free as the Mother Country from vainglorious hysterics, but her remotene6S from the scenes of action and the inevitable delay. in getting her men to the front have made her slower to realise and take to heart all that the war means. Though, the fighting at the Dardanelles has' not brought the war any nearer to our shores, it has brought it right into our hearts in a way that was impossible before. We are further from frothy elation than we ever were before, but we ai ¥ c stimulated and braced to play our part in the great struggle with a firmer determination than ever. What our young men have done and suffered at the Dardanelles has quickened the eagerness of their fellows here to tread the same path, even though it may mean paving the same price. The activity of noncombatants has been quickened in a similar fashion. The sufferings of the Belgians had previously made the strongest appeal to the benevolence of our people, but the large sums that have been raised for the benefit of the gallant little nation which faced the first onset of Germany's colossal armies without flinching, and by its resistance stemmed the tide of invasion long enough to save Paris, and perhaps Europe also, have not exhausted the generosity of our people. In this case their charity has not begun at home, fdr the urgent needs of desolated Belgium naturally made a stronger appeal to them at first than the needs of their own countrymen, which were as yet but future and contingent. But tho casualty lists of the last few weeks have removed this element of remoteness and uncertainty. The needs of our own kith j and kin are patent to tho most thoughtlosb, and the response to the call is a credit to New Zealand. The £25,000 which was asked for by His Excellency the Governoi 1 for the purpose of equipping the Hospital Ship seemed afc first Bight likely to impose a. fcevere strain upon the private benevolence which had already been feenously taxed. Yet, without artificial stimulus, of any kind, that amount has been far exceeded. Other appeals to voluntary benavolenw; havn proceeded at U« stfcmt

time, and in spite of fche competition they have all prospered. Wounded Soldiers Funds have been opened in all parts of the country, and the money has poured in with a profusion worthy of the cause. In Wellington tho Queen Carnival has been the most conspicuous method devised to raise money for this purpose^ and though some of the incidents of the competition may have been such as to give offence to fastidious tastes, the disinterested enthusiasm and energy ol the promoters have been no less striking than the success of their multifarious appeals to the hearts and pockets of the people. Wellington has certainly done remarkably -well, and is still going as strong as ever. But the idea that the country districts are not doing as well as the towns, which once was current here, will not survive the last reports of progress in the Wairarapa. The auction of a flag at Grey town has resulted in tihe addition of £7036 to the Wairarapa Wounded Soldiers Fundsurely a very creditable price for a little bit of bunting ! The runholders are sometimes said to have failed in their duty, but the men who make this record are a shining example to the contrary. It would be interesting to know how much of the £15,000 which has been raised in the Wairarapa within two days has come from the same class. Certainly neither the runholders nor the countrymen in general have been stinting in their benevolence. Both town and country have done splendidly, and a generous rivalry may yet induce both to do better still.