ENGLAND'S ANSWER

Evening Post, Volume CXXXI, Issue 14, 17 January 1941, Page 9

ENGLAND'S ANSWER

SPIRIT OF THE PEOPLE

BUSINESS MEN'S TRIBUTES

PROUD TO TAKE BLOWS

Letters which breathe the indomitable spirit of the people of England, and in which there is not a note of defeatism, but unmistakable feelings of pride in the way those in Britain's "front line" are standing up to the strain of the Nazi attacks on their country, and also expressions of complete confidence in the ultimate outcome, have been received by Mr. H. G. Teagle, managing director of Messrs. Teagle, Smith, and Sons, Ltd.. Wellington. These letters, 18 of them, together with 14 others from the United States and Canada, arrived yesterday, and are from the principals of big business firms in reply to greetings and expressions of good will and admiration (in the case of the United Kingdom) of the part being played so courageously by the people of the Homeland against the worst the enemy can give. Coming from "business firms, the letters serve to underline that splendid spirit more perhaps than letters from personal friends. THE PHLEGMATIC ENGLISHMAN. A London firm with premises in Cockspur Street has sent a letter which is typically English. It was written by one of the directors, who refers to the pleasure that comes from rubbing shoulders with members of the forces from overseas and of the particular interest taken in the activities of the New Zealanders. ,Then he deals with a well-known trait in the character of the Englishman. "We are perhaps rather funny people," he says, "We never talk about our good points but only expose our bad ones for all to see. We won't talk to each other in a railway carriage, yet we cannot do enough for each other in distress, or in a public shelter when sleeping there for the night. "We have a thousand years of good faith, trust in each other, confidence and tradition built into the fabric of one and all of us," the letter continues, "and we move to action or hold tight as one. How, then, can bombs affect our morale any more than the boiling oil of one thousand years ago? We hardly ever show our feelings. We do sometimes, however, and usually when connected with our and your King at, say, the Jubilee, the Coronation, Mafeking, Dunkirk, our sorrow for broken France, our contempt for the Jackal, and the special bravery of our grand men and women in the services—both fighting and civil." The director describes something of the conditions under which Londoners have had to live since the air raids began, their pride in having taken blows struck at England, and their desire that they should not escape at the expense of some other part of the country. '" | This is how the director puts it: j "My house has been bombed with a 500-pounder in the front garden, severely damaging the roof, but we are safe in our dug-out at the back. My family are now 'bomb-snobs,' and in some ways are pleased that we have taken one of the blows at this dear England. That feeling is very strong, and we in London, lately, feel rather guilty when we hear that other towns have been bombed severely and we in consequence have had quiet nights." AN OLD MAN SHOWS HOW. "Every Englishman . regards New Zealand as a member of the Commonwealth whose worth, whose loyalty to King and country, are above all praise," writes the manager of a Birmingham firm. He illustrates the spirit of the workers by relating the fine example shown by a member of the firm's shipping department, a man of over 70, whose day's work, he says, would shame many a younger man. This worker lived in a grimy little house, and there was just himself and his "old woman." His house was bombed, but he turned up to work as usual, at 7 o'clock, and asked for time off in order to clear up a bit. He and his wife refused to leave their old home and continued to exist in a room and a half at its back. Subsequently the remainder of the house "copped" it. Again neither he nor his wife was badly hurt. "They had Icfet everything they possessed in this world except the clothes they stood up in," the letter proceeds. "Bui' (and the next two words are in capital letters) they stood, and the old boy clocked in at his regular time. His spirit is indomitable. And, believe me, he typifies the unbreakable spirit of this land—the land where you and your forbears came from. You have as much right to be proud of him and the likes of him as I have, and as long as.this sort of stock lasts, I don't think any 'Jerry' will rule the world." These-are typical of the letters Mr. Teagle has received from the United Kingdom. In a number of letters from the United States no doubt is left as to where American support lies. Appended to one corner of one of the Canadian letters there is a Union Jack sticker and on the cross of the flag are printed in gold letters the words, "There will always be an England."