ALL MUST SERVE

Evening Post, Volume CXXXIII, Issue 133, 8 June 1942, Page 6

ALL MUST SERVE

TO PRESERVE FREEDOM

"THEY SHALL NOT LAND"

"The enemy is at the gates of Australia and New Zealand. Field Marshal Petain, the hero of Verdun, but now, alas, the old man of Vichy, issued an order to his . troops when the Hun was hammering at the gates of the fortress, •They shall not pass.' And they did not pass. Our nearest enemy," said the Hon. W. Perry, M.L.C., in an address last night, "may be poised even at this moment for a spring, at our country with ships, planes, guns, and men. Let our slogan be, 'They shall not land. 1 "They will be hurled back by the valour of our fighting forces, and by the spirit of our people who are preparing themselves by personal .service to withstand the attack. They shall not land if our people are true to themselves and to the fighting tradition of our race. "We are proud of our personal freedom," said Mr. Perry. "Let us see to it we do not interpret personal freedom to mean freedom to abstain from rendering personal service to our country in time of danger, or indeed at any time. Let us translate it into an urge to be up and doing. Democracy will not stand merely by reason of its own virtue. If it lacks the loyalty, the courage, and the strength to defend itself when attacked,-it must [ perish just as certainly as if it had \ possessed no virtue whatsoever. Manhood suffrage implies manhood service. ', Without the acceptance of this prinL ciple, democracy is merely an im T r posture. ) "TOIL AND SWEAT." • "We can only produce the essentials <l for wai*, and these now include practically everything, by toil and sweat " and personal endeavour. This is the [ only way a nation can be geared to a 1 total war effort. We will do it, and we ' will do it vigorously and cheerfully. 1 Let us face the oncoming enemy with ! a smile of confidence; with a feeling ' of exultation that in this our finest 1 hour we can beat him back whence he ' came. They shall not land. 1 "Remember the- millions o^f people , who are deprived of their liberty in \ the world today, the men and, women 3 of our own race who are prisoners in r Europe, in Malaya, in Singapore. Our fighting men will liberate them. You f can do your part by giving personal service here, thereby proving to our 3 fighting forces that you are not only " behind them, but that 'you stand r shoulder to shoulder with them in the p personal service they are giving, in the hardships they are enduring, so that the whole nation shall be filled with that elan which will sweep us forward to victory. Thus will you manifest the spirit of the people—thus will you show to the world, and especially to our enemies, that the morale of our nation is high. They shall not land.

"We are fighting for something more sublime than liberty. This war is a struggle between the Cross of Christ on the one hand and the swastika or crooked cross of paganism and the Japanese cult of Shintoism on the other. If we then are really a Christian people we shall buckle on the armour of God, and with His help and guidance defeat His enemies, so that the world, chastened and purified in > the crucible of war, will in His good time return to Him. With His help, they shall not land."