Greymouth Evening Star. WEDNESDAY, APRIL 24, 1946. Anzac Ideals

Greymouth Evening Star, 24 April 1946, Page 6

Greymouth Evening Star. WEDNESDAY, APRIL 24, 1946. Anzac Ideals

DAY, which falls to-morrow, marks the 31st anniversary of the original Gallipoli landing, now a full generation past. There is a speeial signifieance in the commemoration this year, for it will be the first since the utter defeat of Germany and her allies, including Japan, in the Second World War. Thus the goal toward which the fighting men of the 1914-18 con-

flict strove has been reached at last. They thought on that November armistice day that it had been reached but the generals and statesmen failed to do that which alone would have brought military defeat home to every German. No fighting took place on the Fatherland and half-meas-ures left Germany with all the elements of her General Staff and a professional army of 100,000 men as nuclei around which to re-arm for world conquest. To-morrow the older and the younger veterans will stand together with bowed heads, doing honour to comrades who fell in both wars. They will be fully entitled to feel that within the limits of what military valour and sacrifice can accomplish the men who gave their lives have not died in vain. They may feel disposed, too, to offer a silent prayer that that which they set out to do will not in the end be frustrated by the actions of world

leaders or nations lusting for power. The history of the past 25 years provides many obvious, yet striking lessons. Events during that period moved slowly but inexorably towards a second world conflict. The young, men of 1939, who had stood before shrines in childhood and remembered the heroes of Anzac, were called upon to take up the swords their fathers had laid down. Their response to the task of recovering the victory and peace which statesmen had failed to hold secure added another glorious chapter to Anzac history.

Military success was not enough in the First World War; it will not prove enough in the second unless all free people are ready to think and to work for the bettei world they hope to see. This is a task for Anzac Day and e-very day. It concerns itself not only with international affairs but also with domestic things—with the intelligent study of local and national probleins and readiness to do the spadework of public office, whether humble or exalted. The Germans, dupes of mad cunning, are an example of what disinterest in politics can do to a people. To-morrow’s commemoration will therefore not have its full value only as a gesture of honour to the dead. It must also be, as Lincoln said at Gettysburg, a dedication to the ideals for which they died.

They fought for the preservation of their people and of the free way of life they knew and believed essential for the creation of a better world in which, even their enemies would some day take a rightful place. It is the task of everyrine to ensure that they did not die m vain.

A Baffling Problem ’THE British Cabinet mission in India has found a. political situation mote troubled than at any time since Mr. Gandhi launched his first civil disobedience campaign. The HinduMoslem antagonism has hardened to such a degree that there is already talk of a. civil war. In such an atmosphere of communal hatred and political unrest it is difficult to be sanguine about the prospect of forming a Central Government and setting up an Assembly to frame a Constitution.

Congress, through Pandit Nehru, has claimed that it represents the democratic forces within the country. Congress, however, is not India. It represents, at most, politically conscious Hindus, with a few individual Moslems. The Moslem League, with its Pakistan programme, has on the other hand been able to win Moslem constituencies with ease. There are also millions of casteless Hindus whose leaders have persistently refused to identify themselves with Congress, as well as a number of smaller communities, like the Indian Christians, which, in demanding separate representation, have indicated their unwillingness to follow the Congress lead. The political situation, like the earth, of India has been worked over and over again. Commissions of inquiry and other fact-finding bodies have produced an exhaustive documentation. The diagnosis has frequently been made and several cures have been prescribed. It is the application which has proved so baffling a problem. The task undertaken by the British Cabinet mission is indeed a formidable one.