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Hokitika Guardian, 14 September 1940, Page 4

Onk feature has marked Mr Churchill’s speeches since lie became Prime Minister. Ho has never attempted to buoy the people up with lalse hopes of an easy issue from the ordeal of war. If anything he has tended to go the other wa,v, to emphasise the demands made on their courage and powers of endurance —notably when, on first taking office, he said “I have nothing to offer hut blood and toil; tears and sweat.” So now, when the people of the British Ides have experienced for weeks an {intense niir attack upon themselves and their homes as well as on ports, shipping, industrial areas and aerodromes, when they have seen the enemy’s efforts foiled with heavy loss to him in machines and personnel, they are warned that they may not have witnessed his maximum effort. But with the warning came the statement that the Royal Air Force was confident that it could meet and match much heavier attacks. Similarly the people wore told that the possibility of an attempted invasion would not yet be ruled out, hut the means of meeting it lias grown immeasurably stronger. All this is typical of Mr Churchill, to face the facts squarely, to recognise the adverse, and to give due weight to those which are favourable. When, a balance is struck between the two skies, as given by the Prime Minister, there is every justification for the confidence in the ultimate outcome which he expressed. The time lias not yet come, on the evidence .of his speech, to cease speaking of the battle for Britain. But it is coming, the time for a direct drive toward the sole objective Mr Churchill announced when he took office —victory. Under his leadership the battle for Britain will he discarded for th° battle for Europe and its lost liberties.