THE Hauraki Plains Gazette With which is Incorporated THE OHINEMURI GAZETTE. MONDAY, WEDNESDAY, FRIDAY. “Public Service.” WEDNESDAY, APRIL 29; 1942. WAR HOUSEKEEPING

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume 51, Issue 3112, 29 April 1942, Page 4

THE Hauraki Plains Gazette With which is Incorporated THE OHINEMURI GAZETTE. MONDAY, WEDNESDAY, FRIDAY. “Public Service.” WEDNESDAY, APRIL 29; 1942. WAR HOUSEKEEPING

> A homely but telling glimpse of the manner in which the people of Britain are playing their wartime part was provided by the talk (reported in the Woman’s World column) on housekeeping difficulties in the Homeland. While we in New Zealand are confronted with a need to ecbnomise in one or two foodstuffs, the British housewife is grappling every, day—indeed, every meal — with problems which are incomparably greater. Yet there is cheerfulness rather than resignation, resourcefulness in place of grumbling. Moreover, there is a deep earnestness of endeavour, whether it be in making supplies go further or in preventing waste of any household residue. “Tins, bottles, torch batteries, bones and paper are among the things which have to b.e sorted into separate piles and collectors for each of them . . . call at regular intervals.” This humble but important campaign and the absence of fuss and self-pity which characterises it are part of the soul of a nation’s war effort. It is the “carry on” tradition, which was never better exemplified than by the rank-and-file of the people in the British Isles to-day.

HAVE YOU GIVEN YET?

Has your name been in the list of subscribers to the Paeroa District Patriotic Committee’s 1942 All-Purposes Appeal ? Paeroa requires £2760 to fill its quota and to date only £1459 6s lOd has been subscribed, leaving £l3OO 13s 2d to be given before Paeroa can feel it has done, its duty. Surely this is not the time when people should hesitate to help our boys. The campaigning season will soon be in full swing throughout the world and New Zealanders will play their full part. Are we to fail them in providing comforts and extras for the wounded and%survivors. After Greece, after Crete, after the campaign in Libya, the National Patriotic Fund Board has provided gifts from home for our troops on their return. This good work must not be hampered because of a shortage of funds. Come forward and give gladly. Don’t be apathetic or indifferent. There are too many people who leave all the voluntary work and all giving to the willing ones. Some give, not as much as they can, but as little as They can get away with. Young men, who having been granted exemption from service or are medically unfit, are in comfortable wages should, if they have any sense of responsibility, give at once to the funds that provide comforts for the mates who are doing their fighting for them.

PUBLIC SELFISHNESS

Those Auckland tradesmen who are reported to be saddened by the sight of people scrambling to buy commodities without thought of the other fellow are sharing their emotion with many others. Few people realise how unthinkingly selfish so many of us are apt to be. Fewer still are capable of the discovery that they, themselves, are often among the selfish many. The hoarding instinct is deep-rooted in human nature, though, as a saving grace, many people—indeed, the great majority—can, and do, rise to great heights of generosity, neighbourliness and sacrifice, when given the inspiration of a real and pressing emergency. Till such an inspiration appears, the hoarding instinct must be disciplined by law. It is abundantly clear in this and other' .countries to-day that moral suasion, when it comes to the regulation of commodity buying, does not get results.

time to this important, work of the musical side of our worship. They are Mesdames Aston, Cleary, Wild and Miss M. Whitmore. “A juvenile choir for the Choral Eucharist has been started by Mrs W. Aston and is making good progress. With nursing and. training these young members are our hope for the future of the choir.”