Manawatu Evening Standard. THURSDAY, APRIL 19, 1945. DIVISION IN ITALY.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LXV, Issue 119, 19 April 1945, Page 4

Manawatu Evening Standard. THURSDAY, APRIL 19, 1945. DIVISION IN ITALY.

To a conference of National Savings delegates in Wellington, tins week, the Minister for Finance posed the question should New Zealand make the provision of more food for Britain her major war contribution and not send any more men away. He supplied the- answer in an important policy statement. It is that we cannot send any more reinforcements without an ill effect on our economy, but an agreement has been made with General Freyberg to send replacements for all the men who return from abroad after their three years' service. Everyone will agree that these men should be released from further service, and that the Division should be maintained until it is no longer required to fill an active role. What will happen then ? It is at this' point that the Minister's statement falls short of what the public wish to know. The war in Italy, even though Germany has. 24 divisions in the field and is assisted by Fascist units, does not seem certain to last much longer. Loth the Allied leaders there have expressed the view that the present offensive is the last one. In Field-Marshal Alexander's words one mighty punch only is needed now to knock out the already grogery Germans, and it is being delivered. What are New Zealand's commitments once the war in Italy ends? Will the Division be required for occupation duties in Europe, or for service in the Pacific? Or will it lie returned to this country so that we can make the greatest contribution within our power towards feeding the starving people of the world ? The public have a right to know the answers to these questions. Grave concern has been felt because of. the call being made upon Category A farm workers for the Army. Primary Production Councils have expressed the view that this action will defeat the Government's programme for large increases in the production of foodstuffs. Farmers who are f faming their seasonal programmes do not know their labour position and are hesitant to plan for what they may not be able to carry out. The Minister for Agriculture has set tarffets for dairy products; meat, wheat, and wool, etc., and appeals are being directed - to primary producers to reach these goals. Only if they know their position in regard to labour will it. be possible for producers to achieve the best within their poAver. They have done magnificently in the years of the war, and desire to do all they can to help in arresting the grim prospect of famine in Europe and the East. Plans have been made in Britain, Canada, South Africa, and the United States for the redisposition of men on service after Germany is defeated. There will be a partial demobilisation of manpower and industry for 'peacetime tasks, and in the United States and Canada marked emphasis has been placed on the production of foodstuffs. With the end of the war in Europe close at hand it is only riffht that the public of New Zealand should know what is required* of them when V-Day comes, so that they can fittingly fill»tlie role allotted to them.

GERMAN BESTIALITY

Horrible stories of happenings in German concentration camps have been told in'the-past, but none more terrible than the revelations of the notorious Buchenwald prison, where 21,0U0 inmates were found by the American forces who captured it. It is estimated that between 60,000 and 70,000 opponents of Hitlerism perished in this vile torture den qf Nazism, under conditions that must shock even the most hardened creature. Death came to other victims their transference to camps equally notorious, where mass murders and experiments put an end to cruel suffering. The foulness of the Hitler repime is for ever exposed by Buchenwald and other similar horrible _ Little wonder is it that men like the Archbishop of York call for the summary trial of these criminals against humanity. German civilians who were escorted, around this ghastly, prison by American police have seen with their own eyes the evil horror of Nazism. They might have been, as some declared, unaware of what was happening, but their responsibility remains for having helped to place or keep in power, the Hitler regime. No greater punishment could have been inflicted upon these men, women, bovs, and "iris than to be shown what their fellow creatures endured before their pitiful deaths, and to see the surviving wrecks of humanity saved from death by starvation," torture, hanging, or shooting. Nazi homes, food and clothing are being commandeered in a Christian cause and these well fed Germans have been taught a lesson that should be brought home to the rest of them.