NEW ZEALANDERS AT WAR.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LII, Issue 15906, 1 May 1915, Page 1 (Supplement)

NEW ZEALANDERS AT WAR.

'BT i IOBTOfOA. v ■■>■■ ;> . i < A* play and at ■ work, New Zealanders have shown themselves as good as any. At war they lave earned Imperial mtion by their "splendid gallantry" and magnificent ; achievements." And: though we knew they would not be found wanting, Avheroyer they went or whatever they were set : to -dp, -.'it, is none the less satisfying to learn that, they have, shown) the mettle _, of ; their pastures at- tho JDardanelles. . ? For a nation stands, in the last resort, upon the .steady courage of c its* young . men, and ; can only be great ■ arid free if they -are able to. give to it their strength, their :} intelligence, - and : deathscorning: devotion to duty . ', i. v • ,;■..; '}' ■ When 'Athens of old waged its life-arid-death struggle .with Sparta, it -stood for' the great conception of civic conduct which inspires .the British iof • to-day,. the worldwide British of whom New Zealanders are a | clan,} British' in every fibre of their bodies.arid to the very■ marrow of their bones. TheAtheniau conception has ever appealed, to .us,, for. it is 'as though our, own, just as the Spartan conception, is singularly like, that of • Prussia, . where the state" exists Jas a ■-- war-machine ; and ! . the citizen has (no value, excepting, as ho makes his people ; stronger i for aggression. , To the Athenian, life was to be lived fully, • freely, and earnestly, \ polished von its every facet, accepted unquestionably as the great gift of 'the high . gods, valued because it was an individual. possession, filled,with a thousand interests and mado joyous by the beauties of the seen arid un. seen worlds; "The healthy mind ;ih.the healthy} body," expresses the essential thought of Athens, Uhp greatest state of Greece}. And_iu the great day of its trial, when domestic war tore 4 Grecian civilisation asunder, • the 'men of Athens':stood' together for their free life and all.that'it meant to .them; and together; beat military Sparta, insolent, brutal, aud aggressive, to the ground}'.},}} }"■"}."^'. , In: words that ring down the centuries we hear still from the lips of immortal orators what Athens trusted to when Spartan attack broke upon her seeming unpreparedness.' Upon a ' small scale, .-in, that extraordinary little world which was Greece, we have a fore-runner of the larger, but not greater, modern, civilisation, which has spread 5 from Western Europe across the oceans to distant continents,, and to these far isles the outermost sea. Sparta trained and planned and'plotted for conquest, < for domination, making every} boy a soldier from 'bis} cradle, instilling into erery heart * the ivenom r of ' treachery to Grecian order, the gall of hatred to every free}, Grecian •; state.-. And ■-.. meanwhile/ Athens- wrought out its dreams in} stone, andcast l its philosophy in deathless plays, arid thrilled to see athletes ! in. con test and made politics the breath;.'of 'civic life;-far and wide the Athenian ; traded and' carried Athenian commerce ' f rom the ; ports ; of' the Nile-' to the harbours, of : what is Spain. Imagine how the storm burst then, as ,the German storm has broken in our own time, calling the careless Athenians from'ship and ttirt,-' from #port : arid} debate arid studio," to fight ; and; die , for freedom of Greece;-'-and^thes/vefy^existence ,of >\ their . city-st*te. £? ."We have "trusted,!' cried the f orators. " that • in time} of- need our citizens would not .be ** unworthy .; of ~ the state i that has} given ' them fullness of living.": Athens}, had 1 f not trusted in. vain. -- ' •'. ' . ; ■ % So' with our . New - Zealanders^BritishjOf', the British, whose veins the blood of; English, Scotoh, Irish, and Welsh, mingle and ■^^cbmmiri'ile,(with; less ■ admixture,than elsewhere in the. world. Tbay have had , the frill* life-net.as intensely fulLas, in , 1 marvellous .Athens, .but'.full enough .to . make -them :^ad}that: i they; were ; born. . Schooling lias been-pleasant i to- them and; _ the s longest di£ never too long.; They haveJ.grndigiid' goingto bed'and* wished (to ' atay thS'sun above {the ; football ground. , They ,' haVe toiled •' in}' friendly- sport an* Warned'tp, play the game and tamed *ith supple; energy.'to' theCdftijy • mfUlm *. ; \vork-a^ay; world }> Books" have been their ; frienfis and competence their admiration. Whatever-was in .their hearts to do^they have done with ■ all ? their might. They . have trained incidentally for year? .•without • thought of soldiering.- They have „ in their strength and been proud of their schools',i. their teams; and their companies, They' have 'had;' a self-confidence that amus«d ' their elders and "a} loyalty : for their i: country' that found '"vents.- in -> deeds?; riot words. Fo; : : , ; Auckland," they < have won shields and, cups and ? scholarships'. and horiouroiyfor "New Zealand^J they have done great things in peace—and, now, in ; ' As Athens trusted, so we have trusted —to their-; breeding', and their rearing rand "the ideal that .inspires. i Not Ito i conquer but'to i save, 1 not: ito',--: tyrannise ? but .to serve.'; bur New . Zealanders left ■ the.homes that bred- them and 'the : land' where! they were free. :Averagely they .were,* the * best we had, X whichever' way • you• take them, ; I officers* and men', horse and.foot, artillery and anibulance, signallers ; and service corps. : As far; as tests could • make \ them, not a; man: unfit, : dot a man who was ; ■■ ' unworthy, not a man I who-did not'hold !it an honour to be able- :fieht;fory his country, his , Empire and his King. And riot a man among them— " wasters!' weeded out and tricksters sent packing—who tdid a* hard to: learn /soldering _ as. ; any have workedjiri this historic enlistment of the British' World.- -"Only bullets can: make ■■ them fitter," '; wrote Godley from Egypt..[ At the .Daniancllcs they We tflueht'.lTurks, ' and. Germans how fit? raw New Zealanders can be. Rather. Jr- : tiling (or'us} to'-be, proud," of, we ; wlibriK they fight: for, when • you think about it. From. and Waikato and Wairarapa tortile Dardanelles -is .a far en*. On'the ancient plains of Thrace, have been ' proved- our..New Zealanders. . ;'' The magic camera ;of loving - sympathy shows them, to when we, use it— in the soft- sping :of 'the; North, where the -grass;springs greenly-'on 'fields that • for - countless : centuries •-; have- been the highway of annies.'-that saw the Persian : come in pomp, and fly. in shame,ithat saw,. Alexander -marphing ' eastward, that saw the crusaders, that saw the of the Turk. ;There, our New. Zealanders have ■ como} in their fated, turn,: guarded ,in their transports by the, great, navy, landing on. gun-covered - beaches; working their; way as steadily and ■.as cheerily as when manoeuvring. ;}With;nisii after rush, from''' cover Ito cover;, their lme advances, artillery playing" overhead' to -"aid. them, every heart aflame' to be' 'worthy,'*!: New Zealand, every' mind set on the.wcrk to be done-and filled with admiration for those- whe lead them well. ' On.the khaki moves, unconscious of " splendid gallantry," just playing, the game of war as If'has- plav'id \ its ■ best •at sport ' and work for ail its scanty, years Be sure that none,of then 'dreamed, till told, that it was a'"magnificent achievement," for they knew nothing of war ari}d. only did their duty. '■'}• •/.'•*■ ....-", ' : : < - ' Arid the ' cost of • it! There is. always cost and hearts are sore, and 'anxious ,in New"' Zealand, '': as hearts • are i sore s and anxious, in all the lands-that- have.given of their best to make freedom sure. Tears must flow when blood has been shed,' 1 and hopelefe would the world be if it were otherwise; but those.whose} loved ones suffer or die in eacred cause do not sorrow as- those who have no' hope. When we think of Belgium we know the doom which heroic battle turns from us. Our safety and our peace, our unpolluted homes and our priceless liberties, -. are being paid for iii Flanders and in the 'Dardanelles. : .'. • - ' . : Our - New Zealanders have--not- drillmasters driving them,- no mad greed vim- , bruting them, no 6hameful : cause deceiving them. From, office,.shop, and farm, from football field .and yachting ground and fishing stream; from mothers who love them, and girls who;.wait, for them, they . have gone to make war against war, and to bring Kaiseri6m .to the dust. .It;. is a.pure ideal that has turned farmers -arid tradesmen, clerks and .1 students, / who ' never thought of fighting,' into a matchi less; army and given them place with Cana--1 diaijs, London P Scottish,". Fusiliers - arid , (^eroii6,-.ia;tie-annals of. a woiid-shajt-