THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS WEDNESDAY, MAY 12, 1915. FIFTY THOUSAND NEW ZEALANDERS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LII, Issue 15915, 12 May 1915, Page 6

THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS WEDNESDAY, MAY 12, 1915. FIFTY THOUSAND NEW ZEALANDERS.

Te(e best expression of righteous indignation at German piracy and poisoning which New Zealand can make is to take immediate steps to raise its Expeditionary Forces to 50,000 men. Germany can no more be reasoned with than can any other monomaniacs, and it can only be made powerless for evil by military measures. We are safe in the Pacific because after the disastrous naval battle off Valparaiso—when not one drowning British sailor was saved by an enemy which had outgunned and" overwhelmed an inferior British squadron— Allied warships drove the Scharnhorst and its consorts to their doom at the Falklands, and finally sank the sole survivor at Juan Fernandez. There is absolutely no other ground for our immunity from the most abominable outrages, on sea and on shore, than the preoccupation of this vicious German nation with tasks that lie near to its doors. Were it not that British, Belgians, and French on the western line, Servians on the southern line, and Russians on the eastern line, were heroically withstanding the onslaughts of militant Germany and its Austrian vassal,the infamous German power would he at liberty to turn its attention to tba new and sparsely-populated countries such as New Zealand, and to make them " appanages " of Berlin. It is only because piratical submarines are busy in British waters that our Pacific waters are still free from this murderous peril. It is only because the Empire stands and tho open seas arc closed to German warships and transports that the fate of Louyain does not fall upon Auckland, that the agony of outraged Belgium is not repeated in this fair Dominion. Our men who are fighting and bleeding and dying at the Dardanelles—raw troops with the temper of veterans, lads from shop, office, and farm, who are doing deeds unmatched in history— fighting and bleeding and dying for New Zealand and for the Empire that guards New Zealand as actually as if they fought an invader amid the hills of Auckland. They are showing us, by their splendid courage, their contempt for suffering, their scorn of death, what New Zealand can do towards throttling the raonomaniacal nation and restoring peace and safety to the world. It is men like these who will deal with pirates and poisoners in their dens, who will drag the Kaiser from his foul eminence, who will teach the Germans to think twice before they imagine that Satan can give them dominion over all the kingdoms of the world. Men such as we have sent to the Dardanelles are the only teachers that the Germans understand, are the only apostles of the only peace worth having; New Zealand should send to the Imperial battle-line, for service wherever required, 50,000 of them.

Germany is not to be beaten by i resolutions and protestations any more than a monomaniac is to be convinced by argument and admonition. She has u..idc herself the incarnation of brutal, vicious, and unscrupulous Force; she believes, to the very depths of her sullen and obstinate temper, that &he can dominate what she regards as a Btupidly humanitarian world by being utterly inhuman, that she can terrify us and crush us by sheer " rightfulness" and unscrupulous-

ness. A humane people would be appalled if its government did as the German Government does, but the Germans are overjoyed at every new villainy ; their military men explain, their professors expound, their ministers of religion justify, their satanic preconceptions prevent any twinges of conscience. And we repeatwhat cannot be too often repeated if a true sense of the tremendous issue is to be realised — that if the Allies fail to crush this modern heathenism, everything that is worth having in civilisation is lost, and New Zealand with the rest. It is rank folly for us to have any [latent feeling that we are so far .from the actual zone of war that we. are only incidentally interested and concerned it is fatal ignorance for us to imagine that because the giants are wrestling in Europe, brigandage confined to Belgium, and piracy to the northern seas, that we are not as deeply affected as others. There will be piracy in the Tasman Sea and on.our coastal routes, brigandage in Auckland and Otago, every foul crime and every unspeakable villainy perpetrated under the Southern Cross unless the infernal " Will to Power" is exorcised from Germany by unconquerable armies inspired by a nobler ideal. In doing our duty to the Empire throughout this unprecedented war, in strengthening the cause of the Allies, and in doing our share for the emancipation of Belgium and the killing of Kaiserism, we save ourselves from destruction. Is it not ten thousand times better for armed New Zealanders to die heroically in Imperial battle on the other side of the world than for German " fright fulness " to bo visited upon the helpless and the defenceless in these dear islands of ours? Is it not better to make now, at whatever cost and loss and suffering, a great national effort for righteousness than to weigh the cost and shrink from the loss and seek to avoid the suffering without which we cannot hope to win peace with honour and security? It is men, fighting men, who are wanted. New Zealand must send its full share of men to help make the seas safe and the free countries secure.

Mr. Massey and Sir Joseph Ward, who are at one in this great crisis, have expressed themselves as convinced that New Zealand must do its duty and help to maintain the fighting-line. New Zealand will do no more than its duty if it Bends 50,000 men, while by preparing to do bo, promptly and unhesitatingly, it will stir the kindred Dominions to emulation, and give new courage to the Motherland, which bears on its broad shoulders the great burden of the war. If we raise 50,000 men, Australia will be inspired to raise 200,000, Canada to raise 400,000— an army •worthy of our freedoms, an army great enough to turn the scale in Europe and to teach Kaisers' to walk wide of the democracies which breed men that are unafraid. We wait to see Italy enter tie fray, but we colonial British can do more than Italy if we will. We can inspire every small state in the world with our own spirit. We can repay in its hour of trial the debt we owe to Britain, which has given us the far lands of tho earth for our inheritance, and unqualified liberty as our birthright, which in her strength has guarded our weakness, and now is filled with loving pride at the loyalty and devotion of her colonial sons. We can justify democracy to all the world, and proclaim by our deeds the heartfelt truth that the British Empire is a, forerunner of a free find enlightened world, wherein selfgoverning peoples may live and work and progress in peace and friendship, seeking to injure none and ready to guard each other from outrage and wrong. Let us leavo to Americans empty argument as to how the Lusitanian victims may be avenged and as to what can be done to Germany! The Navy keeps the searoads open for us, and the German, though infamous, is far from immortal. The way to avenge the Lusitania is to strike the harder at the Germans. New Zealand should set the example by raising its fighting force to 50,000 men.