A NATION'S DEBT

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXX, Issue 21473, 22 April 1933, Page 4 (Supplement)

A NATION'S DEBT

Anzac Day 'fill soon be hers again, Poppy Day has come and gone, wreaths will be laid on Cenotaphs, and our thoughts are with hose who, 18 years ago, landed in Anzac Cove. The best, the bravest, our land possessed marched away then, far from home and friends, eager to take part in the great fight, and, answering the call of England, many spent their last hours in the mud of the trenches with the boom of the guns in the distance. Now wo are honouring our dead, those whose memory will never fade. But what of those who came back, the ones who lived to see the dawn of better times? Yes, well may we ask! Just look at the streets, the roads along which wander New Zealand's heroes, asking nothing, expecting nothing but the meagre right to live; they look to us for help. And what do we do? Scorn the pleading look in their eyes, the sleeve hanging limp at their sides and send them from door to door.

HAVE WE PAID IT?

• By KATHLEEN ODEY,

They fall fn on the "markers," They move to the right in fours, With 'comrades men are marching, They are marching by In fours No laughing men are marching. No light-flung jest or word, With comrades men are marching, Who marching orders heard.

We who should really be paying homage at their feet! If war broke out to-morrow would those who came back and still are fit enlist? Of course they would, with the same willing spirit that ( helped them to victory before. But, ah! Many would go with a silent wish far down in their hearts, that they might never again see the shores of the land that has treated them so ill. These words may sound bitter, but they are the truth. Did not a New Zealand borough council recently refuse the Returned Soldiers' Association a "street day" on a Friday. Did not one member even 6ay that the soldiers were becoming a burden to the community?' No, we have not paid our debt, the biggest debt we owe—that of human kindness, to those who came back! We haven't even played the game in connection with those who spared nothing in their efforts to bring about world peace. Among those who stand bareheaded before the Cenotaph next Tuesday will be many who will offer up a fervent prayer asking God why they, too, did not fall asleep with their comrades out there in Flanders fields.