THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES Thursday, February 10, 1944. FURLOUGH AND MORALE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 25456, 10 February 1944, Page 4

THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES Thursday, February 10, 1944. FURLOUGH AND MORALE

The opinion of fighting men who have returned to New Zealand from the theatres of conflict is that the civilian population of this Dominion does not know what war is. Time and again, writing from abroad, and in private conversation, soldiers and men of the other services have made the complaint that the New Zealand people show a lack of realism in their reaction to the news from the battle fronts; that they have no proper grasp either of the grim personal ordeals or the tremendous issues involved in the war, and no understanding of the mentality of those who, in the line of fire, are protecting them from closer contact with war’s realities. While this disturbing viewpoint has been placed individually by servicemen before their friends, it has remained for a soldier as notable for his service in the war as for blunt speaking to put the position plainly before the public. Brigadier Inglis has twice commanded the N.Z.E.F. in the Middle East in General Freyberg’s absence, and none has a more intimate knowledge of the mind of the men of the famous division. His first warning is based on his experience of the emotional factors that may cause them personal distress and —in war this is not incidental—may impair their efficiency in the field. It is not difficult to understand that domestic news of a depressing nature, letters of the querulous type referred to by Brigadier Inglis, can have an exaggerated influence upon a soldier whose home is at the centre of his thoughts, its peace and comfort justifying his own discomforts and the risks he must run. As to the women who prove faithless to their men, it is obvious that, all ethical considerations apart, their conduct must inevitably affect certain temperaments disastrously. It is not, as be acknowledged, in the realm of Brigadier Inglis, nor does it come within ours, to advise wives how to write to their husbands overseas, or to pass judgment upon those New Zealand women—their number, rather notoriously, is not small—who seem to have found in this crisis of civilisation an excuse for relaxing moral standards. But it is good that someone with Brigadier Inglis’s authority has had the courage to address the women of the Dominion on these matters. The second matter, the brigadier’s straight speaking in the interview with the Daily Times on questions affecting furlough, is directed at everyone in New Zealand, and possibly touches the conscience of many good citizens. The contract of the soldier, sailor, or airman knows no conditions beyond those prescribed by the service into which he has been accepted. He has no ground, in law or ethics, for retiring or resigning, but must, as Brigadier Inglis declares plainly, continue at his task until “either the war is won or he is dead or incapacitated.” The people who make these men welcome when they are on furlough, and must regret bitterly the necessity that calls them back to the battle fronts, must recognise this harsh truth, and so assist the men themselves to remember it. From his comments it can be gathered that Brigadier Inglis for stated reasons regards the unprecedented and liberal furlough arrangements which the Government has seen fit to introduce for the 2nd N.Z.E.F. as possibly harmful to morale both in the line and 'at home, and as certainly not helpful to the Allied offensive in Italy or elsewhere. The dangers in the furlough plan—which were emphasised by the long-drawn and indeterminate period of leave granted the first draft from the Middle East—were no doubt explained to the Government long ago, though apparently not comprehended by it. Meanwhile, a policy, perhaps not unrelated to politics, had been adopted, a precedent created, aftd it may be assumed that the furlough system will be continued, as, indeed, fairness demands. It certainly brings great joy alike to the men and their relatives and friends, but it becomes their duty, and that of the people of the Dominion as a whole, to enable the soldier to make the most of his generous leave while never forgetting its finite character. They can, ultimately, only make partings the harder, reduce morale and efficiency, and create difficulties for command, by questioning the inexorable requirements of military law.