THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES FRIDAY, MAY 28, 1948. ONE SHINING HOUR

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26783, 28 May 1948, Page 4

THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES FRIDAY, MAY 28, 1948. ONE SHINING HOUR

• While freedom endures in this world I there will be treasured the tales of those who fought to defend it; tales of the simple dignity of free men who deliberately offered their lives on the altar of war in order that the democratic way of life might be preserved to their fellow citizens and to their children. Defeat in defence of a noble cause is more imperishable in history than the most renowned of victories gained in a war of aggression. The gallantry of Leonidas and his little band at Thermopylae nearly 1500 years ago is to-day still a tale men tell beside the fire—even if the memory is frequently no more than a dim appreciation that Thermopylae is synonymous with the defence of democracy—while the brilliant victories of Cannae and Austerlitz are familiar to few but earnest students of strategy and tactics. So shall it be that the word Dunkirk will be preserved as long as British people are alive to utter it, and the spirit of Dunkirk will .remain for ever the synthesis of the heights of nobility and greatness to which the common man can rise when freedom is at

stake. It is just eight years ago to-day since that historic-•embarka-tion commenced, eight years since the armies of democracy, illequipped to counter the flood of destruction that was launched upon them, ill-prepared to meet assault in the blitzkrieg manner, turned their backs to the sea and prepared to fight to the last. The miracle of Dunkirk had begun. It has been fashionable in recent months for surviving high officers of the German High Command to manufacture lame excuses for the failure of their forces to gain total victory, excuses that history will find as unconvincing as those employed by German General Staff apologists after the collapse of German arms thirty years ago. There was no mercy in the hell that was unleashed on Dunkirk. The Germans were stopped by a phenomenon for which their plans could make no allowance —the spirit of democracy, disciplined, unafraid, defiant. While the dogged defence of the perimeter held the embarkation commenced, and tire rest of the world, which had been so indifferent in the days of the “ phoney war,” wondered. And as the days went by wonderment was transformed into a recognition that this great and shining thing was indeed the spirit of freedom, and their recognition was expressed in such words as these:

As long as the English tongue survives the word Dunkirk will be spoken with reverence. For in that harbour, in such a hell as never blazed on earth before, at the end of a lost battle, the rags and blemishes of Democracy fell away. There, beaten, but unconquered, in shining splendour, she faced the enemy.

But it was not only the men on the beaches of Dunkirk who made the miracle possible, nor was it in them alone that greatness burned. For in that, crisis there was no man or woman of British blood who failed the country or the cause. The British and French soldiers who calmly fought to the end at Calais in order that the German drive might be checked, the crews of that gallant and incredible fleet that ferried between France and England under the rain of bombs, and those at home who stepped into the defences to meet the invasion they thought would surely come, these contributed in their degree to the occasion that will be remembered as the greatest victory of democracy long after its significance as the rescue of an army is forgotten.

INTERNATIONAL FARMERS

There is a vision at Paris, a vision of a progressive and orderly civilisation founded on the concept of soil as the basis of human existence. It is this vision that has brought from the four corners of the earth, for their second meeting, the spokesmen of those who cherish and till the soil, the men who believe that much of the hunger the suffering; and the warfare that distress this world will be removed when its peoples are adequately fed. For the International Federation of Agricultural Producers recognises that the needs of .its own members will best be helped by the service it can give to the world as a whole, and if the fanners and peasants of the nations which are now represented in its membership receive the support of Governments and organisations of farm workers the IFAP might well become the most influential non-Govemmental international body of the modern age. The particular strength of this organisation of primary producers is that it can plan without tlfe encumbrance of petty nationalism, since somewhere in the world there, is a market for everything farmers wish to sell, and by the planning of production, the raising of nutrition standards, the regulation of surpluses and the fixing of prices at a level that is fair to both consumer and producer it should be possible to ensure a greater stability for the farming industry than it has enjoyed in the past. The practical men who are now in conference at Paris have. the knowledge that Governments —and world Government—require in planning for healthy and contented populations; their well-informed opinion should be utilised to the fullest. One of the gravest problems for which provision must be made, and one which may arise sooner than many people expect, is that of the disposal of surpluses. This point was raised by the New Zealand delegate, Mr Norman Perry, in his speech at the plenary session. The memory is still recent of the worldwide distress and hunger that occurred when restrictive trade practices brought about a disastrous fall in prices, and food was destroyed or ploughed into the ground at a time when people were dying of starvation. No country in the world desires a repetition of that insane era. but it will not be averted by pious hopes or an ostrich-like concealment of the senses to obvious facts and trends. Even at the present time, when hunger is rampant in Europe and Asia, food is being destroyed in

because n«'edy Governv;o". jßk ann °t afford to pay the fixed the United Hates export policy requires. V^ e ..IFAP has demanded that the\p n \:d Nations, through its instrument 'e Food and . Agriculture Organisation, should.' take cognisance of these developments, and give full support to the World Food Council as an authority equipped with funds to acquire surpluses and distribute them to needy populations. The United Nations, however, can act with the required determination only when its individual members are prepared to act, and herein lies the challenge I to the IFAP. It is the task of all j its members now to force their Governments to the realisation that a world of well-fed people is a world more than halfway to peace.