OTHER PAPERS’ OPINIONS

Putaruru Press, Volume XVII, Issue 1037, 17 June 1943, Page 2

OTHER PAPERS’ OPINIONS

WHAT WE GIVE,' WE GIVE FOR FREEDOM The war will soon be four years old- New Zealand ha 3 been in it from the beginning. It took a little while for the people to realise, that

when New Zealand is at war every man and woman in New Zealand who is outside an internment camp is part of the war machine; that there is a war job for each and everyone Many soon found out. All fit men of military age, were drafted into the Army. Women were enrolled in military and essential services —thousands not eligible for the call offered themselves for ancillary jobs, and thousands took up patriotic work. A National Patrotic Fund Board was formed, and Provincial Patriotic Councils, and District Patriotic Committees', and thousands of our men and women, and boys and girls have worked enthusiastically to secure the funds required to keep our Fighting Services suppled with amenities and comforts that are not included in their Service issues and that are not procurable on their battle stations. The need progressively increased as wounded men were collected for care and treatment, and as information came to hand of large batches of our men in prisoner of war camps. A continuous inflow of funds is necessary to meet the cost of those things which it i s considered can and should be furnished by those whose conditions of age, physique, or essentiality keep them 1 in home occupations. Up to last year the response has been reasonably satisfactory, and now Patriotic Committees are engaged in the campaign to raise the 1943 quota. , Why should we give—we, who are short of staff and ourselves working long hours—we, who are assigned to work that we would not choose for ourselves—we, who ar e taxed and taxed again on our earnings—we, who are subjected to irksome restrictions and regulations—we, who think patriotic donations should be free of taxation or raised by taxation—or we, who offer a hundred other excuses ? THIS IS WHY— Because if Germany or Japan occupy this Dominion o,ur specious grounds for ungenerosity will appear as blessings in comparison with the they would impose on us —Because not only our assets but our very lives will be forfeit to build up the Fascist World Order—Because the restrictions and regulations we endure are war measures that our democratic rights will permit us to throw off when war ceases, but these war chains that bind us will be per- . manently welded on us if we lose the . war—Because politics are petty compared with the life-and-death 1 struggle between our Nation and the Powers of Evil—'Because unless we are big and broad-minded enough to • subdue partj and class inherencies , we shall ourselves deserve to be sub- ! dued Becauge we have daily cause to be thankful that so far we have been spared the devastation and i death of bombing—Because we still enjoy food and drink denied our : friends and relations in Great Brit- : ain and so manj of our Allied couni tries—Because every self-denial will hasten the liberation of millions of starving people ii Europe who are confidently praying to us to save i them—Because our soldiers and sailors and airmen hav e covered the name of the Dominion with gloiy ; and we shall be hypocrites if we do not follow up our lip service with practical support Because there is not one household in the Dominion that cannot find the one. pound per head of its inmates each year which is all that is necessary fully to cover the cost of the Patriotic Fund Service— Because we want to help our men to win this war, no! so much for our sake as for the sake of our children, who will ere long take our places in local and National Govemment, in control of commerce and industry and social service and who are entitled to a fair start—and, finally—Because if w e fail to discharge our patriotic duty to those who are fighting and suffering and dying for us we shall prove ourselves lacking in human instincts, i So let us be generous in our t 0 the Patriotic Appeal, for WHAT WE GIVE, WE GIVE FOR FREEDOM. -A.A. Bulletin.