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Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 59, Issue 4220, 6 December 1939, Page 8

“We New Zealanders do not dwell too much on these international troubles, but it is an awful thing really to consider that after twenty years of so-called peace we are in it again,’’ writes a correspondent. "Personally I feel that war is a good thing (apart from the consideration that modern war is bestial and lethal to a degree). War has that curious power of unifying the people in conflict (paradoxical, isn’t it), and it is not uncommon to find in history how a nation has risen to the' noblest heights of heroism solely through the necessity of war. I agree with Lord Bledisloe when he said that not enough men have died on the field of battle in this country, and not enough men have died for this country. ■ . I could write you a story from real life paralysing in its searching truth —the waste, the stupidity,. the colossal wrongness of this business which so often results in a sacrifice of the innocents. Perhaps this is the Creator’s revenge, and the tide can never now be turned. At any rate there is little in the prospect if this recourse to arms continues to bleed civilisation of some of its finest citizens on the masculine standard.” The use of modern machinery to clear productive land of scrub and secondary growth, and even remove stumps, will be demonstrated in the Raetihi district in the near future, as a result of arrangements made by the Waimarino County Council with the Minister of Labour, Mr Webb. Mi L. Lindup, district engineer of the Public Works Department in Stratford, visited the Raetihi district and selected a suitable Area on Mr J. D. Berry’s property, Valley Road. It is expected that several members of Cabinet will visit the district for the demonstration, which is creating keen interest among farmers in view of the success of machinery in clearing land in the South Island. It is stated that there are about 30,000 aik’es of land near Raetihi which would become highly productive if cleared by machinery, and that if the demonstation is a success, much of this land will be cleared. The cost of clearing farm land is as low as £6 an acre, the cleared land in many cases being worth £4O an acre. A number of orders for clearing have already been received, including the area of land on which the demonstration will be given. ..