“FIDDLING WHILE ROME BURNS”

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 64, Issue 4559, 13 April 1942, Page 5

“FIDDLING WHILE ROME BURNS”

Sir, —If money is wanted for War production, we examine the Governments proposition, especially regarding interest, and if we think it worth while we give what we can spare—at the same time proving that we could spare a great deal more by pouring large sums into amusements, sport, and legalised lotteries; and if money is wanted for the patriotic fund the organisers have so little opinion of our patriotism that they must devise gambling schemes for us with at least the chance of profit before they feel confident of our support. They may be wrong—a certain percentage certainly does love country more than cash—but are they wrong about New Zealanders as a whole? In view of the grave situation in which we find ourselves to-day, these things indicate a complete lack of realism on the part of our people. The majority simply refuse to look the situation in the face and to make their appropriate response—the response of self-sacri-fice. In other words, they are living in a fool’s paradise—fiddling while Rome burns.—l am, etc., REALIST.