MAORI WAR EFFORT

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 86, Issue 55, 6 March 1942, Page 4

MAORI WAR EFFORT

MINISTER’S APPEAL TO NATIVE RACE SUPPORT OF BATTALION (P.A.) Wellington. March 5. An appeal In young Maori men to join either the special home deience Maoi. 1■: 'ialion, to be reciuited from volunt-ers for overseas service, or the Territorial Force, was made by Mr. Paikea. member of Inc Executive Council representing the Native race, in an address last evening. Mr. Paik a. who spoke first in English and then in Maori, said he was sure the formation of a Maori Battalion in New Zealand woul’d foster an extra keenness in the Maori war effort. The job of keeping the battalion at full strength lav wilh th° Maori people, with the eiders wilh every ablebodied man. and with the mothers. “The battle-front has been brought nearer home." said Mr. Paikea. “and because of the imminent, danger to our own homes and to ourselves, it has become our duty to exert, ourselves and strain every sinew lo prepare ourselves to combat the enemy in the most effective way. The way to do this is for every able-bodied young man to enlist in the battalion or in the Territorial Force. Your country, your homes and your families. yes, your very lives, call you to dutv. “The brave deeds, exemplified by vour own sons and brothers, together with there pakoha comrades, invite us all to greater sacrifices and thus greater service. Furthermore, the spirits of your fallen sons cry out across the ocean of Kiwa to keep alight the torch for democracy and freedom. We must not lay down the torch which has been so successfully carried by our boys in Greece. Crete and Libya. By joining up with the battalion or the Territorial Force, we. the Maori people, will march side by side with our pakeha comrades tn defend our homes, and by God’s grace we will win in the end in our battle to preserve our heritage.”