DAY BY DAY.

Waikato Times, Volume 90, Issue 14023, 28 March 1919, Page 4

DAY BY DAY.

The war brides brought to the Dominion by some of Homecoming our gallant soldiers of will not-have a very The Brides. elated ''.opinion of New Zealand’s hospitality—that is, if they .take cognisance of some of the vitriolic letters which are appearing in the correspondence columns of many of our contemporaries, and regard the authors as voicing the sentiments of the Dtf”.minionites generally. We are satisfied that the majority of our people reserve a warm corner in their hearts for our- soldiers’ brides and are prepared to accord them a right royal welcome into their several communities. It is, perhaps, a disappointment to some that so many of our lads have found mates elsewhere, and possibly the majority of us would have preferred to see New Zealand’s sons wedded to Zealandia’s daughters; but it must be remembered that a large number of our boys left these shores, free and heartwhole, to face the perils and dangers of war. When on leave from the front they were warmly welcomed iy the people of Britain, being received into their homes and treated as sons. When wounded or stricken they were faithfully nursed, and many a New Zealand mother, morning, noon and night, has called benedictions from above on behalf of the unknown to her good Samaritans on the other side of the world, who so lovingly cared for her soldier laddie in his hour of need. Gan it be wondered at, therefore, that lads have become enamoured of the daughters of such noble women and decided to travel life’s journey with them for helpmates? Should not we welcome the wives for the sake of the husbands? Gan we not honour the daughters of women who have done so much for pur, sons? There is another aspect of the case which some of the writers appear to overlook. Are not the men who have done so much competent to choose their own males? Are. they, as reward for their services to be deprived of the privilege which every true man claims —namely to select his own life mate irrespective of parish or county? It is to be regretted that a few unthinking persons have rushed in and expressed their personal ros.entment towards the new arrivals In scarcely courteous terms. It is calculated to give a false impression of. the sentiments held by New Zealanders as a whole, and cause the new arrivals unnecessary anxiety and pain, ,

There has been some disinclination on on the part of numbers The Horrors of people to believe of the many stories of Bolshevism. Bolshevist atrocities in

Russia which have found their way into print during the past year. This atitude of incredulity has been, on the whole, quite excusable in view of the extraordinary conflicting accounts we have had of ccurrences in that country. It Is easy to understand the reluctance shown : n some quarters to believe all that was told of the Bolshevist regime, though there was irrefutable evidence that it was largely based on bloodshed and robbery. But wo imagine that any doubts as to the terrors of Bolshevism as practised in its birthplace will vanish in the face of Colonel John Ward’s description of what he has actually seen in Russia. Colonel Ward is spoken of in the cable message as an ex-Labourite. As a matter of fact ho was, when.the war broke out, one cf the notable Labour leaders in the Old Country, the founder of the Navvies’ Union, a member of the committee of the General Federation of Trades’ Unions, and Labour member for Stoke-on-Trent since 190 G. An old soldier he had fought through the Soudan campaign—he came into great prominence in the early part of the war by raising several labour battalions for special work in the trenches on the Western front. Some months ago Colonel Ward left England to take part with the British expedition’s occupation of the Murman Coast and Archangel. The expedition has had numerous encounters with the Bolsheviks, and as it worked south it has evidently had full opportunity of realising what Bolshevist misrule means toTlussia. “How many of our. Labour leaders presumed to condone 'lire- horrors ’committed ny this mob of fanatical maniacs, I cannot imagine,” writes Colonel Ward to a fellow trade-union leaderJii'England. “War is horrible,” he adds, “but revolution is hcljjsh,” and lie declares, as ollicrs have done before him without being believed, that “the Bolshevist regime lias destroyed more peasants and poor people in a year than the Czar’s did in 100 years.” Colonel Ward’s letter comes appositely, when revolutionary hot-heads are attempting to introduce Bolshevist methods into British labour troubles.