POPULAR HISTORY OF THE WAR.

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Issue 1468, 13 June 1918, Page 9

POPULAR HISTORY OF THE WAR.

The following letter, which has been forwarded to the Editor by Sir James Allen, Acting-Premier and Minister for Defence, will be read with wide satisfaction throughout the Dominion, the Government’s decision to publish a record of the activities of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force in connection with the Great War being of so worthy a nature as to ensure the project receiving every assistance from returned soldiers and their friends, upon whose co-operation it will be necessary to rely in a great measure for the compilation of the history. A large number of relatives of New Zealand soldiers have in their possession many exception ally interesting letters received from the men at the front — innumerable deeds of gallantry and heroic sacrifice being described therein — and while the majority of these letters have been kept as cherished mementoes from those who have gone forth to fight the Empire’s battle or who

have fallen in the great struggle for freedom, it is realised, in view of the intended compilation of this special history of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force, that the Government’s intention to place on record the noble achievements of our boys in Gallipoli, France, Egypt and other battlefronts should be made as widely known throughout the Dominion as possible, otherwise it is feared much valuable information in the shape of letters, diaries, sketches and photographs might be irretrievably lost. Relatives and friends of soldiers who possess suitable information, photographs or sketches should give this worthy project their whole -hearted support by forwarding such to the Director of Base Records, Wellington, as in order to secure reliable and authoritative information at firsthand it is essential that the author should have access to soldiers’ private letters, etc., which, after extracts have been made, will be returned intact to the sender. This request should meet with a worthy response from all who are in a position to assist in some small way or other to make the History of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force a complete and representative record of our soldiers’ glorious exploits in the different war zones. The following is the letter received from Sir James Allen regarding the

“We are living in the midst of the most momentous conflict in the history of mankind. The issue will determine whether the men and .wvOmen of the future shall live under the shadow of a military despotism or whether the principles of Christianity shall prevail, and nations, like individuals, have their duties as well as their rights. If the world after the war is not more free, and if smaller nations are not protected from aggression, the lives of millions of soldiers of the Allied Armies will have been laid down in vain. In this great struggle New Zealanders have taken an honourable and glorious part. We who are living know the spirit which has animated our soldiers and the sacrifices which they have made, but those who come after us can only learn these things from the pages of history. The time to record the spirit of the war is while the moving scenes of this great drama are before our eyes. “In addition to the Official Imperial History of the War, which will be prepared under the authority of the Committee of Imperial Defence, the Government of New Zealand have decided to publish a special History of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force, in which the deeds of our soldiers in the ‘far flung battle line’

will be written, it is hoped, in a manner worthy of the theme, not from the point of view of the military critic, but with a sympathetic knowledge of the brave spirit in which they met the hardships and sufferings which they were called upon to face. “Before such a history can be written materials must first be collected. Soldiers in their letters and diaries give plain but vivid pictures of their lives in camp, on leave and at the front. These are especially valuable to a historian as intimate records of the war. An advertisement appears in this issue asking that those who possess letters of special interest would forward them to the Director of Base Records, who will make suitable extracts and return them without delay. I should also be glad if Patriotic Societies and Soldiers’ Clubs would interest themselves in this project and endeavour to obtain suit able material for a true soldiers’ History of the War.”

“The suppression of racing has enormously prejudiced the thoroughbred and the trotter in France. Without racing the market is annihilated, selection is impossible —it is .the ruin of the industry. We must not lose sight of the necessity of re-opening our racecourses as soon as the situation permits.” —A. Dariac, in the French Chamber.