Ashburton Guardian Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit. SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 1916.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume XXXVI, Issue 3562, 23 September 1916, Page 2

Ashburton Guardian Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit. SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 1916.

AN INSPIRATION TO

ELIGIBLES.

T\c superlatives of Mr Philip Gibbs, the gifted war correspondent, when he dilates on the achievements of New Zealand and Australian soldiers, are no{ always in the best of taste. The mon themselves have expressed dislike of the rather fulsome description of their appearance, their doings, and their sayings. They do not claim, nor has the Press of the Commonwealth and New Zealand claimed for them, I that they are supermen. They-are British soldiers —sons of the pioneers who made the nation what it is—and there is no need to go into literary hysterics when they perform deeds of valour which are all in the day's work of a soldier. To do so is to imply surprise that they are capable of j such exploits, whereas they have proved, in Egypt and at Gallipoli, that they are merely worthy descendants of their fighting forbears. At Gallipoli they had few opportunities of showing their actual fighting qualities in the open, but recently- in France the chance has been given them, and they accepted it in a way tiiat | earned special mention from Sir, Douglas Haig. We were told yesterday that they repulsed repeated desperate German attacks, hurling the enemy back and inflicting upon them very heavy losses. There are, approximately, about 20,000 New Zealanders in the trenches in France, and it is a striking tribute to the reputation they have gained when we find them in the hottest portion of the fighting, in one of the most important sectors of the British front line. Here is an j inspiration to their fellow-New Zealanders who have not yet en- ! listed. In the mind of a normal British subject, is there anything more worth while than to take his| place beside such men as these ? The growing shortages in.the reinforcement draftvS are a reproach to the laggards and a danger to the men in the trenches. Deeds of valour on the field exact their price in casualties, and if the vacancies in the ranks are not instantly filled there is a danger tfyat the sacrifices will have been made in vain, and the. ground that has been gained may be lost. A striking letter from a New Zealand soldier in France has. been received by the editor of an Auckland newspaper. The writer had just read of tho decision of the New Zealand Government to introduce compulsion, and he mentions having read in a New Zealand newspaper several letters opposing the measure. " I wonder," he wrote, "what the lady writer of one of those letters would think if she saw little children, as I have seen them, being earned in mournful procession along the streets to their last resting-places, and also women, young and old, having been blown to pieces by the cursed Hun ? Whenever we annoy him, he always shells the places where lie thinks the women and children are—the churches and convents, and such places. Methinks that if the lady writer saw some of the sights I have seen she would shed tears of blood if she had any male relation who refused to go. She speaks of a referendum. • Well, sir, they would have to reckon upon a block vote from the 40,000 or 50j000 soldiers that are at present fighting for the honour of all women, and for the lives of all dear little children. I may be dead long before this reaches New Zealand. Still, I amiproud of the day I decided to pome here to fight alongside the brave

soldiers of France. The saddest country on carth —a nation in tears in all surety. Why should the country bother, to put men in prison when they refuse to do their duty ? Let them be stood against the nearest tree and shot like any other traitor."