TOTAL WAR

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIII, Issue 124, 28 May 1942, Page 8

TOTAL WAR

MEANING EXPLAINED

SERIOUS NOTE STRUCK

A very serious note was struck by the Dominion president of the S.Z. Farmers' Union, Mr. W. AV. Mulhollund. in an address at the opening this morning of the annual conference of the Auckland Provincial Branch of the Union.

1 o-dav the war situation overshadowed all other problems, yet it was questionable whether we'fullv realised the meaning of a "total war," he said. What we individually did about it today might easily play a vital part in determining whether or not we were still in existence even in three months from now.

"I personally am disappointed with the sort of lead which our leaders are giving us," said Mr. Mulholland.

The present conflict was between the forces which stood for Christian concepts on one hand and Paganism oil the other. The former concept visualised the freedom of the individual as against the totalitarian view that the State was supreme and the individual subservant in mind, bodv and in soul. It was a question of whether we might be condemned to unthinkable suffering in body and mind unless we were prepared to grovel before the head of the State. That to-day was what total war meant, and in those circumstances our leading men might well be inspired to deal with more serious things on that special day usually devoted to higher things.. (Applause.)

There was. concluded the speaker, a job for everyone of them to do, and they wanted all unnecessary obstacles removed to ensure the maximum war effort.