BRITONS, NEVER, NEVER, NEVER...

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 2, Issue 175, 19 June 1940, Page 4

BRITONS, NEVER, NEVER, NEVER...

GRAVE days, and still graver ahead of the British peoples! This is the general belief dictated by the series of disastrous events and the passage of the war which now shows the Empire as fighting for its very life. Without desiring to appear pessimistic, it is fhe duty of every person to face boldly the facts and without flinching or giving way to depression, to adjust their mental outlook as each momentous move succeeds the last. Viewed from the safety of the mid- ' Pacific, the second and greatest world war, has taken a disastrous turn and Britain hasi the mortification of seeing her gallant French Ally, prostrate beneath the heels of the oppresser and treating for peace, which the German dictator with characteristic callousness decrees shall .be only granted upon unconditional surrender. What the chapters of history hold in store for the Allied cause will be made- known only as the days pass and newer and clearer lines of action are discernible in the chaotic conditions which now present themselves. It is in this brief respite however, that Britons in every part of the globe should be arming and preparing for their call to the cause of freedom. Surely we need no more glaring lesson than that which has been shown us during the last eventful two days. Our Empire faces the prospect of annihilation. Messages of loyalty have showered, the Motherland from Colonies in all the corners of the earth. The spectacle of the Mother Country facing a lone fight,, has but served to strengthen the bonds of Empire, which today is the last barrier between freedom and barbaric tyranny seeking to engulf the world. Today as never before Great Britain represents the light of freedom to the forces of Democracy and 'it L to her standard that all must rally. New Zealand, brought face to face with realities by the turn of events, for the first time will and must, redouble her war effort, before like ether ill-fated countries it will be too late. More and still more foodstuffs are required for the Old Country. We can supply , them, but as yet we have but toyed with the position. No one has seriously felt the effects of war. The blue dome of heaven continues to shine over a bountiful land full of all the 'immediate necessities of life,

whilst of poverty, we simply do not know the word. Fully and properly organised., one million and a half people could give immense service to the Empire in her dark hour. In answer to the alarm which means life or death to everything we hold most dear and most sacred, our wretched partyism should be decently interred and if possible, forgotten for good. Wranglings over insignificant internal differences are today like so much political larrikinism. The call is to business and the country would welcome wholeheartedly a defined and practical line of action which could be applied to every man and woman capable of ordinary thinking. Never before has" the whole country waited so impatiently for a lead to action. The man-power and woman-power us here and waiting, the resources lie in abund.ance on all sides, the facilities and the organisation alone are wanting. Loyal New Zealanders waiting.