The Bag of Plenty Beacon Published Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. WEDNESDAY, 11th. SEPTEMBER, 1940. THUNDER OVER ENGLAND.

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 3, Issue 211, 11 September 1940, Page 4

The Bag of Plenty Beacon Published Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. WEDNESDAY, 11th. SEPTEMBER, 1940. THUNDER OVER ENGLAND.

THOSE of us who hear and read of the. bombing raids on England and from the safety of a pleasant town in the Bay of Plenty in the Empire's farthest colony, have cultivated the habit of viewing the situation with a degree of horror, not unmixed with misgiving. Latest reports indeed indicate that hospitals and museums were included in the objectives of the. now indiscrimate attacks. But through all our worry we are heartened by the magnificent spirit which is displayed by the British people as a whole. Reassuring messages are conveyed over the daily broadefifet service and those who have received letters from people in England who have actually experienced a bombing raid, are filled with admiration for the manner in which the British civilian population is responding to the test. Men, women and even children are meeting the ordeal .with philosophic courage and calm, while the effect upon the fighting forces is just the very opposite to the intimidation for which the German ruler hoped. Why this amazing characteristic? A very limited knowledge of history,, tells us that the British people have ever discovered their greatest virtues under the trails of stress and emergency. They have always risen to the occasion and turned the tables in an amazing way, when the. prophets of gloom, were foretelling collapse. The great William Pitt found himself, when Prime Minister faced with the task of piloting a friendless England safely through the international shoals provided by the five great nations with which she was at war. But the right leader was at the helm, and in five years England had acquitted herself with honour and had concluded an advantageous peace with every single one of her enemieSi. England's greatness is however due as much to the common people as to her leaders. From their ranks are drawn her fighting material, and likewise from the masses of her population comes the slow, but determined voice of the race which gave democracy to the world, abolished slavery, laid down the pattern laws, of justice and led humanity in universal education. And the voice of the English people today is heard once again declaring a new and a terrible crusade against the powers of militant force and brutality. It 'is the voice of a people willing to suffer and endure much, but at the; same time it is a voice vibrant with confidence and hops, the two main essentials which will achieve victory in the end.