THE DISTANT DRUM

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 3, Issue 214, 18 September 1940, Page 4

THE DISTANT DRUM

ISOLATION and, distance have contributed towards giving the average New Zealander a false sense of realities, and 'to-day in spite of a last minute radio and news-service' whiah brings the very latest tidings of the progress of the 'Battle of Britain' there is less real concern about the tide of events than during the 1914-18 struggle. The whole position from our comfortable seat in the South Pacific appears strangely fantastic, unreal and vaguely incomprehensible. London bombed! The headlines flamed momentarily lea,ving us temporarily aghast. Invasion of England! The thought was unthinkable, yet it came from the lips of the man who during the past three months has personified, the dogged spirit of Britain herself. It must be real, it is real! And unless we realise to the full the gigantic nature of the stakes that are tembling in the balance we cannot play our part. It is not merely .the Battle of Britain,, it is the battle of Empire., the Battle of Freedom and the Battle of Humanity. Yet how we toy with the idea! Periodically waves of spirited patriotism have swept iis and Colonial purses (always well filled in comparison with those of people in other countries!) have been opened without reserve. Red Cross, Comforts and lately the Spitfire funds have found ready response, but unfortunately each has had its limitations. The Government limit of £100,000 to thelatter has left many would-be givers still in possession of their donations. The gesture of sending a 'Food Ship,' as a goodwill gift to the people of England,, has been found impracticable. These things have helped in some degree to destroy the real sense of emergency. Nearer home the spectacle of the much vaunted 'Home Guard' is not a, pleasant one. Nothing along practical lines seems to have been accomplished though recently the people of Whakatane were informed in picturesque terms by a Minister that the new scheme was to "be introduced with lightning-like swiftness. Talk seems to be the greatest feature of th drive to increase primary production a,nd the 'strikes' which still characterise: the methods of the unions leave us aghast at what their behaviour might be when faced, with a real emergency ourselves. Broadly speaking, were it not for the fact that our finest and best have volunteered and are standing ready to fight the forces of brutality, the picture of New Zealand at war is very like the picture of New Zealand at peace, still embellished with all the selfishness of smug security and restlessness born of high living standards and an apologetic administration. Thus the war which should practically govern our actions and our efforts from day to day appears to be more or less a glorified, stage-show, horrible in itself when thought about, but distant, intangible and comfortably unreal.