REALITIES, ARE WE ALIVE TO THEM ?

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 5, Issue 3, 14 January 1942, Page 4

REALITIES, ARE WE ALIVE TO THEM ?

JAPANESE raiders have shelled a base in Samoa! The news of enemy action twelve hundred miles from our coast seems to have done but little to stir us out of the lethargy into which we as a people have fallen for so long. Two and a half years to prepare for the emergency which is growing more real day by day. We are a strange people! Long before Japan entered the war, or even looked like entering it there w§£>a feverish rush in this country to store foodstuffs, to form Home Guard units and to prepare for a posjsible invasion. Intuition acted in a remarkable manner. Eighteen months ago, the Minister for Public Service, Hon. R. Semple, in picturesque terms, informed a representative meeting in Whakatane what he was going to do in the process of a whirlwind tour to r&use up enthusiasm for the: formation of a national garrison which would embrace every physically fit man. in the country. All this with war so far off. There was even greater enthusiasm in those days than exists to-day with the enemy drawing closer and closer to our doors. It is a strange fact that until an attack is almost about to develop the average New Zealander cannot bring himself to face realities. The position in the Pacific to-day, is clear enough for anyone to follow. By one fell stroke of treachery, Japan now ranges the wide waters without molestation either from Britain or America. Her offensives with the exception of China, have everywhere been crowned with success. Now to replenish her diminishing oil supplies she is concentrating upon the Dutch East Indies . Once again her ships ride unchallenged across the Pacific. Long lines of transports disgorge their military cargoes without interruption. The American string of island bases " across the Pacific are now under the flag of the rising sun. Success to the over-confident Jap. has given her raiders a sense of immunity which brings them closer and closer to Australasian shores. To-day it is Samoa, to-morrow it may be us! Who would be foolish enough to deny it? Until the control of the Pacific is decided in a decisive manner,, the warships and raiders of Japan, will continue to harass and destroy at their own sweet will- is there to stop them? Naturally we all know that the counter Anglo-American offensive will most assuredly be forthcoming, and naturally too we have the utmost faith in its outcome. But until such action can be fought out and the mastery of these wa,ters decided our enemies have the power and the opportunity of laying waste, harrasing. and raiding our shores. Who can doubt, but that these, if the gathering weight of the coun-ter-blows is too long in materialising, will be but preliminaries to a greater and a more comprehensive plan fraught with far greater danger to us and with far more serious consequences. 5