STIRRING CALL TO ACTION

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 05, Issue 25, 6 March 1942, Page 4

STIRRING CALL TO ACTION

THE letter published in to-ciay's BEACON from Sgt. Clive "Hulme must make the blood of very Britisher tingle. Here: we have a man of action, a proven hero, calling to his countrymen to awaken from the damning lethargy into which they have drifted. New Zealand to-day appears to be like a helpless jay-walker, imperturbedly walking across the path of a 'jauggernaut,' and murmering feebly and composedly 'It CANT happen to ME.' The letter by the winner of the Victoria Cross, is intended to save the dreamer from being jolted in the small of the back by the jauggernaut, and to whisk him to the safety of the defences before it is too latei The same urgent message has" ,been spoken, written and broadcasted, by thinking men of vision for the past two years but without avail. Now we have a new voice in the insistent chorus of warning, and its note is couched in such terms of emergency and patriotic appeal that it cannot be overlooked. Speed in the arrangements for the defence of our country; speed in the mobilising, arming and training- of every available man; speed in the construction of a clear-cut and unified military headquarters governing army and civilians alike; speed in the severance of official 'red tape' and the introduction of active; forceful measures., the objectives of which all can understand; these are the things for which the country stands in urgent need, the so are the things for which the people are clamouring.