PRODUCING ARMS

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 5, Issue 34, 27 March 1942, Page 5

PRODUCING ARMS

MOVEMENT AT EDGECUMBE

TRENCH MORTARS AND BOMBS

After all the disappointments which we have been subjected to in this war to date, people have become suspicious and distrustful. The soothing syruppropaganda with which we have been primed has lost its potency. People are bewildered by jack of candour and uncertainty. Arms and war equipment have been coming from abroad— where are they? We can hope, for their arrival, but hoping is not enough. We Should be ready to use them if ever they do appear and at the same time we 1 should be prepared to makeshift without, if again our hopes are to vanish into thin air. It is gratifying to know that a start lias been made at Edgecumbe to provide trench mortars and bombs without further delay. Training Women As regards man and women-power, to use whatever- machines of wa; are at hand, C Company of the Rangitaiki Home Guard Battalion is seeking to form a unit of women trainees. Those responsible for this development take the view that every ounce ol man, woman and child. poAver which can be made available should be organised or given the appropriate training loi the defence, not only of the country, but of .their own persons. While recognising to the full the value of the work of succour to the wounded and all that goes with it, the position may very readily arise here Avhere it is more vitai to be equipped to kilt an enemy, than to succour a friend. With that end in view the training of women as well as men in the science of destruction is deemed essential.