The Bay of Plenty Beacon Published Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. WEDNESDAY, JULY 15, 1942 EYES ON RUSSIA

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 05, Issue 78, 15 July 1942, Page 4

The Bay of Plenty Beacon Published Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. WEDNESDAY, JULY 15, 1942 EYES ON RUSSIA

Transfer of Land l Consent was given by the Whakatane Borough Council last Monday evening to the transfer ot' a small section of land on. which the Borough pipeline Avas situated to the P.W.D. The move was necessary in connection with the recent straightening of an adjacent road undertaken by the Department.

READING between the terse Soviet communiques it is not difficult to sense that-all is not well in Russia. Since the fall of brave Sabastopol and the stalemate that succeeded Marshall Timoshenko's bold thrust upon the unprepared Germans at Kharkov Hitler by gigantic efforts has succeeded in spreading his reinforced and recomperated armies along all the threatened sectors. His vast spring offensive has now commenced in deadly earnest and the soldiers of the Hammer and Sickle are feeling the full weight of his ire. Patchy broadcasts from the Soviet headquarters speak of consistent retirement, retirement, to new positions. This type of warfare brings back to the memory the ghastly stories of the German shock offensive of last September when the Russian grant, reeling under the force of the repeated blows so treacherously delivered was forced to stumble blindly backwards defending himself r.s best he could. To-day under the renewed might of the German armed monster he is doing the same thing though the retreat is limited to but a few strategic points on the whole of the tremendous front. It would be safe to assume that to gain this initiative Hitler has utilised the whole of the forces at his disposal mustering his greatest and widest powers in order to crush the land of the hatred communistic teachings. Every ounce of strength is being flung into the battle line. The picture thus presented spells an open invitation for the creating of the much talked-of second: front, and it is no secret to state that this offensive must at this very moment be exercising the minds of our military experts. The problem that we are faced with to-day, is however the necessity of making sure that victory must be absolutely certain, before we launch the full strength of our attack and thus weaken our garrison forces at home. The Egyptian campaign though vital enough from a strategic and prestige point of view, is numerically nothing more than a side-show and constitutes Italy's official task in the conflict under German leadership. When it comes to speaking of armies numbering millions, the hundred thousand or two engaged in the Middle East become insignificant. Undoubtedly with the training of paratroops the formation of 'Commando' units and the initiation of 'thousand bomber raids' all speak o£ the closeness of Britain's new offensive which will come like a hammer blow on the European mainland. Then and only then can we expect the strain to be lifted from our sorely pressed Russian Allies . who are fighting just as much as we, for their own rights and privileges, their own homes and their own ideals. Thus do we owe them open allegiance not because they have taken the full force of the blow which was probably designed for us, but becausjs. man for man and woman for woman they are fighting for a principle which is identical with our own. May the time not be far distant when the full blast of the long-awaited British counter blow falls upon the weakened rear of hated enemies of freedom and enslavers of the peace-loving peoples of Europe. ON ECONOMIC NATIONALISM "NO British statesman has hitherto had the courage to oppose a policy advocated by British industrialists or British workers, on the ground of the injury which it will inflict on the industries of France or Belgium or Germany, or to reject a measure designed to favour British agriculture because it would spell ruin for the Danish farmer. Yet there is little doubt that we shall fail to achieve any effective international order, or any alternative to the horror of recurrent war, until we witness some such fundamental change, generally and reciprocally among the nations, in the scale of values- The problem of collective security is not so much whether men are prepared to sacrifice their lives for ( other countries, but whether they are prepared to sacrifice some of their profits and some of their wages to promote a common welfare in which they will eventually share." — Editorial London Times,, December 5, 1941. MATERNITY NURSES' PASSES CONGRATULATIONS to the nursing staff of the Whakatane Annexe upon the consistently high pass' figures recorded at the annual maternity examinations. A tribute to the training received in the local institution is borne out by the splendid comparison with other centres where the equipment and the knowledge is usually considered more advanced and superior in every way. Of all nursing knowledge, it is universally recognised that nothing is more vital than that appertaining to the care of, and the attention to, maternity patients, and Whakatane's specialisation in this department is most commendable.

Crippled Children's Welfare The secretary of the New Zealand Crippled Children's Society Inc. has notified the Borough Council of its intention to establish local subcentres with small responsible com-, mittees in each hospital, district. An officer from the Society would shortly be visiting the district for that purpose.