LOYALTIES

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 6, Issue 65, 16 April 1943, Page 4

LOYALTIES

THERE is a certain understandable reticence on the part of the press to deal with "subjects which from a moral and community point of view may be listed as vital to the,very well-being of our social and family life. Possibly as a free agent in this respect, a small country paper such as the Beacon seeking to reflect the activities of a limited community and dealing with questions which are: continually coming before the public within certain confines, has certain advantages over the larger papers'which consider such subjects distasteful or calculated to stir up a hornets nest of criticism. However we feel that we have no qualms in dealing with a subject which cannot have passed unnoticed by the majority of our readers, as the. war conditions have advanced. We refer to the loyalty owed to the men who are fighting for us overseas, and with particular emphasis on the behaviour of certain of the womenfolk they have left behind. Even though in doing so we become the object of a storm of criticism and censure, we feel that we are doing the decent thing by our boys in raising a protest against the disgraceful attitude of some of the women in this district towards the men who have gone overseas to maintain and keep them safe and in comfort at home*' Thank high heaven they are few in number, but were we to shrink from voicing our utter contempt for the flagrant behaviour of this few, we feel that we too would be letting down the men to whom we owe so much. It is incom-t prehensible to the average decent-minded person that such utter lack of loyalty and faith is possible, and yet againfc. Ave know and understand the unsettling effect and the general excitement engendered by war conditions. It is realised also that many who have contracted a young mar~> riage are swept away by passing emotions which under normal conditions would have never been allowed to dictato such unions. War was ever a time for emotional display and though we are not seeking to condemn unduly surelv our young women will have sufficient grasp upon themselves to realise their self respect and appreciate the sorrv picture: they are making by carelessness and indifference to the men to whom they owe so much. The war has wrecked much of the home life of our nation already; it has brought the inevitable toll of life, and burden of sorrow and suffering. To the young New Zealand girls of is dedicated the motherhood and the home-founding of to-morrow. Many are merely awaiting the return of peace to found and establish a home of the future. That is the clean and healthy outlook that is needed. But unfortunate-! ly there are many who cannot stand up to the test and after the disturbing picture of the conditions in some of our larger cities with regard to the sanctity of family lifts it is not encouraging to notice the infection spreading to our own centre. We are not only referring to our young married women, but to those of our young womenhood whose engagement or even friendship, pledges them to wait for the fine virile New Zealander who is fighting overseas, and whose deeds of bravery and gallantry have aroused the admiration of the entire world. To-day in the hurly-burly of war, the prostration of family life and the breeding of great sorrow, we appeal to the wives and mothers of the future, to refrain from adding to the existing war burdens by remembering their loyalties.