The Bay of Plenty Beacon Published Tuesdays and Fridays. FRIDAY, DEC. 31, 1943. PROSPECTS 1944

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 7, Issue 37, 31 December 1943, Page 4

The Bay of Plenty Beacon Published Tuesdays and Fridays. FRIDAY, DEC. 31, 1943. PROSPECTS 1944

WITH the news of the sinking of the Scharnhorst, the Bay

of Biscay naval engagement and the oncoming armies of Soviet Russia, ringing in our ears it would be safe to venture to say that the: prospects for 1944 are the brightest since the outbreak of the present conflict. Victory in the coming year seems to be a certainty—and yet we have learnt by bitter experience to belittle even our most cherished hopes in the great game of war until they have become actual achievements. All these precautionary measures by the way however, we feel that we can safely look forward to a year of glorious victory in the face of the increasing pressure upon the senior Axis partner in Europe and the forthcoming all-out Allied invasion of the Continent. The new year stands before us with prospects more, rosy than ever before and out of the slough of uncertainty when Britain alone withstood the combined might of the Axis onslaught, out of the fearful ordeal by fire and bombing which the resolute heart of Empire withstood unflinching, out of the right of fear and despondency has been born the strength to give battle: on a scale hitherto unprecedented. At a loss which is termed negligible, the R.A.F. has rocked the German war industry to its foundations during the past year. Italy, the land which boasted that ten million bayonets would )eap into the fray in the cause of dictatorship has been eliminated from the Axis partnership and to-day with that easy versatility which has so often characterised her race, pours legions into the Allied forces of conquest. Only the German garrison holds the: upper half of Italy in thrall and we may well wonder now long Hitler will be able to spare his precious divisions for this front in the face of the Nazi debacle on the Russian front. The position of the German dictator to-day is not an enviable one. Beaten to a disastrous degree on the Soviet front, bereft of his one European ally, and expecting daily the major onslaught of the Anglo-American invasion, which has now been in active preparation for two long years, Hitler as he views the situation to-day the circumstances are very nearly a parallel to Mussolini as he watched" his defeated forces melt away on the Libyan sands and fearfully awaited the invasion of Sicily. The outcome of all these things lies unguessed in the treasurechest of 1944 which to-morrow will be unlocked with the usual gaiety and festivity. We are apt in the midst of the prominance given to world affairs to overlook our own reactions to the cycle: of the new year. How for instance will 1944 affect us? What part will Whakatane and district play in the momentous twelve months which lie ahead? True we have our local body programme of works already undertaken and planned. True too we have our own individual schemes for business or for farm. But. from the broader aspect it behoves us these days to view our activities more and more from the national viewpoint. Our country a year ago was deemed to be in the front line of action as far as the Pacific war was concerned. Every available male was then armed and trained against the prospects of the anticipated Japanese invasion. To-day that is a thing of the past, the Home Guard has been all but demobilised, the whole aspect of preparedness has been relaxed. In 1944 we look forward with hopes which are higher and courage that is greater a hundred fold to what it 'was in those seemingly far-off days. The new prospect harbours the vision of returning peace, with the problems of civilian readjustment, of rehabilitation and of the care and training of the war sufferers. Already much has been done: in this sphere of possibility. Perhaps the greatest of our responsibilities will be the feeding and actual restocking of the European mainland after the five years of intensive plundering by the hungry hoardes of Adolph Hitler. New Zealand —often referred to as the Empire s dairy farm will have an important role to fill in this respect and in the cause of suffering humanity she must not fail. Peace in the new year is the wish closest to our hearts, but unless that peace is born of understanding, goodwill and co-operation between the nations, it would pay us handsomely to continue the futile struggle until just such a spirit has entered into the international deal-* ings of mankind.