Published Tuesdays and Fridays. TUESDAY, MAY 1, 1945 THE LAW OF COMPENSATION

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 8, Issue 69, 1 May 1945, Page 4

Published Tuesdays and Fridays. TUESDAY, MAY 1, 1945 THE LAW OF COMPENSATION

Record Stock Sales Readers, arc asked to take careful stock of the Clearing Sales advertised in record numbers ol' page 8 of this issue. Battle of Gate Pa Last Sunday marked the 81st anniversary of the battle of Gate one of the most notable engagements between the British and native' forces in the earlier days of New Zealand's, history. Of all the conflicts between Maori and pakeha in the war days of the sixties, no engagements surpassed in thrilling interest this battle, fought at Tauranga.

OUT of Germany today comes a cry of dispair. So entirely different is it from the boastful flow of oratory from the Goebbels-inspired broadcasts which the world has grown used to over the past six years that it is hard to believe that it emanates from the some source. The Third Reich planned by Hitler to 'last one thousand years' is today crumbling to its final ruin. The cold steel-hearted spirit of Nazidom is reaping as it has sown over the fateful years which have witnessed its rise since the famous 'putsch.' With its final overthrow, has been laid bare for all men to see the hideous crimes of which the regime has been guilty over the terrible period of oppression. Stories of the Buchenwald and Belsen concentration camps are calculated to send a chill of horror through future generations for centuries to come. The cold-blooded enormity of this senseless method of torture against tens of thousands of political and .national prisoners serves to illustrate once and for all time the utter depravity to which the Nazi regime was capable of sinking. We are sobered in the very hour of victory by the unparalled stories of the suffering of these unfortunate: victims of Adolph Hitler's Germany. Their fiendishness defies our comprehension and their callous brutality serves to eliminate all latent feelings of pity for the human devils who have been responsible for their perpetration. Beside them even the Japanese atrocities pale into insignificance. With the avenging armies now flooding through the central German plain, whereon is situated the fated capital Berlin, now but a shadow of its former self the end cannot be far off. These are days of world-shaking events, yet so used have we grown to them, that they move us but slightly, for we in New Zealand have been privileged to view the whole vast picture from our seat of comparative safety in the Southern Pacific. Since the death of President Roosevelt, whom history will probably rank as high, if not higher than Abraham Lincoln, the war has rushed swiftly to its victorious climax. Tremendous news reaches us hourly. We have learnt of the capture and ignominious death of Mussolini, the Sawdust Caesar of Fascist Italy—an event which in normal times would have rocked the world, for after escaping assassination no less than four times the erstwhile strong-man of Italy has died at the hands of his own soldiery. The great and terrible names which have made up the core of the Nazi organisation are mentioned in the news as they fly as desperate refugees, seeking sanctuary from the fate which they so richly deserve. Field-Marshal Goering loud, hearty and good-natured, erstwhile commander of the 'luftwaft' which spread terror and desolation amongst the defenceless innocents of a dozen unsuspecting neutral countries, has likewise; gone to a bloody grave—assassinated together with the members of his family. Colonel Dietmar military commentator; the veteran Von Mackensen; the notorious diplomat Von Neurath and a hundred others are in Allied hands. The arch-criminals of the piece Hitler and Himmler are however still at large urging the pathetic remnants of their shattered forces to continue the senseless struggle, though by the time this article is printd _ the news of complete' capitulation may have been received. Germany's travail in her last tragic moments will probably eclipse anything hitherto known for her last line defenders comprise not only the last exhausted elements of her armies but a host of fanatical school lads and militaristic women, who poisoned by the insidiousness of the Nazi doctrines and whipped to a frenzy of mistaken patriotism by the broadcasted appeals of the black-hearted Himmler are throwing th.6ir young Hvgs 3»wsy on th.6 funGrsl pyrG of tli6 regime which was once their ideal. It is difficult in these final days of Nazi defeat to realise: how closely Hitlerism came to achieving all it had set out to accomplish; how the prophesies of 'Mein Kamf were within an ace of fulfilment, yet these facts are known only too well in the records of the grim years of 1940„ 1941, 1942 and 1943. For our deliverance we are humbly thankful, and under the terms of the Atlantic Charter we can be depended upon to do our part towards the construction of a better world order in which even Germany will recover from thei bitter reaping of the crop she has sown.

i Servicemens' Welcome Home Dance A social and dance to welcome home all servicemen and women returned from overseas 6 is being held on Wednesday 9th May in the Winter Show Buildings. Invitations have already been sent to about 50 Returned Servicemen but the secretary feels that some men may have been missed owing to the fact that there is no official list available. Anyone knowing of a Serviceman who has returned to the district (Borough or County) since December last and who has not received an invitation to the Dance by Friday, 4th inst. is requested to advise the Mr R. Morpeth as soon, as possible.