The Dominion. FRIDAY. MAY 7, 1015. 'THE PARAMOUNT OBJECTIVE'

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2455, 7 May 1915, Page 4

The Dominion. FRIDAY. MAY 7, 1015. 'THE PARAMOUNT OBJECTIVE'

The suggestion of the Governor of New South Al'ales (Sir Gerald Strickland) that all forms of social and political activity should be subordinated to the paramount objective—a speedy and complete victory in tho war—should commend itself to all parties, and to all classes. There are. no doubt, many reforms which different sections of the community may consider desirable. But most of them can wait, whereas tie war must be carried on with unflagging zeal until final victory has been achieved. At present the individual energies of the whole Empire should be concentrated on tho attainment of this supreme end, and anything which might cause divisions or dissensions, or divert "the attention of the community to matters of secondary consideration must for the present be resolutely thrust into the background. In a tremandous crisis like the present it would be madness to open the floodgates of party controversy. This is no time for tho tricks and stratagems of rival parties or for the strife •of I political tongues., Until the conflict is over it is the imperative duty of men of all shades of political thought, to place the welfare of tho Empire above all personal and sectional interests, A great war like that) iu which we arc now engaged is something moro than b trial of strength between the opposing forces at the front. It is a struggle for mastery between the whole material, intellectual, and spiritual resources of tho nations involved. The men at the front must have a united and enthusiastic people behind them—a people prepared to put aside all that hinders them from working heart and soul, and in complete harmony, to secure the overthrow of tho enemies of Kino and Empire. Party politics are entirely out of place in time of war. They cjjssipate the moral forces of the nation, and the desire to score points against political opponents tends to prevent men from concentrating all their powers on the paramount objective. The war is causing the people of j British Empire to revise many of their ideas. It is making us sec things from a new standpoint. A change has' come over our conception of usefulness and of comparative values. Now that we have to fight for our freedom and national independence wc value them more highly than ever before. Now that we have discovered that our country is worth dyinit for wc will probably come to realise more fully than ever before that it is also worth livTho test of usefulness at the present moment is capacity and willingness to serve the Empire. The most useful man is not the artist, or the, scholar, or the scientist, or the politician, though all of these can uclp ; but the soldier—the man in the fighting-line. Students, and doctors, and lawyers, and artisans, and men of leisure are finding that they can be more useful in the Army just now than anywhere else, and they are enlisting in thousands in all parts of the British world. It is the duty of every able-bodied young man in New Zealand who has not already enlisted to ask himself why should he remain at home while others arc risking their lives at the Dardanelles. He may have good sons for not offering to serve his country as a soldier. He . may possibly be moro useful, to the Empire in some other capacity, and it would be a groat mistake to imagine that every healthy young man who has not donned khaki is lacking in patriotism or in courage. Still, the limpiie s demand for fighting men is so urgent that it is incumbent upon every male citizen of military age to.show cause, if only for the'satistying ot his own conscience, why he has not responded to the call. 'The 0F ? EFENCE reminds us that the lists of casualties which are now being circulated throughout New Zealand should intensify our realisation of the urgency of the need for more men, and still more men, until the foe has been vanquished. Those who for various rea- i sons cannot serve as soldiers ought not to think that they cannot serve at all. Non-combatants can heln in a hundred ways. "How can I be most useful to the Empire in this great crisis?" is a question which every member of the community ought to ask and answer. Military service must, of course, be given the highest place; but the finest army m the world cannot be victorious unless it is backed up by the whole and individual energies of the country that, sends it out to fight. All that the nation has and is must be put to the best use if victory is to be achieved' in such a struggle as that in which we are engaged"!