A WOMAN'S VIEWS.

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2747, 15 April 1916, Page 12

A WOMAN'S VIEWS.

Sir,—May, a woman—the/descendant of soldiers and the mother of soldiers, who have fought, and aro fighting i'or their country—express her views through the columns of your valued paper/ On.the declaration of war, my opinion was, and still is, that conscription should have been immediately enforced. The Empire was threatened, therefore tho duty of every fit. man was to fight for liberty and freedom. Why should any man nave the privilege of saying whether he feels disposed or not to fight when/ the. great need for men arises ? We have been living under a hundred years of peace, which our ancestors fought- for and handed down to us. Germany lia» broken this security; therefore every man must feel the time has arrived when he must obey the supreme call. There cannot be any choice. Surely there cannot be one man who feels he need not- answer! An extract from a letter received last mail from, an "Anzac" at the front may bo apropos: — "God! I do not see how any ablebodied man can stay at homo, with things as they are in this part of the world," etc., etc., Is this not a, direct call from the field of battle ? 1 know a young returned soldier who was wounded when ' the great move Was made in August at Gallipoli. He is now discharged, but is going Home shortly, hoping tho voyage will restore him somewhat, so that he may be lor-, tunate in joining the Army there, His is an example to others, and of such heroes are. t R-e recruiting: Why are women not asked to help?,?- Open-air meetings at-lunch-time, at 6 p.m.; and again, at 7.30., might take place, at,, say, the small, grass lawn opposite Government buildings, Post Olßce Square, the base of Queen Victoria's statue, and by the Kio.sk, Oriental Bay. A secretary: could be appointed (returned man, preferably) to take the names of men offering. The presence of returned soldiers would help considerably, and in the evening a band to play the oldfashioned .patriotic airs we all know and love' so well. Women .have done, and arc doing, so much. . lhe real tragedy of Avar falls heaviest on them, the women who give husbands, sons, and brothers. The heart-breaking waiting for new 3 irom the front, the non-return of the> dear ones, the proration some families have to endure. Yet women face • all this gladly, 1 11 '™,.-'; Mothers, like myself, who are filled ■with joy and pride that their sons are proving their manhood doing.their duty, by fighting for freedom —which can only bo secured by every mau enlisting and desperately flighting, as Britishers have always done in the past. The Canadians made a name for themselves in 'Flanders ;in their imperishable charge. : The gallant and never-to-be-forgotten landing and 'charge _ of the Anzacs- at the Dardanelles must inspire every man to go and do ."his bit" to add lustre to tho fighting fame of New Zealand—X am, etc., MOTHER OF THE SOLDIERS.