The Dominion. THURSDAY, MAY 18, 1310. OUR PART IN THE WAR

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2774, 18 May 1916, Page 4

The Dominion. THURSDAY, MAY 18, 1310. OUR PART IN THE WAR

Mb. Ashmead-Bartlett, the war correspondent, who has been lecturing in- New Zealand, told an Auckland interviewer on Monday , evening that our "admiration for the Anzacs threatens to destroy the true perspective of their place in the Empire's armies." 7 He is of opinion that tho people of New Zealand are too much inclined "to localise the war." He seems to think that our attention is so.fully monopolised by. the doings of our own men that in danger of losing our sense of proportion, and he places the blame for this state of mind upon the cable service, which, in liife opinion, is creating an exaggerated idea of the relative iraportajioe of the part the Anzacs ari> , playing at the front, That there is some justification for this criticism of the press service most people will readily admit. We all feel at times, more particularly since our troops were transferred to .France, tliat the .'cable messages describing the experiences of the Now Zealand soldiers might advantage be shorn of some of their frills and trivialities, inning details are occasionally cabled that might well have been ' ar ! 110 onc wou 'd complain it the praise were spread over a wider surface. Our brave and generou;} Jads are only too anxious to share the glory with their comrades irom other parts of the Empire. But has not Mr. Ashmead-Bartlett formed a_rather exaggerated idea of the iLkenects the well-meant efforts of the cable compilers to satisfy tho very natural eagerness of tho people of Australia and New Zealand for news about the Anzacs? He need not worry himself about tho, disquietude he has observed in his travels regarding "the prolonged panegyrics on the Anzacs." These trioutos to our men are not at all , likoly to dim our vision of a united ■Umpire fighting in a common cause. r JNo one who takes a sufficient interest m the war to, read the cablegrams intelligently can be so ignorant aa tq imagine that Britain did not have a great fighting force in .^ e Anzacs arrived. , w desirable New Zealanders Mould guard against'the tendency to view the war too exclusively from their own standpoint. It is well to be reminded of the duty of thinking Imperially—of seeing things as a whole. But we can still do this and bs speciaJly interested in the doings of our own troops. The English in'ess gives special prominence to the deeds of the British regiments, and the Canadian public naturally want to know as much as p6ssible about the fortunes of the Canadian soldiers. It would- bo strange indeed if they did not. Patriotism Begins at home, though it should not end there. We can assure Mr. .Bautlett that our pride in our own soldiers docs not blind us to tho equally superlative merits of' tho British -troops." Our-hearts have been thrilled again and again by the splendid heroism of the English, ocottish, and Irish regiments, and we know that no higher praise could bo bestowed on the Anzacs than tho recognition of their worthiness to fight side by side with such gallant comrades, and with the heroic soldiers of France and Russia. They are all doing all that men can do. Inc armies of the Empire and tho amies of . t he Allies form one band or brothers. The people of New Zealand would be the last to encourage anything that might tend to impair the unity of the Empire. J. hough our own men are ever first and foremost in our thoughts, we know that they only form a comparatively small section of the vast which has responded to the Empire s call, and our appreciation of their gallantry does not imply any depreciation of the magnificent behaviour of their brave comrades-in-arms. The knowledge that the Anzacs arc now in France will not make us forget the debt we owe to the men whoheld the Western front in those terrible days when the odds against them were so much greater than at the present time. I