The Dominion. THURSDAY, MARCH 28, 1918. THE NEED FOR UNITY

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 162, 28 March 1918, Page 4

The Dominion. THURSDAY, MARCH 28, 1918. THE NEED FOR UNITY

One of the most difficult problems with which we are faced bere ia New Zealand to-da,y is to bring home to the individual a due sense of his or her personal responsibility in connection with the war. The same problem faces other parts of the British Dominions, and it is in the main greater or less in proportion to the distance which divides the countries concerned from the fields of battle. At the present time we aro passing through what promises to be the gravest and most critical period of a struggle on which our whole futuro as a free people depends. Our soldiers aro dying in thousands in an heroic effort to stave off defeat at the hands of the most morally depraved and brutally tyrannical "civilised" power the world has ever seen. Day after day now for the past week we have been both thrilled with admiration and , appalled by the horror of the struggle for mastery which is proceeding on the West front. In thousands of homes in New Zoaland, in hundreds of thousands of homes throughout the Empire, mothers, fathers, and other relatives are stricken with anxiety for tho fate of sons and husbands "somewhere in France." Millions are following with tho gravest concern the developments of the colossal battle which all realiso must be one of the most important factors, if not the decisive factor, in shaping the end _of the war. And yet at a time like this, when we should all be drawn closer together by a common danger, when we should all be concerned only for what each and every one of us can doto strengthen our position as a nation, and how we can best help on and encourage tho soldiers who aro fighting and dying for us, we are instead torn by petty divisions which if they could be seen in their true perspective would shock and revolt us.

In England to-day, when the need for men to strengthen our reserves has been declared to be an imperative call, and when tho whole nation is stirred to its depths by the terrible ordeal to which our armies aro being subjected, the Amalgamated Society of Engineers is threatening to strike if it docs not get its way and securb certain exemptions from service for itj members under the new man-powor proposals. It is a tragic evidence of inability to visualise tho war in its true perspective that a great body of intelligent men,, such as tho engineers are, should contemplate a course which at the present timo would be liable to so cripple tho efforts of their countrymen as to bring disaster on the whole nation. Tho engineers, it may bo hoped, at the forthcoming ballot will show that the events of tho past few days on the West front have brought home to them the imminent danger of their attitude and tho urgent need for unity amongst all sections and classes if the peril which now threatens is to be averted. Here in New Zealand we have a similar trouble which unhappily is in a more advanced stage. Coal is a vital necessity, and it is especially necessary at the present time that) there should be large supplies of tho best coal available for transports and other ocean-going vessels as well as for our internal needs. Yet the miners on tho West Coast havo found pretexts for cutting off supplies. It is difficult to believe that in the fane of what is .now happening in France, when 'each hour marks the death of hundreds of their countrymen at the hands of a ruthless enemy who is seeking to bring the world to subjection—it is incredible—that tho miners, if they could Iμ brought to realise tho true position.and understand that by their action they aro actually, so far_ as lies within their power, assisting the enemy, would persist in the course they are pursuing. The fact is that- the great issue in this war, the underlying danger which threatens tho liberty and privileges which tho miners in company with all other sections of the community enjoy iinder British rule, has been so obscured by tho fomenting of class hatreds and a spirit of antagonism to existing authority that- it is difficult for the men to sec the war in its true perspective. It would be thought that if anything could bring home to them and to all classes of the community th^need for unity of effort and the laying asido of the weapons of industrial and political strife while we aro fighting for our national existence as a freo people, it would be tho tragic events of the past week and the pressing danger which still confronts us. Tne miners' representatives are to meet the Prime Minister to-day, and it may be hoped that the outcome will bo a declaration on their part to loyally assist their countrymen in this critical hour by ending the intolerable position which exists in connection with the output of coal. And what applies to the coal miners applies to all. There is an imperative duty resting on all to assist to the utmost of their power, whether it is by contributions to the War Loans, by their labour, or by the efforts they can make to raise and stimulate tho spirit of tho nation. If we as a peoplo. aro not movn.d and stirred by the heroic endurance, the glowing self-sacrifice, tho unconquerable spirit of tho men who arc laying down their lives for us and our children who will come after us, thon we shall deservo tho shame which will inevitably be our portion.