The Dominion. FRIDAY, APRIL 5, 1918. A STIMULUS TO ACTION

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 168, 5 April 1918, Page 4

The Dominion. FRIDAY, APRIL 5, 1918. A STIMULUS TO ACTION

In this country the shock of realising thatjwe are not travelling along a beaten track to victory and that now as in its earliest days the war makes an indefinite call upon resolution and effort should Ecrve in one respect an invaluable purpose. No sterner warning could be imagined than is given 'in the events of the past fortnight that in this war there is no room for half-measures, and that even a tendency.to slackness or a declining effort on the part of any nation engaged invites and may easily entail a terrible penalty. No man can honestly face the facts of the war situation without realising that the Allies are called upon to strain every nerve, not only for victory, but. in order to avert more terrible catastrophes than have ever befallen nations since the Tartars swept over Europe. Victory or catastrophe are our alternatives just as they are the alternatives of any and every nation in the Allied group. Yet who would venture to say that as a community we are keyed to tho standards of resolution and endeavour which guch an outlook demands and should dictate? Is it not painfully obvious that the prevailing _ sentiment throughout the Dominion has in recent months indicated an • increasing disinclination to seriously face the vital issues of the time? Certainly . since the Germans opened their offensive there has been no lack of interest in the march of events, but how far have wo gone, as a community, towards regarding the war as a spectacle in which we are remotely instead of directly and vitally concerned? Further, certainly, than is healthy or consistent with a due discharge of our duty to ourselves and the nations with whom we stand or fall. The slackness and indifference that undoubtedly prevail amongst a large section of tho public arc not palliated but are made more shameful by the fact that the Dominion has on some grounds a proud record in the war.

We have now to face the fact that wo cannot afford to slacken our efforts in any direction. Not only have we to concern ourselves witn the necessity for strengthening our forces in the field, but we aro confronted with tho urgent need for strengthening our national resources—that is to say, for concentrating our whole energies in turning tho resources of the Dominion to the best possible acco'-nt so that we may bo able to continue to play our full part in the war so long as the war lasts. We havo drifted along so comfortably so far as our material welfare is concerned that wo havo grown callous to many things which should have occupied our serious attention. The Government itself, though it has much to its credit in connection with tho Military Service Act, has shown signs of a slackening effort. This may have been due in part to the fact that it became possible some time ago to meet the needs of our forces in the field with reduced reinforcement drafts; but it has had a bad effect in many ways, Tho en-

forccment of the provisions, of the Military Service Act has not been as strict as it should have been. That Act, for example, makes express provision for the detection and punisimient of defaulters who attempt to evade service, and invests the police with full powers to that end. Yet is it not notorious that these powers are being to a great extent suffered to lio in abeyance —that hundreds, perhaps many hundreds, of defaulters arc at large and 'likely to remain at large while the present state of affairs continues'! For a time, after the Act came into operation, some tentative attempts were made by the police to track down military defaulters at raco meetings and other public gatherings. What has been done to extend and organise such activities in recent months? This matter is of importance- in itself, but ten times more serious as an indication of the spirit in which the Government is facing, or neglecting, its duties and responsibilities. The samo tendency appears in smaller things, paltry enough in themselves, and yet of a nature to hold attention as symptoms of what lies behind. There is, for instance, the case of the member of Parliament who was recently sentenced to a term of imprisonment for deliberately refusing to perform his duty under the Military Service' Act. Presumably because he was a member of Parliament he was accorded special privileges while in custody, and was allowed to travel to camp in a motor-car, and afterwards to travel first-class, by train to the prison camp in which he is to serve his sentence. In this affair the authorities manifestly set a bad example. They treated a person guilty of a grave offence against the law as though the offence were one of small moment, and fell far short of the standards that should be observed in enforcing a law which is for the time being by far the most important on the Statute Book. Such conduct on the part of those in authority is calculated to exalt the offender and bring the law into contempt. The Government must not only correct such petty weaknesses and shortcomings, but must substitute a rigorous and determined enforcement of the law in order to worthily discharge its duty and responsibility. The times are far too serious for half-measures. _ A more thorough and resolute attitude on the part of the Government is the first of many things needed to lift the Dominion out of the rut of indifference to the urgent and supremely critical issues of the war into which .it has been falling. The difficulty at present is not to point to evidence of slackness and neglect, but to select from the mass of evidence in sight. Hero and there we have made a move in the "interests of national efficiency and economy, but apart from the purely military effort which wo should now bo prepared to swiftly expand, a very great part of the' wide field open_ before us has been neglected and ignored. We have not, for instance, as much as attempted to control the supply, distribution, and use of many of the most essential commodities, even those which are in urgent demand to satisfy military needs. Not only have groups of coal-miners been permitted to check and limit the supply of the all-important product of their industry, but no attempt has been made to control the distribution and use of coal throughout the Dominion. No attempt has been made to regulate the distribution of petrol, which is in almost unlimited demand both for military and industrial purposes, and of which we may at any time be called on to face a serious shortage. Whatever restrictions arc imposed upon the importation and consumption of luxuries in New Zealand are the result of conditions abroad and not of local regulation. So the story might be continued, but the facts are, of course, familiar to all who care to look, about them. We are face to face now with what is perhaps-our last opportunity of amending a state of affairs which means in effect that wo are not supporting as fully as we should the efforts of our soldiers in the field. We are refraining from a whole range of activities and economies that would strengthen our position as a nation and so add to our power to carry on in the struggle. It may be that we have never fully, realised the necessity for such efforts, hit whatever excuse may have existed in the past the issue's should now bo clear to everyone. The uninterrupted course of bestial savagery and outrage which has marked Germany's conduct of the war leaves no room for doubt as to what would happen to every Allied country, this Dominion included, if she emerged victorious. It is evident that only a supreme effort by the Allies will enable them to avert this fate and bring Germany to defeat! The present aspect of the war supplies what should be an overwhelming stimulus to action in the right direction. It is for the Government, first and foremost, though not for the Government alone, to make the utmost use of the opportunity that remains.