The Dominion THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 1940. A TIME FOR SELF-DENIAL

Dominion, Volume 34, Issue 43, 14 November 1940, Page 8

The Dominion THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 1940. A TIME FOR SELF-DENIAL

hi itself, the question whether the King’s Birthday holiday, postponed from its calendar date of June 3 on account of the seriousness of the war situation, should be held on the date agreed Number 25 next, or abandoned, may seem a comparatively_ small matter for serious controversy. It touches, however, a principle o acta vital to the spirit and the needs of the time, a principle which M M G C McCaul very properly and courageously emphasized in his remarks at the Wellington Chamber of Commerce when this’ q uest '° was under discussion. It is a principle which demandsMio ev y citizen the utmost contribution by way of self-sacrifice and selfdenial in order to speed-up and intensify our war effoit. Iheis a cannot be won without sacrifices. The possibility of these emg demanded of the New Zealand people on an ascending scale must be obvious to every discerning reader of the news from overseas. Admittedly a large proportion of our citizens are making heavy sacrifices already. Many, however, are merely paying k P- servlC( ;, 0 the principle. As Mr. McCaul declared, it is hard work, not talk, that is going to win the war. If all the talk that has been in uge “I L tothf urgent need for extra effort and self-de.ua s.uce the war began had been translated into action the New Zealand effort would have presented a different picture today, instead of being so conspicuously out of proportion to the tremendous exertions being pu forth by the people of the Mother Country. 1 here, it may be argued, the danger is nearer and the need more urgent, but the danger is as real, if geographically more remote, and the need as urgent, lor Britain requires from us, and from every part of the Empire, the utmost effort to relieve her of part of the burden of her anxieties. “Lend rather than spend,” and “give and go without, were the slogans for the times which the Governor of the Reserve Bank, Mr. Lefeaux, in his thoughtful Armistice Day address on Monday, appealed to the public to make a rule of their present-day lives. Unless we ourselves are prepared to make the requisite sacrifices, someone else, he reminded us, would have to make tke lack > an< J that someone else would be the people of the Old Country. It may be difficult for some people who do not think deeply enoug i about the trend of events to grasp the meaning of this. But they may take it for granted that these words from such a responsible authority, were not lightly spoken.