NOTES AND COMMENTS

Dominion, Volume 35, Issue 263, 5 August 1942, Page 4

NOTES AND COMMENTS

Those associated in the establishment of the “Heritage” movement, the purpose of which is outlined in a news article this morning, deserve public congratulation and strong support. The conception is a very fine one, and the movement should have far-reaching social value. War entails no greater sacrifice than that imposed upon the young children of a fallen citizen-soldier. In losing their father they are deprived of a family supporter, guide and counsellor, whose companionship and protection on the journey from childhood to adulthood is their normal heritage. To boys in particular that deprivation is serious—tlie more so as they approach manhood and need the guidance Hint a thoughtful father is best able to give. If a community “Heritage,” consisting of sponsors of chosen wisdom and experience, can provide in these cases at least some measure of a father’s personal support and attention, a work of sound and practical Christianity will lie done. Those who undertake it will be able to feel that they have acknowledged the debt owed to those family men who have given their lives In the country’s cause. Many strong sympathizers with the movement may be unable for various reasons to accept with, proper confidence the long-term responsibility of sponsorship for a boy or girl, but they will still be able to give valuable assistance as members of advisory committees. Others again are invited to lend their support by becoming financial members of "Heritage.” There is a role, therefore, for practically every citizen who appreciates tlie aim of the movement.

Recently the British Foreign Minister stated that the bombing policy of the R.A.F. was to strike at the enemy centres where essential war production was located. In that way, obviously, it would be possible to slow flown Nazi output, ami it is unlikely that the factories at Dusseldorf will be producing according to schedule for some time. Anything that tends to throw the enemy’s production programme out of gear hampers his plans along the whole line right to the front. But it has been noticeable during the past few weeks that Allied air activities over occupied France have been concerned with the transport system. Practically every day there have been reports of locomotives being destroyed or damaged, and trains either derailed or destroyed by fire. These happenings indicate that transport is one of the factors giving the Nazis trouble. The campaign against Russia must be making tremendous demands on the railway system to the east, and they probably have drawn upon rolling-stock in France aud elsewhere. There have been fewer reports of attacks on enemy shipping along the coast, and probably the enemy, having found that means too costly, has reverted to laud transport. If so that, too, is rapidly being made both perilous and difficult.