PRAISE FROM WASHINGTON

Dominion, Volume 35, Issue 290, 5 September 1942, Page 6

PRAISE FROM WASHINGTON

A high tribute was paid to the people of this country by BrigadierGeneral Hurley (United States Minister to New Zealand) when he remarked in Washington on Tuesday that we had “come to a full realization that the present challenge cannot be met by words, and that we must attack, defeat and destroy our enemy ourselves.” No doubt he was referring to the recently-disclosed decision of the War Cabinet to supply New Zealand forces for any theatre of war in which their services may be required. This decision did, in fact, repi esent a policy of war aggressiveness, and as it has received either the stated or the tacit approval of the country as a whole, the public is entitled to accept the praise from Washington as having been uttered sincerely and simply. But as individuals we must do more than merely acquiesce in a national decision which has won admiring attention abroad. The development of a truly aggressive war policy demands the co-operation and the enthusiasm of everyone. The ranks of the armed Forces must be expanded, yet industrial production must be maintained; sacrifice must be expected and prepared for; the* “carry on spirit must be strengthened. A resolve to attack, when opportunity offers, rather than to prepare against attack, is no light gesture. It means taking a course which may at times be hard and thorny. But it is the only course to take in a struggle which cannot end until the enemy is beaten down and destroyed; and the manner in which the country’s leaders have acknowledged this is one of the healthiest national developments of the vear.