LEAVE FOR SOLDIERS

Southland Times, Issue 24873, 13 October 1942, Page 4

LEAVE FOR SOLDIERS

Sir,—l cannot let slip the opportunity of congratulating “Soldier’s Mother” on her sensible and outspoken letter. I feel deeply for any soldier’s wife left struggling to care for a family of young children. To rear a big family properly is a big undertaking for a man and woman, and to take the man out of the home and leave the woman battling on her own should be absolutely the last resort when men have to be found for the Army. This method of taking men will disrupt the social order and will have grave consequences for the future. The authorities will say: “We must have men.” So we must. But why not take single men first? The country is still full of them—fit men with no responsibilities whatsoever. Within a radius of 10 miles from where I am tonight I can count 20 young men who have passed fit for military service and who have appealed on the grounds of public interest and undue hardship. What of the essential industries? Cannot married men be put in these jobs and single men released for the armed forces? A married couple who take upon themselves the noble duty of rearing a big family—a duty which so many shirk today—are nation builders of the first order and should be left to attend to their duty until the last