DISTRICT NEWS.

Taranaki Daily News, 12 November 1915, Page 6

DISTRICT NEWS.

OMATA. (From Our Own Correspondent). The exceptionally unfavorable weather which we have experienced during the past month has considerably retarded farming operations. A considerable amount of ploughing has been done on most farms, but discing and preparing the land for seed has been almost impossible. A week of fine weather is eamestlv wished for.

Tlie call to arms continues to be heard here, and almost daily one hears of someone having enlisted. Amongst the latest are Messrs Hutching Bros., while Messrs G. Anstis and W. Mathews have received orders to proceed to Trentham next week.

Now that the Government have taken an inventory of the manhood of the country it is to be hoped they will use that knowledge to some practical end. Voluntary service of any sort is a beautiful service, but not always are the willing the strongest or the most suitable. Conscription is a term we don't like. And yet a crisis has arrived in our national life when those in authority should not rely on the willingness of thV individual, but should marshal the whole of their resources and employ those resources to the best possible advantage. Wanted, a dictator to say not "Will you?" but "You must!" In this way only shall we retain that liberty which we so highly prize, the liberty to make .laws for our own well-being. The ladies of Omata are organising their forces for a very practical purpose. A meeting has been held for the purpose of forming a sewing guild to provide clothing for the sick and wounded. It is proverbial that anything the Omata ladies undertake to do is well done. It is now up to the men to see to it that there is no lack of material, or rather the wherewithal to obtain it, and I would suggest that they form a club to supply funds for this good work. Halfcrowns so spent will certainly go further than if wastc-d in lottery tickets. In any case, it is a "white man's burden."