AWAKE, NEW ZEALAND'S MANHOOD!

Taranaki Daily News, 11 January 1916, Page 3

AWAKE, NEW ZEALAND'S MANHOOD!

To (lie Editor. Sir,—Again the urgent, call is made by those in authority for more and yet more recruits to till up ftie shortages in tile Eleventh and Twelfth Reinforcements. Surely the call will not. he in vain, for were we even half as thoughtful as we should lie in the critical times through which we. are passing we must realise that iho British Kmpire lias attained its lofty standard of freedom and good government from the very fact that in tlie hour of trial, her manhood never failed to answer the call no matter what Hie odds against them, or whether tlio light for liberty took place oil land or sea, or in tl\u halls of legislation against the pride and prejudice of centuries. As the mother of an only son of twenty just oil' t(S {lie front, and who felt the restraint irksome, of even waiting till he reached th|il ago, I must confess it puzzles rue to find that men old enough to value and understand our privileges as citizens to a far greater extent than these lads .with the'blqom of boyhood still on their phooka, can yet coolly : \';ttr|i vlmiii rushing away to face danger and death, while they shelter behind them, in many cases "coining gold while the red bloqd flows," !to quote a. recent speech, Bouse nj), mofi New Zealand! Now iu you(i chance to malip ypiit cflimtrv shino with ten-fold radiance in the galaxy of Umpire by showing the world that whatever the necessity in other parts of our Dominions, conscription will never come here, for it will never be needed white the loyal hearts and (VHP V-ully mmd the old ilag I'l'tiviiy ami of their own accord. It lias been truly said: "They little know of Kngland who only England know." Such has truly been my cxperience, as I never grasped the significance of our world-wide Itll nille." from the dear old Motherland. Surely the people of this fav'ored country, gay and pleasure loving to a degree as they mostly are, can still remember in the midst of t]j(.ir vayled octjijirj jifii'.s an;] a)tjii.s«iiioiits who it was that (JSUV us liberally of her best' and bravest In days, happily gone by, to help ins to conquer our foes, and who also !ia,s just as freely sent us gold to devn'op our resources since then. In fif tfl-ttay. when the i irifi'ids iuu towering over her, when we sHidder to think of her lovely countrysiifcs, her leafy lanes, peaceful wayside chU'ehes, and harmless law-abiding ptaple being devastated by the bombs of tffsjp vultures, the Zeppelins, now is j i-V t inio for us to show by deeds, not I'.'jirth-. our ilrm resolve that, these and 1 ifher horrors must ecase (o he! Thank|i.g yon in anticipation.—T am, etc., A BUSH WOIIAN, t Eltliam, Jan. 7, 191(3,