POPULAR HISTORY OF THE WAS

Taranaki Daily News, 12 June 1918, Page 7

POPULAR HISTORY OF THE WAS

To the Editor. Sir, —We are living in the midst of the most momentous conflict in the history of mankind. The issue will determine whether the men and women of the future shall live under the shadow of a military despotism, or whether the principles of Christianity shall prevail, and nations, like individuals, have their duties as well as their rights. If the world after the war is not more free, and if smaller nations are not protected from aggression, the lives of millions of soldiers of the Allied armie3 will have been laid down in cain. In this great struggle New Zealanders have taken an honorable and glorious part We who are living know the spirit which has animated our soldiers and the sacrifices which they have made, but those who come after us can only earn these things from the pages of "history. The time to record the spirit of the war is while the moving scenes of this great drama are before our eyes. In addition to the Official Imperial History of the War, which will be prepared under the authority of the Committee of Imperial Defence, the Government of New Zealand have decided to publish a special history of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force, in which the deeds of our soldiers in the "far flung battle line" will be written, it is hoped, in a manner wort $8 theme, not from the point o, iJW of the military critic, but with a sympathetic knowledge of the brave spirit in which they met the hardships and sufferings which they weTe called upon to face. Before such a history can be written materials must first be collected. Soldiers in their letters and diaries give plain but vivid pictures. of their lives in camp, on leave and at. the front. These are especially valuable,to a historian as intimate records of s,the war. An advertisement appears in this issue askinjr that those who possess letters of special interest would forward them to the of Base Records, who will make suitable extracts and return them without delay. I should also be glad if patriotic societies and soldiers' clubs would interest themselves in this project apd endeavor to obtain suitable material for a true soldiers' history of the war.— I am, etc., / J. ALLEN, Minister of Defence.