Wirarapa Times-Age TUESDAY, JANUARY 2, 1940. NEW ZEALAND AT WAR.

Wairarapa Times-Age, 2 January 1940, Page 4

Wirarapa Times-Age TUESDAY, JANUARY 2, 1940. NEW ZEALAND AT WAR.

■p'Oß New Zealanders the big and overshadowing fact oi the 1 opening year is that, their country is at war, with a wide a.nd free call made upon its national resources.and above all upon its manhood and upon women, chiefly nurses who are capable of rendering all-important war service. In tic a ei months of the year that has just ended, small bodies ol New Zealanders had already taken an honourable part m the "’•ir—notably the airmen who figured in a series of gallant exploits and the New Zealand officers and men of the Achilles, m company with their shipmates and the complements of the other British ships engaged in the naval battle off Montevideo which set a period to the career of the German pocket-battleship Admiral Graf Spee.

Although the opening of 1940 thus is far from marking the beginning of New Zealand’s war effort, it does. mark a great broadening and extension of that effort. .Detail information as to the departure of troops rightly is withheld and the report, of a German broadcast giving particulars or purported particulars of the departure of the First Echelon may suggest the necessity for stricter secrecy in this matter. There. is no concealment, however, of the broad fact that, the Dominion is organising a division of troops for service abroad, in addition to'airmen who are to he trained at the rate of thirteen hundred per annum. The destination of the New Zealand forces has yet to be announced, but is hardly in. doubt.

Nothing, perhaps, better supports the claim, that this war is from the standpoint of the Allies, a. crusade for liberty and justice than the mustering of New Zealand soldiers, all 01. them volunteers as vet, to take their part in the conflict. In no country in the' world is war less desired, or indeed more completely abominated, than in 'New Zealand. Any attempt to organise the manhood of this country for a war of aggression and conquest most certainly would have failed ignominiously. Many of our volunteer soldiers frankly resent and regret the interruption of their peaceful careers that the war entails. 1 hat they have nevertheless spontaneously offered their services means that, like the great majority of their fellow-citizens, they perceive the necessity of taking an uncompromising stand against, nations whose policy and actions threaten the libcities of all free peoples. In a greatly preponderant degree, the members of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force are going to war in no spirit of light-hearted and careless adventure, but as citizens taking up an ultimate burden of citizenship. It. mav be taken for granted that they will be not less, but much more formidable in the field on that account.

So much is demanded of New Zealanders who are undertaking war service that the solution by those who remain behind of national problems of war policy and organisation should be relatively easy. It certainly should be agreed by all that those who are'making the sacrifices and facing the dangers involved in war service must be supported loyally and that no controversy over recruiting methods must be allowed to stand in the way of that support.

At the broadest view, the men who have taken and are taking up arms are setting an example which ought to be followed in every department and detail of national life. There are honest differences of opinion and many genuine difficulties to be overcome, but in these days ol war the uni\eisal aim should be to concentrate on essentials and on the attainment of working agreement. Open to condemnation at any time, an attempt, to magnify differences, politically or otherwise, may fairly be called in these days a betrayal of those who are facing all the dangers and hardships of war in the hope of helping to lav the foundations of a better world order.