“WE CAN GIVE IT”

Wairarapa Times-Age, 5 March 1942, Page 3

“WE CAN GIVE IT”

TIMARU ARCHDEACON CALLS FOR ACTION. SPIRIT OF DEFEATISM ASSAILED. (By Telegraph—Press Association.) WELLINGTON, This Day. Saying that to him it seemed there was evidence of a spirit of defeatism in the country, Archdeacon Monaghan, in an address to parishioners in li ni * aru, called on them to make every effort to squash this spirit "and makc up your minds that we shall fight to defend our country to the last man. Far too much, he said, had been made of the phrase, “We can take it. "Rather,” he said, “We should say, ‘We can give it.’ ” On the Sunday afternoon there had been an E.P.S. try-out, which was designed to prepare the people for a war emergency. In its way it was a good thing, excepting that the affairs of the country seemed to be so important as to preclude the holding of such a trial on any day but Sunday. It was right that the people should know what to do if the necessity arose, but the scheme seemed to be the outcome of the cry, “We can take it.” In fact far too much was made of the phrase. Rather should they build themselves up to say, "We can give it. He appealed strongly to parishioners to guard against the spirit of defeatism which seemed to be abroad. Many people were saying: “If the Japanese take Australia, we should give them our country and wait for the Ameiicans to deliver us.” That spirit was entirely wrong. What would the New Zealanders who were serving overseas feel if they thought that was the spirit of the people who weie left behind? “We should be determined to fight, and fight to the last man,”, said Archdeacon Monaghan. “We should fight for three reasons:— “(1) For the inheritance which our forefathers handed down to us, a wonderful country. "(2) For the sweethearts, mothers, sisters, and brothers of the men overseas. “(3) For the principles at stake.”