OTHER PEOPLE’S IDEAS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 1 November 1943, Page 2

OTHER PEOPLE’S IDEAS

RACING IN WAR TIME (To the Editor) Sir, —I was amused at E. J. Esler’s grouch. Does he want all racing stopped for the duration, if so why not say it, instead of just attacking the running of race trains. He should know the one would not go on without the other. It would not affect me personally if all racing did stop, I don’t attend races. On the other hand, many thousands do find diversion and recreation by attending race meetings, others again by attending picture shows, etc. The continuation of those diversions in war time is not just the result of thoughtless disregard for war requirements, as E. J. Esler rather unwarrantably assumes, but it is the considered opinion of authorities, in all the Allied nations, that they are necessary agents in maintaining morale. Great Britain and the U.S.A, as well as the British Dominions all accept this view and as regards Russia—in Leningrad, in Moscow and in Stalingrad—even while those cities were closely besieged, all forms of public amusement were kept going in full swing. The strain, mental and physical, caused by war conditions, requires means of relaxation, if full effort is to be maintained. If provision is not made in the directions indicated, less desirable forms of relaxation tend to become general. Of course it is always easy to find fault and to ‘■Compound for sins we are inclined to By damning those we have no mind to.” I am, etc., J. SMITH. Masterton, October 30.