30 LISTENER AUGUST 10 2019
FROM THE ARCHIVE
bare except for the rustling
reed skirt, wooden spears in
their hands. Crowds press
about them, many for the
first time watching a Maori
haka performed by experts.
It was an exciting exhibition
of the war dance, quivering
bodies moving in a rhythm,
the facial grimaces, the leaping
gestures, all accompanied by
songs and chants. As the last
war cries died away and the
brown bodies remained rigid
in fearsome attitudes, a plane
swept overhead. The contrast
of those two expressions of
war was like a shock.
OA GillespieEDITORIAL: LET US PAY,
OCTOBER 25, 1940
We must give more. As the
costs pile up, we must cut
down our indulgences and pile
up our gifts. A shilling a week
from every wage-earner would
provide a Spitfire in a day.
Oliver DuffEDITORIAL: PRISONERS OF WAR,
AUGUST 9, 1941
It is a sobering thought that
the Dominion’s “best sellers”
for 1941 will perhaps be an
18p pamphlet issued last week
by Whitcombe & Tombs. It is
Prisoners of War: The Geneva Con-
vention of 1929. For it is almost
certain already that there are
now more New Zealanders in
enemy hands than were taken
during the whole course of the
war of 1914-18.
Oliver DuffHE HAS WARNED US, BY MARIE
BULLOCK, JUNE 27, 1941
“One post-war question may
be whether wives are to be
financially dependent or
independent by having statu-
tory incomes deducted from
their husbands’ income,” said
Mr Morrison in a speech. “I
warn you that it is coming.
What women did in the last
war is child’s play compared
with what they are doingnow. Women are going to be a
handful to manage at the end
of this war. They will demand
changes.”
Herbert MorrisonMrs Catherine Stewart, MP,
felt strongly on the subject
of financial independence
for wives. “There is nothing
so degrading, or so likely to
engender a feeling of infe-
riority,” she said, “as to be
financially dependent upon
another person. Even if your
husband is the best and kind-
est man in the world, he has a
habit of asking, “What did you
do with the money?”
It is a positive disgrace
that though in New Zealand
women were granted the right
of standing for Parliament as
early as 1919, there have since
been only two women Mem-
bers of Parliament, myself and
Mrs McCombs.FULL CIRCLE, DECEMBER 19, 1941
The enemy reached Pearl
Harbour because America slept
too long. He sank the Repulse
and the Prince of Wales because
Britain slept too long. He over-
ran Europe because democracy
slept too long. He now threat-
ens the whole world because
wisdom slept too long.
Oliver DuffNEW ZEALANDERS WHO LOOKED
FOR TROUBLE, GEORGE SILK,
JUNE 12, 1942
The photographer was AG
(George) Silk, a young New
Zealander. His worst experi-
ence was in Palestine, where
he had an abscessed wisdom
tooth extracted without anaes-
thetic (because there wasn’t
any on hand). Two sergeants
held him down while two
surgeons worked on his jaw.
On the Perth, and later on
the wharves at Alexandria,
he found fine photographic
material in the grim, war-
weary Australians and New
Zealanders. One shot of aeffects of nearly a thousand
voices singing without musical
accompaniment is something
to remember. No sooner has
the stirring melody died away
than the Minister, through
the microphone, expresses his
own and the Government’s
pleasure in a brief but earnest
speech.
Soon the air is silent except
for the song of larks whose
haven is the green farms about
Milsom. But the day is not
over. Breaking through the
restless throng of onlookers
come Maori warriors singing a
melody plaintive but inspiring
which rises above the surge
of chatter and comment.
Their uniforms have gone
and in place of them they
wear the traditional costume
of their forefathers – bodies
bearded Australian with one
arm in a sling and clutching
a salvaged tommy gun in the
other was reproduced on the
cover of the Listener and was
used in newspapers and on
posters throughout Australia.
Back in Egypt, he joined up
with the New Zealanders andwent through the battle of
Sidi Rezegh with them. It was
during this affray that he was
captured by a German party.
There wasn’t very much to
it, he reports. Some Germans
pointed guns at him and asked
him to put his hands up, and
very sensibly he complied.
The same night he made a
quick getaway in a truck. He
was shot at with two-rounder
tank guns, and one scored a
“near miss” on the truck, but
he made it with a few seconds
to spare.SIMPLE STORY, JANUARY 21, 1944
New Zealand is famous for its
false teeth; even the Wehr-
macht has heard of them. This1939
New Zealand
Population
1,626,500 (826,100 men
to 800,400 women
Prices
Two pound loaf: 6 pence
(abbreviated to “d”)
Quart of milk: 6¼d
Pound of cheese:
1 shilling and ¾d
Dozen eggs: 2s 1¼d
Pound of beef sirloin: 10d
Entertainment
Top of the Billboard
Charts is Judy Garland’s
Somewhere Over the
Rainbow
29.8 million admissions
to the cinemas: Wizard
of Oz and Gone with
the Wind most popular
movies
Cars
NZ was second only to
the US in cars per head,
at 297,700 vehicles
246 deaths caused by
road crashes
Average NZ temperature- 9 ° C
“What women
did in the last
war is child’s
play compared
with what they
are doing now.
Women are going
to be a handful
to manage at the
end of this war.
They will demand
changes.”