Editorial

Our Fifth Year of war begins. It is time we looked about us. What part has Victoria College Played in the community and in that struggle, the results of which most intimately concern us? And what result has this part had in the pages of Spike?

Our cover design is not misleading: we have served well. In the vanguard went those who fought; behind them stand those who study in order that they too may fight, not in the sands of Egypt nor the streets of Naples, but in the laboratories, the factories the offices. With them go those whose duty it is to maintain this University intact, to carry on the fight for student unity, and to keep our institutions flourishing so that we may say to those returning, "We have served doubly, both in the civilian line and on the hill."

1943 has been satisfactory in both these respects. The majority of students are part-timers, many of them in essential industries. Nevertheless student activities have been virile, study has been vigorous, and examinations have been passed. But in studying Spike does not reader get any inkling of this? The articles are certainly more concrete than usual; they are criticisms or discussions on trends of writing or film making induced directly by the war. But where are the short stories? Why has not a part of the experience and anguish of individuals snatched into this war machine been caught up and crystallized before us? We have had short story writers, where are they now when material for their pen is so abundant?

The writings and strivings of overseas students have become so vigorous that perhaps we go too far in applying their standards to New Zealand. Perhaps the two tendencies, to do more, and to write more, are in opposition. Let us hope that the answer lies in that; surely the upsurge of progressive student writing the world over can not have passed New Zealand by. To judge by Rostrum it has, in Spike we are not sure.