IN THE EVENT OF WAR.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 59, Issue 138, 24 March 1939, Page 5

IN THE EVENT OF WAR.

LIKELY EFFECT ON 4 DOMINION. PREMIER ON ISOLATION. (Per Press Association). AUCKLAND, March 23. ‘ '"Everybody who reads the news today must have some misgivings about the future,” said the Prime Minister (the Rt. Hon. M. J. Savage), in referring to the possibility of New Zealand being isolated, and the need for building up local industry. The reference was made in an. address to the employees of the Otahuhu railway workshops. Many of his listeners could remember the friends that protected trade routes in. 1914-1918, he continued, and lie asked whether those friends would be with us in the days ahead if they were needed. New Zealand was the greatest exporter of primary produce to Great Britain in the world to-day, and to make a transformation was going to cause an upset to some extent. . “We are not waiting for the drums to beat to consider that aspect,” ’Air Savage said. The Government had men two years ago measuring the possible changes from where the country was then 'to where it might be in hie event of war. From the point of view of possible isolation alone everyone must ie struck bv the great danger lurking just round tiie corner, and everyone must be struck by the need for New Zealand being able to stand on her own feet, consistent with buying as much as she should in the overseas market. Emphasising that he had “nothing up his sleeve” when lie. referred to possible isolation, Air Savagte said that unless the country were used we had no moral or economic right to it, and certainly no military force to hold practically empty territory. This did not mean that the Government avoulu dump thousands of people into the dominion. Its job was to develop indusry and make a. place for people before they camie. “We want to build liere a nation that will be a hard nut to crack,” he added. He was not suggesting that anyone should start buckling on his armour to go to the Noitli Pole, 01 Timbuctoo, or anywhere else, but lie would like to see fou,r men of our own race and way or living where mere was one man to-day.