SAFETY OF PEOPLE

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 62, Issue 306, 8 October 1942, Page 5

SAFETY OF PEOPLE

THE OVER-RIDING PRINCIPLE. ATTITUDE OF MR COATES. (P.A.) WELLINGTON, October 7. The Minister of Armed Forces and War Co-ordination (the lit. Hon. J. G. Coates) said to-day that it was his unalterable view that in the present circumstances the first principle should be only consideration for the safety of the people. "That comes first and must be the over-riding principle,” he said. At the caucus, he said, he had put the whole position fully and frankly to the members of the National Party. There was general agreement on the urgent need to get coal out, and that a further interruption would have immediate and far-reaching consequences on urgent war requirements. There was also substantial agreement that sending the men to gaol would not have helped the position. He said there was no positive alternative to giving the men an opportunity to return to hewing coal. Mr Coates revealed that; he travelled to Auckland at the express wish of the coal-mine owners that he should accompany any Minister who went. He was glad to do so, he said, because of his very keen appreciation of the critical situation that was developing to the detriment of the country.

He regretted that the Leader of the Opposition (Mr S. G. Holland.) and his supporters had seen fit to make the matter a political issue. Tie believed that the majority of the people had little patience with party differences. Similar methods to those adopted in the Waikato had had to bo employed in Great Britain in respect of workers who engaged in strikes in essential industries, yet there had never been a suggestion that British political unity had thereby been disturbed.