DEFENCE PLAN.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIV, Issue 247, 19 October 1933, Page 18

DEFENCE PLAN.

ANTI-WAR FEELING. AUSTRALIAN CONTROVERSY. ATTITUDE OF CHURCHES. (From Our Own Correspondent.) SYDNEY, October. 12. One. of the worst things about war is that merely to talk about it will make the average man lose hie temper and say things that in a more sober frame of mind lie would not Lave ventured to utter. Several of the leading clergymen of various denominations have denounced the National Defence movement as "unchristian" and "insane"; and one cleric who has attacked Mr. Hughes with a good deal of vehemence bids us rely upon "good will" .to promote world peace and to ensure our own safety. Mr. Hughes has protested all along that his league "does not seek to embroil Australia in another war, but only to protect Australia against aggression." But, quite apart from the clergy, who might be expected to be "oflicially" antipathetic to war, opposition of a decided kind has been encountered from other quarters. The State A.L.P.—that is, the Lang party—has decided "to set the whole of the organisation in motion"; against the efforts of tho "war nion-; gers." This term, which is a great favourite with the pacifist, is, of course, meant to insinuate that tho whole of the agitation for national defence is being worked up directly or indirectly by the armament firms and the would-be profiteers, who propose once more to coin wealth "out or the blood and tears of millions." This view of the case, if not widely held, ha 6 been forced into great prominence here of late by several wellknown organisations. Labour Hostility. A few weeks ago the president of the Employers' Federation, Mr. McDonald, appealed to the Sydney Trades and Labour Council to arrange for a joint conference between delegates representing Labour and Capital to collaborate on "a scheme of industrial defence for tho purpose of averting war." I may mention that some little time ago Mr. McDonald endeavoured to arrange a conference with the industrial unions for the purpose of securing and maintaining industrial peace, and his proposal was rejected with derision. On this occasion the Trades and Labour Council took the trouble to state at uome length its reasons for declining to have anything to do with Mr. McDonald and his friends.

The resolution adopted by the council informs tho Employers' Federation that "tho anti-Labour Government which represents you" has already deprived the country of valuable assets by selling Cockatoo Island dockyards and thus "placing the Commonwealth defences at the mercy of private interests," and also by "sabotaging" the small arms factory at Lithgow and "throwing hundreds of workers into the streets." Furthermore, the resolution adds that "the present agitation is designed to bring rich contracts into the hands of those concerned, who traffic for their own private gain in the supply of war material," and that the present agitation ."is calculated not to prevent war, but to promote new wars." League of Nations Union. Perhaps this was only to bo expected from tho Trades and Labour Council. But it is a little depressing to find the local branch of tho League of Nations Union passing a resolution to the effect that "the security of Australia will not be increased by stampeding publicopinion and by inflaming it in a way which is certain to react unfavourably in other countries, and thus, to multiply risks, rather than reduce thorn." For, unfortunately, tho only alternative suggested is to make representations to the League of Nations and "to instruct our delegate to Geneva" that we really do not want war. Another organisation of quite a different type—the Australian Federation of Women Voters—after listening to an impassioned harangue from Mrs. Linda Littlejohn, one of our most temperamental feminists, supported her denunciation of "warmongers," and her protest against tho "wild hysteria" which is being manifested in certain quarters by the national defence crusaders.

Appeal for Self-Control. Sane people everywhere shudder at the thought of war, and tho vast majority of our citizens are in sympathy with the appeal for moderation and self-con-trol made by the "Sydney Morning Herald." But the protests of the Labour extremists belong to a different category. Peopla here have not yet forgotten the anti-war conference held at the Adgar Hall here a few months ago, when resolutions against "war preparation and, in consequence, against the Government ruling lis," were mingled with appeals for the defence of the Soviet Union and threats that the workers "should be prepared to shoulder the gun to prevent war." So long as Labour professes the doctrine of the class war and expresses sympathy for Bolshevism, one may be forgiven for being a little incredulous a"bout the sincerity of its protestations in favour of peace.