CLEAR ISSUE.

Auckland Star, Volume LXX, Issue 210, 6 September 1939, Page 14

CLEAR ISSUE.

NAZI-ISM INDICTED.

N.Z. AT ONE WITH BRITAIN

MR. SAVAGE OUTSPOKEN. (By ItlpgrHph— Press Assoeiation.) WKLLr\(iTO\. this (lay. "Both with gratitude for the past ami with confidence in the future, we range ourselves without fear beside Britain!" said the Prime .Minister, the Rt. Hon. M. ■[. Sa\a,2e, iti an address broadcast over New Zealand last night. Mr. Savage spoke from liis home at Northland and made his first public- address since he underwent a serious operation earlv last month.

Ihe war on which we are ontcnn" may bo a long one. demanding from us heavy and continuous sacrifice." Mr. Savage said. "It is essential that we realise from the beginning that our cause is worth the sacrifice. J believe in nll sincerity that it is. None of us has any hatred of the (lerman people. the old culture of the (Jerinans. tlieii songs. their poetry and their music we have nothing but admiration and affection. We believe that there are many millimw of <irrni;iti people who Willi!- to live in ami quietness, as we do. threatening no one and seeking ■to dominate no one. Worthless Promises. Hut we know, alas, that such a wav of life is despised and rejected bv the men who have seized and hold power in (iormany. We know that those men have done, and are doii g. incalculable harm to the true interests ol their county* and that thev arc the intellectual, artistic, moral and spiritual resources that their |K'ople lia.vc built up throughout the centuries. In doing this they have for the time being cowed the spirit of a vast number of their best people*

• I Ilia work of destruction thev have already carried into other conntries." Mr. Savage continued, "and, i:i spile of denials, now intend to earrv into Pola-nd. If they succeed there t li<»will next, attempt the overthrow of Kranec a'HI Britain. us make no mistake about that. Of course, thev repudiate any such intantion. hut fortunately for th> world ffe know now what, it lias taken iw a long time to learn, that their promises are worthless, are made only to pain an advantage for the time being. and are broken as soon as that advantage has been seetired. Xot a moment too soon have Britain and France taken up arms against so faithless and unscrupulous an adversary. Nazi Philosophy. The fight on which we are now engaged is one whose issue concerns all the nations of the world, whether as yet they reali-e it or not." Mr. Savajre said. "We are fighting a doctrine that springs from a contempt of human nature, a doctrine that government, is the affair only of a self-selected elite, who, without consulting the people, may irrevocably determine what the people should do at/d shall not do. The masses are to lie used as instruments of power in the hands of tliei/ masters. They are to be given slogans and directed towards this or that objective a pproved by those masters, but never are thev to be treated as free men, as individual and responsible souls. i

j " Die individual man is s übmprged and foigottPn—tin* intrinsic worthiness °f ''is personality contemptuously ignored, freedom nf action and expression is denied to him, dissent or criticism is- brutally repressed. These are a few of (lie incidents of the Xa/.i philosophy that is seeking to thrift itself everywltere oVer Kurope to-day, and the rest of the world to-morrow. Insatiable Paganism. "Xazi-ism is militant and insatiable paganism." the Prime Minister added. "In its short. but tc; riblc history it has caused incalculable suffering. " Jf permitted to con tin lie it will spread misery and desolation throughout the world. Jt cannot he appeased or conciliated. Either it or civilisation must disappear. To destroy it, but not the great nation which it lias so cruelly cheated, is the task of those who have taken up arms against Xa2i-ism. -May God prosper those arms.* i

"I am satisfied* fhat nowhere will the issue be more rlearlv understood than

in New Zealand, where, for almost a century, behind the sure shield of [ Britain, we have en joyed and cherished | freedom and self-.uowrnhieiit. Both j with gratitude for the past,. and with confidence m- the future, we range ourselves without fear beside- Britain. Where she goes we go; \vh6re she stands wc stand, We are only a small and a young nation, but we r«re one and all a band of brothers, and we march forward," with a union of hearts and wills to a coin 111011 destiny. Personal Thanks. "In this critical hour of our own and the world's history, [ feel that T should abuse niv privilege of addressing you if I were to speak of matters affecting myself personally," Mr. Savage said. "For that reason.' and that reason only. 1 say no more of a certain recent experience that I have had than this— that it has taught me ar, nothing else could have done how quick to kindness the people of thi, country can be, and how easily political and other differences are extinguished by sympathy and goodwill. To-night I feel that I can say to all of you with a sense of certainty that 1 have never quite felt before. "Thank you, friends, for your kindness that you have so generously shown to me.'

"To niv colleacues who have so loyally in these anxious times carried on the work of government in my absence, performing without complaint my tasks as well as theirs, I express my sincere gratitude, and I concur wholeheartedly in every decision they have made for the safety and well-being of the State."