The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News, The Echo and The Sun. FRIDAY, APRIL 5, 1940. MR. FRASER'S TASK.

Auckland Star, Volume LXXI, Issue 81, 5 April 1940, Page 6

The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News, The Echo and The Sun.

FRIDAY, APRIL 5, 1940. MR. FRASER'S TASK.

for the cause thai lacks asniitnncc, for ike wrong that reeds resistance, For the future in the distance, And the good that we can do.

It was a general opinion in the community before the Parliamentary Labour caucus that its obvious and ; sound course was to confirm in office as Prime Minister the Hon. Peter Fraser. Despite many speculative reports to the contrary, that has proved to be the opinion of caucus, too. Mr. Fraser's election was moved by Mr. Sullivan —a fitting comment on the report that Mr. Sullivan was one of his rivals —and his majority \va.< decisively large. This highly satisfactory outcome of the leadership question—which was not a question at all except on the assumption that caueus would allow the party tail to wag the dog—is less remarkable than the promptness with which the party dealt with the really thorny problem of the choice of the leader's colleagues. This conveys the impression that caucus realised the over-riding importance of maintaining stability, continuity and unity in the Labour party's administration, and that Mr. Fraser satisfied the party of his desire and intention to consult it before making Cabinet changes.

The leadership and the composition of the Government having been settled (although some changes in the Ministry will be essential), the need now is for a statement of Government policy in relation to the major problems which confront. As a preliminary, there is desirable an authoritative assurance that such projects as the State purchase of the Bank of New Zealand are not to be launched in wartime. When deputyleader, and particularly since his return from England, Mr. Fraser has been the foremost in appealing to the community for unity of spirit and of effort, to the end that the Dominion i may pull its weight in the war. There could not be unity if the Government, while prosecuting the war fftort, should bring down legislation such ae would be strenuously contested in peftcetiine. The fundamental fact before the Government and the country is that More than 20,000 men are, or will shortly be, in uniform. Subtracted from the productive force of the Dominion, they (and many more to follow them) will not be earning for it, but spending for it. The high peacetime rate of State expenditure hae been raised still higher by the requirements of a conflict which is still in slow gear. Its duration) seale and Cost are incalculable. To meet this situation there will be needed a united national effort far 'greater than the majority of the people at present appreciate. It is the Government's duty to ensure that all appreciate it, and itself to set an example in economy.