The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News, The Echo and The Sun. SATURDAY, JUNE 21, 1711 BALLOT BOXES AND THE WAR EFFORT

Auckland Star, Volume LXXII, Issue 145, 21 June 1941, Page 6

The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News, The Echo and The Sun. SATURDAY, JUNE 21, 1711 BALLOT BOXES AND THE WAR EFFORT

JlllS .•■mil t!v 1 .abour party'official journal has announced that ; ; r. it going to be a national Government. So. without further • ■do we imi ,i r., • with the job of preparing for an election." This week ..i ,!>, m ti;'..' news-letter of the National party, Mr. Holland says. "Vl.e < I'.v• r• t>r:;■ :■ t has refused all offers for the formation of a national < ..ivc: n:r,i is. It i < t'cvoi ishly preparing for the general elections, which now ;i ! in he a certainty. . . ." Ostensibly, then, there is to he an nr. I yet —the acting Prime Minister has publicly said nothing abjiu it, and other Ministers also are nearly silent on this subject. The infe:vn"e :!. t may be drawn from their silence is that they are ;"i certain that. ,: .e election will be held, hut t.lvir doubt is not, or jot vet, stroii", enough to justify them in restraining the party organisation. And if oi;.- party organisation is working, the other must aiso v.oi So, until and unless some event occurs which will force the parties into tha' union for war purposes which is essential, the people of New Zealand must face the prospect of a period in which the Government and the Opposition alike will say to them, in effect: "The only thing that matters is the war, and New Zealand's war effort. Everything else must be subordinated to it; nothing should he allowed to distract you from it. Nevertheless, you must turn your thoughts from the war and attend to us. What really matters just now is the election. It you 'vote right' New Zealand will be able to put forth a greater war effort than ever before." That is what both parties will : ay, in effect; it is what the Government, in particular, must say, to justify the holding of an election, for which—if the election is held— at. will he responsible. Vet neither the Government, nor the National party can know, and neither can honestly assure the people, that the political situation will l>e one hn more satisfactory after an election than before. The strongest case for holding an election lies in the opportunity ii might, oiler for electing to Parliament abler men than are there now. Such men may olfcr themselves—though few can do so under the baliour banner, for the Labour party, almost automatically, renominates fitting members —but there is no certainty that they will be selected, or, if selected, elected. Another argument, or hope, less strong than it. appears, is 'hat an election will in some way "clear the air," so that the unity not, attained so far will then become possible. A similar hope was held before the last Federal elections in Australia, but it was disappointed. The opposing parties were returned in almost equal strength, and the political direction of Australia's war effort has to be undertaken by a Government which cannot certainly command even a bare majority. What will happen in New Zealand? Neither party can say. The Labour party has been in office six years, and in the peace-time course of events it would expect, though it would not admit, some reduction of its support. The National party followers believe that the reduction of Labour's support will prove to be so great that the Government, will De displaced. But there are other possibilities, perhaps more remote, which cannot be ignored. One of them is that, ;ts in Australia, neither party will gain a working majority. Such an event, as experience in Australia has shown, would not for certain bring about the formation of a national Government. Another is that the balance of power will be held by a small group of the Democratic Labour party, or even by its present members, if both were re-elected. Tne fact —which cannot be gainsaid—that neither party can be sure that an election would, from any point of view, be justified by its outcome, ought in itself be sufficient to impel the Government, if it puts national interests first, to reconsider its attitude towards the National party's offer to join in a national administration. But there are other facts. There is the fact of the casualty lists, tand all that they mean. There is the fact that New Zealand has many thousands of soldiers, airmen and sailors abroad. Is it proposed, in the event of an election, to ask General Freyberg, whatever the circumstances in which the N.Z.E.F. finds itself on the appointed polling day, to arrange voting facilities for all the troops? And is it proposed to ask Hitler, in the name of humanity, to allow New Zealand prisoners in Germany to exercise their democratic rights? There is, above all, tne fact that Mr. Churchill and other leaders have warned tis, and events every day endorse their words, that in the second half of this year Britain will be fighting for her life. It is not, and it will not be, this year, a question of fighting for victory, but of fighting for survival. This, of course, has been said before. The political leaders say it; but will they act as if they really believed it? If they do, they will find a better way of ensuring united political direction of the Dominion's war effort than by deliberately taking the incalculable chances of an election. Nothing that is hoped for as the result of an election could not be. achieved now, or, at the latest, on Mr. Fraser's return. What is needed is not a national Government on the pattern of that of the last war, but a Government which shall include some non-Parliamentary members, chosen because their experience has fitted them to grapple with some of the complex problems which have arisen, and will yet arise. It is not sufficient to use thg services of such men In an advisory capacity; they should have executive powers. There is no obstacle to such an innovation except the unwillingness of politicians to sacrifice some of their own rights; and it is high time for the politicians to show that they are not by virtue of their office exempt from making sacrifices in war-time.