MANPOWER COMMITMENTS

Auckland Star, Volume LXXII, Issue 205, 30 August 1941, Page 6

MANPOWER COMMITMENTS

THE question of the Dominion's manpower commitments, which the House of Representatives is to be given an opportunity to discuss, merits discussion now for two reasons. First, recent developments in the Pacific inevitably and rightly suggest to many people the increasing importance of being adequately prepared in New Zealand for any emergency. Secondly, the first ballot of married men for overseas service is expected before the end of the year, and as the calling-up of married men causes considerable distui'bance of domestic and occupational commitments it is natural that those who will be affected should wish to know, as nearly as possible, what to expect. This wish the Government has a duty to satisfy, in so far as that can be done without disclosing information which might be considered useful to the enemy. But it should be clear that the difficulties in the way of full discussion are not only those imposed by the obligations of secrecy. The question of how many men will be required by the N.Z.E F„ and of when and where they will be required, cannot be answered with any degree of precision. Their answer must depend upon such factors as the outcome of the war in Russia, the course of the "Battle of ihe Atlantic." and the policy of Japan. With the war situation extremely fiuid, there is little in the near future of which any Government can feel completely certain.

But there is one kind of information which the Government should give freely and in detail. It should, before the first married men's ballc , giye an exact account of the disposal of single men of military age. Large numbers of them have gone abroad in the three Services, but many others remain in New Zealand. How many of these are permanently unfit for military service? How many have been compelled to remain in New Zealand because their work is deemed essential? How many others remain because of conscientious objection? # How many untraced defaulters are there? Such questions as these are frequently heard, and they will be heard more insistently when married men are called up. There are few married men who will not begin their military duty cheerfully when the time comes, provided they are satisfied that there has first been conducted a thorough "comb-out" of single men. As more and more men are called up, the need will grow to revise peace-time conceptions, and also the conceptions held earlier in the war, of what and who is "essential." With that revision will grow the need to call, or evien to compel, women and girls to prepare for, and to take, work previously done men. The time will come when it will have to be decreed that if certain work cannot be done by women, or by elderly men (including some now in retirement), it cannot be done at all. On all these and many allied questions the community is entitled to hear from the Government a full exposition of its views and its intentions. It is not enough to introduce conscription; it is necessary to convince the people at every stage that a determined effort is being made to bring about an approach to that "equality of sacrifice" which is the declared ideal.