STRONG CRITICISM BY PRIME MINISTER

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIII, Issue 242, 13 October 1942, Page 3

STRONG CRITICISM BY PRIME MINISTER

MR. CURTIN HITS OUT

People Not Co-operating In Austerity Policy

United Press Association—Copyright Rec. 1 p.m. SYDNEY, this day,

The Prime Minister, Mr. Curtin, has strongly criticised those who are not co-operating in the Federal Government's austerity campaign. He said that there were some people who seemed unable to find recreation except in "fooling about, punting and getting drunk, and trying to make a Roman circus out of national tragedy," he declared.

"How ironical it is that in a country where every ounce of coal is needed for the war effort, we must provide extra transport for race meetings," he added. "How ironical it is that we must provide refreshment rooms at meetings so that a man can have a spot as well as pick a winner. That isn't total war; that is not organising the country to fight."

Referring to food shortages, the Prime Minister said: "We are going to send meat to the United Kingdom so that Australia will have meatless days soon. We will send more dairy produce to the United Kingdom, so we must produce more. Our dehydration plants are already at work, preparing dried vegetables for shipment."

Mr. Curtin said that as leader of the Labour party in Australia, and in common with Labour men throughout the world, he had to share the responsibility for not having prepared for war. "We believed that the days of settling international arguments by force were gone. We believed in butter before guns. But all this will be vanity if we do not win the war."