The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News. The Echo and The Sun. WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 1943. WHAT IS THE POLICY ?

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIV, Issue 219, 15 September 1943, Page 2

The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News. The Echo and The Sun. WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 1943. WHAT IS THE POLICY ?

NEXT? to .he winning of the war, the question of what will happen mm f ta ' ( the W * r _ Probably interests people most of all, and the GoverntaStSl m\ , eIeC , tJOn campai S n is doi »S best to cater for that S♦, t, mGS dominate Us candidates' addresses-the excellence of the Dominion's war effort to date, which they tend ever more Strongly to represent as the Government's war effort, and the excellence of the Government's plans for the rehabilitation of the servicemen "when the war is over. One theme is missing—the very serious difficulties which this country has to overcome between now and the end of the war. Although they probably do not think it Government candidates speak as if final victory were "just round the corner.-' The probability is that many corners have to be rounded and that many months, and perhaps years, will pass before Germany and Japan will yield, as Italy has yielded, to the concerted onslaught of Allied force. Until that day New Zealand will be in the war and New Zealand means to be fully in it. How is it to be done? 'how will her resources be directed, her manpower utilised, so that the Dominion's remaining effort will be the maximum possible? Surely this is a theme for political addresses no less important than any other. Yet the Ministers, who, almost alone, are in possession of all the facts, refrain from mentioning it except when obliged to do so by the criticism of their opponents, and then they prefer to speak of the past rather than the future. Their "line" is to deny that there is a manpower "muddle," and, alternatively, to say that Parliament, and not only the Government, is responsible for the manpower situation. This last assertion is strongly challenged by the National party.

But if there is no manpower "muddle," then the present situation must be the outcome of a defined Government policy. What is the policy? On September 6 the Minister of Defence announced that "as further reductions in our home forces are impracticable, the Army authorities will be unable to agree to the further release of men for industry, except in most exceptional circumstances." That, it would seem, was the expression of a Government policy. It appeared to indicate that the Government, having considered the competitive claims of home defence and civil production, had decided that the Army could release no more men. But, two days later, the Prime Minister himself indicated that, if such a decision had been made, it was not final. He remarked that he had been "further impressed," during his electioneering tour, "with the need for still greater effort for placing more men in both essential primary and secondary production," and that, although "great difficulties" would be involved for the Army authorities, "steps would be taken to ensure that the maximum number of men were released." So what Mr. Jones declared to be "impracticable" Mr. Fraser says is practicable. Does this remarkable, and, for Mr. Jones, somewhat humiliating contradiction suggest the existence of a well-considered policy?

The manpower problem is of far wider scope than is indicated by the competition for men between civil industry and the Army at home. There are the armies abroad, in the Middle East and the Pacific, and there is the fast-expanding air force. If all are to be maintained, all will continue to need men; but the only source of manpower is in New Zealand, where, Mr. Fraser admits, there is already a serious conflict between the needs of civil industry and of home defence. What does the Government intend to do? There are, it would seem, only two possible courses. Either it is going to reduce its commitments, or it is not. If it is not, then it will be obliged to undertake a drastic reorganisation of manpower and industry within the Dominion, close down or "freeze out" many businesses deemed non-essential, and greatly extend the scope of industrial conscription, of both men and women. Also, it may have to raise and lower the present age-limits for military service overseas. If such measures are in prospect, the. public should be told. But—it may be objected—the announcement of such measures before the election might be unpopular. To such an objection the answer is that if the Government has a sound case it need not hesitate to give the people the facts, state its policy and challenge its opponents to improve on it. While both facts and policy remain obscure the Government has only itself to blame if the conclusion is drawn that it has got itself into a muddle which it wishes to conceal until after the election.