THE HONEST CRITIC

Bay of Plenty Times, Volume LXXI, Issue 13802, 20 November 1942, Page 6

THE HONEST CRITIC

GOVERNMENTS BEST FRIEND

"No well-grounded democrat." says the London Sunday Times, "feels that the rulers of Germany are in a stronger position because Hitler abolished debate in the Reichstag, made the newspapers his tools and all criticism of himself and his minions criminal.. This permits of short cuts to decision and speeds action, but it is not so that Governments are .endowed with most enduring strength. "Hitler rides roughshod over the German people, and can be sure of their support only so long as he wins battles. What they think he cannot know, for they dare say nothing that displeases him. "In Britain liberty lives even in war-time. We will not surrender it. We do not blame our democratic system because things go wrong; the fault is not in our liberties but in ourselves. Again and again its criticism has been effective in right ways. We may, indeed, fairly claim that things would have gone better if the lessons of the debates had been more quickly learned. "This should encourage both Lords and Commons to persevere in welldoing. It is a commonplace to say that the present state of our affairs does not justify complaisance. Indeed, it does not. It calls for increasing vigilance and, on right occasions, for fearless criticism. The honest, disinterested critic is the Government's best friend."