The Bay of Plenty Times WEDNESDAY, JUNE 30, 1948. COMMUNISM ON THE THAMES

Bay of Plenty Times, Volume LXXVI, Issue 14710, 30 June 1948, Page 2

The Bay of Plenty Times WEDNESDAY, JUNE 30, 1948. COMMUNISM ON THE THAMES

With the people of Britain going' all-out to. close the importexport gap, through which the chill winds' of economic adversity arc still blowing, the action of the 19,000 London dockers in paralysing shipping in the Thames' lias been inexcusable. It is gratifying to note that they have at last seen reason. The British worker is a man who. generally commands worldwide respect for his sound common sense. His dogged determination in adversity, and his amazing ability to “take it” during the blitz, have shown him as a man of character and reliability. Unfortunately, with all his* good qualities (like Ids counterpart in New Zealand) he is not proof against the blandishments of those who would use him to serve their own ends.

As has been pointed out in this column on more than one occasion, the enemies of our Empire can bring just as effective pressure to bear on our economic life by holding up shipping in Auckland or London, as they can by the destruction of those ships on the high seas. The German’s resorted to the cruder method in two wars and, by thus cutting off essential supplies, very nearly brought Britain to. her knees on each occasion. Britain was then fighting for her existence. Today she is fighting almost as strenuous a battle, one on which her whole future depends. For today’s battle she must have food to feed her people to keep up their physical fitness and morale. She needs raw materials to keep the wheels of her factories turning.

Where these supplies can be held up at their source—for example ships carrying butter and cheese, frozen meat and wool from New Zealand — the directors of the world-wide Anti-British Communist campaign use their influence in the local unions, into which their representatives have so. successfully insinuated theiru selves. It is obviously impossible for them to prevent all ships leaving the world’s ports, so that the next most vulnerable point of attack is obviously those ports where cargoes are unloaded for distribution. By persuading the London 'dockers that they have a grievance (whether they have or not) or by inventing grievances for them, the Communists who would destroy Britain and her Empire are able to use them to carry out this policy. The British government’s decision to proclaim a state of emergency for the first time since the general strike of 192(1 is* a courageous one, and should result not only in restoring the flow of trade in and out of the Thames, but also in the speedy rooting out of those responsible for the trouble, and in putting them where they can exercise their subversive skill upon stone walls.