NATIONAL UNITY IN BRITAIN

Press, Volume LXXVII, Issue 23317, 1 May 1941, Page 6

NATIONAL UNITY IN BRITAIN

Address by Mr W. Holmes (P.A.; WELLINGTON, April 30. The national unity in Great Britain at present was emphasised by Mr William Holmes, a past president of the Trades Union Congress, and general secretary of the National Union of Agricultural Workers in the United Kingdom, when replying to-day to a welcome at a luncheon given by the Government. “The working class movement stands with the Government. We do not ask what government it is, so long as it has been elected by the people in a democratic way,” said Mr Holmes. “Mr Churchill may not belong to the party to which we belong, but we are proud of him. He typifies the English outlook at present, and he will see us through if he gets the proper backing.” The Prime Minister (the Rt. Hon. P. Fraser) presided at the luncheon, which was .attended by ministers, members of the House of Representatives and the Legislative Council, foreign consuls, trade commissioners, representatives, of Industrial Labour and the Trade Union Movement. Mr Fraser said the' Trade Union Congress members were using every means in their power to help in the present struggle, because they knew that if they lost the trade union movement would be the first of the democratic institutions to go by the board, just as it had been overthrown in every country where Nazism had dominated. The people of Great Britain had set an example New Zealanders were endeavouring to emulate. Mr Holmes would carry back a message that the people of this country were with them tefe the very last penny, the very last life, and the very last of their property. They would live to see those countries now dominated by the Nazi tyranny reassert themselves, and to see the triumph of democracy. Mr Holmes said that whatever differences there might be among the people of Great Britain, there was one thing on which they were always united. The country that gave them their freedom- and liberty came first. There were many things that the trade union movement disagreed with, but attempts to right them were being left to a more propitious occasion. The loss of property did not worry them much. The skilful fingers of the working class and the brains of technical experts could raise great towns and cities once more. "New factories are going up, and not only will these soon be producing munitions of war, but I believe before this year is out we will he masters of the air, not only in the daytime but also at night," said Mi: Holmes. At the suggestion of the Prime Minister, all stood in silence as a tribute to the British, Australian and New Zealand tropps fighting in Greece, and to the Greeks. ~