NATIONAL UNITY NEEDED

Press, Volume LXXVIII, Issue 23538, 16 January 1942, Page 8

NATIONAL UNITY NEEDED

RIGID PARTY LINES CONDEMNED UNIVERSITY CHANCELLOR’S VIEWS (P.S.S.) WELLINGTON, January 15. “The common danger to which we are all exposed should rouse every educational force to exercise a decisive influence in the development of a spirit of national unity and of a greatness of soul in co-operative action on the home front,” said the Hon. J. A. Hanan, Chancellor of the University of New Zealand in his address to "the Senate to-day. "This leads me as a Minister in the last -National War Cabinet, and as a lover of my native country to declare to my fellow citizens that now, when we are facing the grimmest realities in our history, the function of government is to recognise fully that in the existing national emergency the time is ripe to foster national cohesion, and to lead' it, leadership being made all the stronger and more efficent by cohesion. “All our people who think on broad national lines and are anxiously awakened to what is at stake with the world war now coming nearer to us, recognise the need for uniting the whole country in a, straightforward determination for pulling together in successful organised team work. Convinced that this is of vital import, they contend that all parties must come together as a team and be united on a common basis of patriotism. This action is undoubtedly a prerequisite for putting our patriotism on a true British foundation. , “It would be an insult to intelligence to assert that any party or section has a monopoly of patriotism, or brains. The nation’s affairs are in such a fateful state that all party interests and the instinct for party self-preservation must be swept aside to make way for a dynamic national unity. Upon such a foundation a nation’s strength can be best amassed and made most effective to deal with vital national and international problems. “History will record a most damning indictment against those isolationists whose vision, at a time when we are engaged in a deadly struggle, does not extend’ bdyond rigid party lines and mean selfish ends. These individuals are deserving of public censure for failing to rise above partisanship and refusing to obey the national call that clearly summons them to swing into line and come under one banner—a strong resolute and united people.