EFFICIENCY IN WARTIME

Dominion, Volume 33, Issue 175, 19 April 1940, Page 8

EFFICIENCY IN WARTIME

To judge from a wireless report of proceedings in the House of Commons on Tuesday, members of all parties are keeping a particularly watchful eye on the Government’s methods of wartime organization. At the same time much constructive criticism is being offered from the floor of the House. For example, a Conservative member (Lord Winterton) in commenting on the latest speech by the Minister of Labour, urged the adoption of a voluntary scheme by which large numbers of men and women could be trained m thenspare time for work in industry, so that they might be ready if the occasion arose to fill efficiently the places now occupied by men of military age. Suggestions such as this are valuable not only m Britain but also in any country which is striving to place itself on a workmanlike footing. But the real lesson to be learned from tie House of Commons debate is that the elected representatives oi the British public are being given full opportunity to criticize and to oftei their own as well as outside proposals for the better oiganization ot the community. . r . . For many months the Government of New Zealand has deprived itself of this healthy benefit. At the same time it has deprived the Opposition and the people generally of the opportunity for studying at close range what is going on, and of making their conti ibutions in ideas and experience. Parliament is to meet early in June and, as was remarked in this column yesterday, it is none too early. Not only is the community impatient for an assessment of what has been accomplished in the various fields of national organization, but public bodies and private individuals are also waiting to learn what is in the mind of each Minister responsible for a share in the work, and what can be done outside the House in the way of co-operation. The questions awaiting discussion next month are of the utmost importance. Perhaps the most urgent are those relating to recruiting. Is the campaign being furthered in the most effective manner possible, with the greatest freedom from delay and overlapping, and with the use of the best available brains t Is the Government doing justice to its own policy of voluntary enlistment? I hen there is the complementary question of a national civilian organization designed to make the most effective economical use of labour in essential and productive industries. What is being done here? What co-operation is coming from labour organizations? To what real extent are unnecessary public works being “tapered oil,” and what steps —if any —are being taken to draft .labour from non-essential to essentia! channels? "This raises the additional question of national production and the best means of improving it. Has anything effective been done here, or any means left unconsidered ? What of economies in al! departments of State expenditure —has a purposeful beginning beer, made with the task of bringing these about? On the other hand, there is the question of the supplies of essential imports for the Dominion In view of the strong possibility of serious future shortages overseas in many lines, arc steps to be taken to permit importation while trie goods are still obtainable? ... , The list of pressing questions could be still further extended, but extension would only emphasize a self-evident position. Ihe public has been kept out of touch with the progress of the war effort and Parliament is far behind the march of events. . lively e (oil should now be made to prepare the way for a session in which paitj talk and superfluities will be dispensed with so that the attention ot the House may be devoted without delay to vital matters.