The Dominion SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 1941. TIME FOR ACTION—NOW

Dominion, Volume 34, Issue 121, 15 February 1941, Page 10

The Dominion SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 1941. TIME FOR ACTION—NOW

We must now realize that our comfortable sense of remoteness from the strife and perils of the outside world can no longer be entertained The warnings from Australia, our own Prime Mmistei s warning of the possibilities of danger are too grave to be regarded li?htlv. To meet and overcome the worst that may he befoie us calls 'for the utmost possible conservation and thrifty use of manpower for both defence and production. This means more work bj those whose duty it is to keep the essential wheels of industry turning. The question is neither political nor one of ’social progress. What is more, it may not remain a wholly economic question, it may become a question of national life and death. The proposal, voiced at the annual conference of the New Zealand Master Butchers, that working hours in this country should be extended as a war measure, is in essence a plea for realistic thinking -and acting. Our course as a people should be made clear to ah. utterly regardless of sectional or political cost—our military utmost, and our industrial utmost. The world situation with which we are inescapably bound demands no less. There is no place in this concept for such considerations as award hours of work, or of special concessions to either workers or employers. These things are todaj unreal They will remain unreal if we do not as a nation survive the threat to our liberties; and survival means unstinted work, without let or hindrance.