PUBLIC WORKS

Evening Post, Volume CXXVI, Issue 107, 2 November 1938, Page 10

PUBLIC WORKS

AID TO DEFENCE

HON. R. SEMPLE AND WAR

In the mechanism and men employed on public works, New Zealand had valuable contributories to its defence system, which should be pushed ahead uninterruptedly and speedily, said the Hon. R. Semple, Minister of Public Works, when speaking "to railway workers at Oaro yesterday afternoon, states the "Press," Christchurch, of today. The menace of war and the necessity of the Dominion providing for its own defence could not be ignored when "mad dogs like Hitler and Mussolini were running loose." God forbid that New Zealand should have to participate in war, which was a relic of barbarism, and in conflict with the first principles of Christianity. He said the threat of war was the demon of dissension and the nightmare of the world. As much as they hated war, they did not know when it might happen. They ,had to prepare for it.

"We have to build a defence system in this country as quickly as possible to defy anybody coming to threaten us. Would you surrender with your arms folded? No. If anybody comes here, I will defend this country, and so will you. The law of self-preserva-tion will compel you to do so. We must prepare to defend our liberties. I would sooner be dead than living under a dictator. No man or woman is big enough to dictate to others, particularly if he is a crank." "

The Public Works Department was the most efficient in the world, yet three years ago it was chaotic. With its mechanism and men it could play a very valuable part in the defence system, and that was being built today." Every railway and road now being formed was part of the internal defence system. Germany realised the importance of internal transport 15 years ago, and reorganised her roading system. Yet some people in New Zealand said the Government was spending too much money on public works. Those who said speedways and not highways were being built did not know what they were talking about. By railways and roads, men, commodities, and materials could be transported as rapidly and as cheaply as possible.

Aerodromes were also being built as fast as an any other country, and they were being built up to a standard to carry the largest bombers with maximum loading.

"The Public Works Department can be developed into a battalion of men and a mechanism of power, should the time come to defend New Zealand. Some Utopians say the day will never come. How can they know? Just a few days before the election we were on the brink of war/ and if anybody thinks that the causes underlying the Czechoslovakian trouble are gone, they are wrong. It was just a patched-up business. It will break up again."