TRADE UNION DEFENCE UNIT

Evening Post, Volume CXXVII, Issue 132, 7 June 1939, Page 12

TRADE UNION DEFENCE UNIT

STATEMENT BY MINISTER

GOVERNMENT MUST HAVE CONTROL

The proposal made recently in Auckland that a company of 200 trade unionists between -the ages of 19 and 35 should be formed and its services offered to the Minister of Defence as a complete unit in an Auckland battalion, does not meet with the approval of the Government. The Auckland Council of the New Zealand Federation of Labour adopted the idea and launched an appeal to all trade unionists to offer their services for the voluntary defence of the Dominion. The suggestion was that the company be enlisted from bona fide members of trade unions, and that it be officered by trade unionists specially trained within six months of establishment, and that a special reserve company of 100 men between the ages of 35 and 55 be formed with trade union officers and non-commissioned officers. The Minister of Defence (the Hon. F. Jones) said today that he appreciated the spirit which had prompted those who were responsible for the idea, but he emphasised that it was essential that the whole of the defence policy should be under the complete control of the Government, and that the administration of that policy must be under the defence authorities. The Government, said Mr. Jones, could not agree to the formation of separate organisations on the lines suggested, nor could it afford to have in New Zealand a series of defence organisations. While the co-operation of every organisation was welcomed and accepted in the best of good will, it had to be understood definitely and distinctly that their services must be under the control of whatever Government was in power. Mr. Jones expressed the hope, however, that those who might be prepared to join such organisations would respond rapidly to the appeal now being made and enlist immediately in the ranks of the Territorials.