MR. WEBB'S SPEECH

Evening Post, Volume CXXX, Issue 98, 22 October 1940, Page 11

MR. WEBB'S SPEECH

"REPORT DISTORTED"

PRIME MINISTER'S COMMENT

NEED FOR UNITY

"The Hon. Mr. Webb was in touch with me this morning about the published report of his meeting at Denniston," stated the Prime Minister (the Rt. Hon. P. Fraser), in an interview. "He informed me that the report was distorted, arid was not a fair presentation of what he had said. Some remarks as to future world developments were taken from their context and placed in an entirely wrong perspective. "Actually Mr. Webb had struck a note of national unity throughout his entire address. In reply to hostile criticism in regard to the national security tax and other burdens, he had; pointed out that all sections of the community had been called upon to! make sacrifices in the interests of New Zealand and the British Commonwealth, and, as illustrating this fact, | he instanced the. burden on industry and the high level of taxation on wealthy people. "The theme of his address in Denniston, as elsewhere, was the overwhelming need for national unity and , personal sacrifice in face of the great danger which threatened everyone in the Dominion. He emphasised the allin policy of the Government in regard to the conscription of both men and wealth, and to translate what he had said into an attack on any section of the people was simply misrepresentation. To distort it into a threat against the accumulated savings of the people was preposterous. THE THING THAT MATTERS. "I wish to make it perfectly clear," said Mr. Fraser, "that the one thing that matters, indeed, the only thing that really and fundamentally matters for New Zealand at the present time, is our national war effort, our contribution towards winning the war for democracy and freedom. Everything else is relatively unimportant. Nothing that we have and enjoy now will matter if we are defeated, because all of it will go. That is the Government's point of view. That is New Zealand's point of view. "Speculation as to possible future political, social, and economic relations] or modifications are futile, because the I future is so uncertain. Under our democratic system, for which the British Commonwealth is fighting, the people will always determine their own destiny. The voice and vote ofi the people will always be supreme. In New Zealand the people rule and will continue to rule. It is true that Parliament has granted the Government for the period of the war certain extreme emergency powers considered essential to the good government of the country in a . time of crisis. These powers, some of which when enforced encroach very drastically on individual rights and privileges, have to be used wisely and with as much consideration as possible. ■ j A DEFINITE PLEDGE. "Above all, in the matter of the emergency regulations being for the period of the war and a reasonable period thereafter necessary for readjustment, the Government has given a definite pledge and that pledge will be fulfilled. The fact disposes effectively, and I hope, finally, of any suggestion of deliberately using the war situation for effecting economic or industrial transformations. We are all in the present struggle, wage-earner, and capitalist, worker and employer, farmer and shopkeeper, miner and mine owner, shop assistant, clerk, public servant, and housekeeper— every man and woman in the Dominion doing his and her best to ensure victory, and we must continue to do our best until victory is won. That is the spirit of New Zealand. That was the spirit which pervaded the recent successful Economic Conference representative of all sections of the community. That is the spirit that will ensure victory. Anything said, written, or done contrary to that spirit is detrimental. "It is not necessary for me to reiterate what our late Prime Minister so emphatically said, that the savings and capital of the people of New Zealand, which are today being called upon ,to support our war effort to such a great extent, will be completely safeguarded. Those who raise such an issue at this time (and I regret very much to see that it is being raised) are doing a great disservice to our cause. I hope the last is heard of the attempt to revive that canard."