WARNING TO DISAFFECTED

Evening Star, Issue 23498, 12 February 1940, Page 3

WARNING TO DISAFFECTED

LAW WILL BE INVOKED PRIME MINISTER’S BROADCAST Tho question whether democracy could “take it” in time of war was discussed by the Prime Munster Mr Savage, last night, when he broadcast another of his talks on ‘ Now Zealand s Problems As 1 Seo Them.’ He issued a warning that people who tried to spread disaffection through the country were being and would be dealt with oy law, and urged the public to destroy what he termed “ this pernicious doctrine ” by rebutting it at every turn. If people' had faith in its destiny and strength, Mr Savage said,. democracy would stand,the test; but it would require self-sacrifice on the part of all sections of the community. . “ Some timely thought on tine suoiect,” the Prime Minister said, will do none of us any harm. . Wo practise democracy and believe in it, but let us keep it clear that it is wo who are the democracy, and that democracy has only such strength as wc give it, and that our weaknesses arc its weaknesses. In practice it gets along very well, because there is no strain on it, but a war applies the acid test of its stability. And if the test is too severe it dissolves.

“ What is our New Zealand democracy going to do in the first year of its second century? ’ Mr Savage asked. “We will not be able to fulfil 4he needs of war if any young men capable of bearing arms fail to do so. It is my earnest wish that every New Zealand soldier will be voluntary, compelled to serve only by his own conscience, and they should all go forth to war knowing that behind them reserves are forming. Sacrifices will be necessary not only in the field but in all civil life—in our recreation, our luxuries, and even in our needs. We must draw for reserves on moral and spiritual sources, and we will stand the strain only by self-discipline. “ In the opinion of the dictators,” the Prime Minister said, “ democracy is incapable of imposing the discipline that a life and death struggle demands. They believe that democracies are self-in-dulgent, lazy, and cowardly; but, remembering our past, I know that this view is wrong. It is, however, widely held, and one of the reasons why liberal and representative constitutions have been thrown away is because people have lost faith in them. And they have lost faith because of slackness and selfishness in the discharge of public duties. “ I have no love,” Mr Savage said,- “ for repression and coercion by a Government, but I also have no time for anarchy. If people break the law, at a time such as this a self-respecting Government has only one course to follow, and that is to enforce the law. Underhand methods stab democracy in the back. Every workman who ‘ goes slow ’ or holds up production, every trader who fakes invoices to defeat the stabilisation of prices, every man who says that the war is no concern of his because he does not believe in war, is an enemy of democracy. If people are not loyal to themselves how can government by the people be anything but a farce?”

Democracy was the most difficult form of government, the Prime Minister said, and it could not work by itself. It thrived in an atmosphere of responsibility, but if the mass of the people grew self-indulgent then it was no longer a democracy. It was a mob ripe for the retribution that awaited selfishness. The laws of a democratic Government were tho will of the people, and when those laws were undermined by disaffection the Government failed. That had only to happen a few times and democracy was gone and the stage'was set for the dictator, who was himself a product of society. If a Government lets that happen it has only itself to blame when power passes into stronger and more resolute hands. Because it draws its vitality from the people themselves the Government of the democracy is not doomed to impotence in time of war. Democracy and decision go well, not ill, together. “ This Government will use and is using every means at its disposal to make war with all its heart and strength until the victory is ours,” Mr Savage said. “ It is now actually employing tho justice of tho law to defeat the saboteur, with what result you will soon judge for yourselves. But the Government cannot do everything, and there is one form of self-help which the, people can usefully practise to defend our institution against detractors. Democracy has failed elsewhere in the past because its friends have been too diffident in support of it. Let us not make that mistake here. Surely when our economy is threatened by an enemy it is worth our while to destroy the pernicious doctrine of disaffection. “ Freedom grows the greatest patriots,” the Prime Minister added, “ but it also grows the cranks and ingrates, the oddities and. ne’er-do-wells, whose common urge it is to propagate errors. Do not take a false doctrine too lightly—rebut it everywhere it appears. One resolute man can keep sweet for democracy ■ a whole shop, office, factory, street, or district. Without faith in its destiny and strength a democracy will perish, and I am confident that the people of this country will not suffer that to happen here. So let us shoulder our burdens and show that democracy can take it.’ ”