WAR CABINET

Greymouth Evening Star, 20 May 1942, Page 4

WAR CABINET

MR. DOWNIE STEWART’S VIEWS.

DUNEDIN, May 19

Interviewed to-night on the proposed changes in the War Cabinet, Mr. W. Downie Stewart said: “The Prime Minister is anxious to enlarge his War Cabinet in the interests of greater national unity. One of his proposals is to bring in outsiders, because of their’ knowledge or administrative ability. There is, as he says, plenty of precedent for that course if hg thinks it wise or necessary, but when he goes further and says he will grant sectional representation on the War Cabinet to special groups, such as manufacturers, farmers, returned soldiers, trade unionists, etc., he will certainly imperil or destroy such national unity as v/e now possess, which is probably greater than he realises. “In my view, men are not elected to Parliament or to the Cabinet to represent their own, sectional, or vested interests. They are elected to represent the nation. If the Prime Minister creates his Cabinet of special interests, a danger will be that we shall have sectional fighting, wire-pulling, and log-rolling on the home front, as well as war on the battle front. I hope the Prime Minister will think twice before trying to placate powerful groups by giving them special representation in his Wai' Cabinet.”