WAR COUNCIL ENDED

Greymouth Evening Star, 13 August 1942, Page 4

WAR COUNCIL ENDED

MR FRASER’S TRIBUTE

WELLINGTON, August 13.

Announcing, to-day, that the functions of the War Council would be discontinued, Mr Fraser paid a tribute to the services given by the members during the Council’s existence. At a recent meeting, said Mr Fraser, the War Council fully discussed its relationship with tne War Administration, and the view was expressed that, following on the assumption by the War Administration of many of the duties and functions previously performed by the War, Council, the time was ripe for a full coordination of all tile War Council’s duties and functions under the new administrative body. In making a unanimous recommendation that the War Council should terminate its functions, the members offered to continue to place their individual services at the disposal of the Government in any form that might be reand this offered would be availed of gladly.

Mr Fraser added that, as Prime Minister, he was deeply appreciative of the helpful and conscientious manner in which the War Council members had approached every task with which they had been confronted. The basis of service was, of course, of a part-time and voluntary nature, and, in many cases, the attendance of members at monthly meetings meant . travelling considerable distances from their every-day work, thus entailing real sacrifices. The country should realise its debt to the members of the War Council, which had been the first body representative of all sections of the community to come together and assume a share of the great and growing war burden, and its representative basis had given its recommendations authority of the first importance. Mr Fraser said he was sure the country would agree with him that the War Council throughout a most difficult period had performed valuable work, and that the wholehearted thanks of the Government and of the community were due to the members‘"'for their unselfish and self-sacrificing devotion to the highly important deliberative and advisory functions, which they had so successfully discharged. These functions had been on two planes, that of investigation, which was done through the Defence and Military Affairs Committee, and the Primary and Secondary Industries Committee, and also as a body of recommendation to the Government and the War. Cabinet.' The Council had had a wide representation, farmers being represented by Mr W. W. Mulholland, the workers by Mr R. Eddy, the employers by Mr C. C. Davis, the Federation of Labour by Mr A. McLagan, the Returned Services’ Association by Mr W. Perry, the Maoris by Mr E. Tirikatene, and the Legislature by Messrs Lowry and Atmore. The Government had also appointed Sir A. Russell to the Council/