DISTORTED REPORT

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20385, 23 October 1940, Page 6

DISTORTED REPORT

MR. WEBB'S STATEMENTS COMMENT BY PREMIER NOTE OF UNITY STRUCK (Per Prer.s Association.) WELLINGTON, this day. Commenting on the report of a meeting in Denniston addressed by the Minister of Mines, the Hon. P. C. Webb, the Prime Minister, the Rt. lion. P. Fraser, said yesterday that he had been in touch with the Minister by telephone and had been informed that the report was distorted and not a failpresentation of what Mr. Webb haa said. Some remarks as to future world developments had been taken from the context and placed in an entirely wrong perspective. Mr. Webb was reported to have said: “When we win this war the capitalist will be as dead as Julius Caesar and the wealthy people will have played their last card. The Government of this country has been placed in a position which was never dreamed of a year or so ago.” and "it would be the task of every member of the Government to end the capitalist regime which had so disrupted the universe.” “Actually Mr. Webb struck a note of national unity throughout his entire address,” said Mr. Fraser. “In reply to hostile criticism in regard to the national security tax and other burdens, he 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. He instanced the burden on industry and the high level of taxation on the wealthy people. The theme of his address in Denniston, as elsewhere, was the overwhelming need for national unity and personal sacrifice in the face of the great danger which threatened everyone in the Dominion.”