Stop – Conscription Stickers Appear Here

Northern Advocate, 15 July 1949, Page 4

Stop - Conscription Stickers Appear Here

PLASTERED in numbers over shop windows in the main business area of Whangarei, anti-conscription stickers made their appearance at Whangarei last night. In plain black lettering on a white background _ they stated: “Women, stop conscription. Don’t sacrifice your children.”. The stickers caught the attention of pedestrians on their way to work this morning. Shopkeepers whose premises had been used for this type of advertisement did not appear to be very pleased about the attention their windows had received during the night. Most of them wasted no t ime in having the stickers removed.

A message from Wellington says the House of Representatives will not adjourn for the campaign prior to the referendum on compulsory military training.

A motion that branch delegates to the annual conference of the association be instructed to vote in favour of the scheme was carried by secret ballot.

Pairs will be given to enable leading speakers from the two political parties to make Dominion-wide tours in support of an affirmative vote. Both the Prime Minister (Mr Fraser) and .the Leader of the Opposition (Mr Holland) will embark on these tours. Other members of the Cabinet are likely to appear on the public platform and the Minister of Defence (Mr Jones) is known to be preparing an itinerary. Mr Holland is likely to adopt a policy of inviting local members of Parliament belonging to both parties to join him when he is speaking in their districts. BROADCASTING PLANS. Mr Fraser said last night that provision had been made for broadcast speeches on behalf of organisations opposed to compulsory military training. Broadcasting time would be provided for the Second NZEF Association, the New Zealand Christian Pacifist Society, the Society of Friends and the New Zealand Peace and Anti-Conscrip-tion Federatiion. The Prime Minister said that, tire last-named body had claimed in a letter that it was the official opposition to the scheme.

Be Prepared

“In two Empire wars the British people have had overwhelming evidence of the danger of being unprepared,” said Major-General H. E. Barrowclough addressing members of the Royal Empire Society in Auckland last night. “I saw more of the danger to the Empire in the second war than in the first, said General Barrowclough, who commanded the 3rd New Zealand Division in the Pacific. Over and over again officers saw men thrown away because they were not trained or equipped for the job, and the fault could only be laid at the door of the people of New Zealand who resolutely shut their eyes to the need for a trained defence force. “I am too old to go to another war, but if the country is faced with another and is not prepared I will not rest until those responsible are brought to book,” said General Barrowclough. Objections were raised against the compulsory training scheme on the grounds of the number of hours which would be lost through a system of territorial training, but the loss would not be as great as the drain on the country’s resources caused by the horse-racing industry. People who sponsored that argument were doing so without any veal honesty of thought or conviction, the general said.

Plea To Mothers

A .plea to the mothers of New Zealand to vote for compulsory military training in the coming referendum, was made by Mr W.S. Goosman (O—Piakol when he spoke in the Address-in-Reply debate in the House of Representatives yesterday. “I want to say to mothers that this is not conscription for war,” said Mr Goosman. “This is compulsory military service. so that young people will be trained. "There is no better way to prevent war than to be prepared. “Who wants to fight anybody when he knows be is going to get a hiding? “The honour of this country is at stake, and people who vote against the issue in the referendum vote for the dishonour of New Zealand."

2 NZEF Assn Support

Full support for the Government’s compulsory military training proposals was given by the Southland branch of the 2nd NZEF Association at its annual meeting last night.

No Wet Canteens

WELLINGTON, Fri. (P. A.)—There will be no wet canteen in army training camps for young men doing compulsory military training if the referendum is carried. This statement was made by the Prime Minister .(Mr Fraser) who said the law for prohibiting the sale of liquor to those under 21 years of age would be strictly enforced.

The Antis

WELLINGTON, Fri! (P.A.) The Peace and Anti-Conscription Federation announces that the principal speakers who will tour various parts of New Zealand in a campaign against peacetime conscription, will include Mi- F. Langstone, M.P. for Roskijl, Mr H. Barnes, president of the Waterside Workers’ Union, Professor H. Winston Rhodes, of Canterbury University College, and Mr John A. Lee, former M-P- for Grey Lynn. Mr Langstone will speak at a meeting to be held under the auspices of the Peace and Anti-Conscription Federation in the Wellington Town Hall on Monday night. The chairman of the meeting will be Mr P. C. McGavin, a Wellington solicitor, who was the unsuccessful Labour candidate in the Karori electorate at the last general election.