MR COATES’S MISSION

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 76, 19 May 1941, Page 3

MR COATES’S MISSION

APPEAL FOR NATIONAL UNITY OPPORTUNITY TO SERVE I United Press Association! Auckland, May 18. I The member of the War Cabinet, Mr j Coates, who is to visit the United States of America, said in an interview that he did not expect to be away more than two months. Reference to his mission in its relation to the question of national unity within the Dominion was made by Mr Coates. “The Government has requested me to proceed to the United States on a mission which is vitally linked with the full and proper defence of New Zea- i land,” said Mr Coates. “This request I regarded as a compliment to myself, inasmuch as it indicates that Ministers with whom I have not been in agreement on matters of domestic policies have nevertheless seen fit to forget these differences, petty as they are in time of war, and to regard the supreme question of the Dominion’s war effort as one which all loyal New Zealanders must help in solving. “For some months now I have been privileged to serve on the War Cabinet, and I regard this invitation to visit Washington as a further opportunity of service which in the present circumstances I am eager to undertake to the best of my ability, more particularly ns it will bring me into touch with the representatives of that great and friendly country, which is extending its sympathy so generously and in such practical fashion to all British peoples in the present time of danger. REPRESENTATIVE OF PEOPLE “The request of the Government and the War Cabinet that I should visit Washington enables me to do so not merely as the Government’s representative, but also as the representative of the people of New Zealand. It is in that capacity that I shall exert every effort to make my mission a success. “In the United States, backed by the Government’s instructions and relying on American friendship, there is much that I hope to be able to do. but nothing that I can do, nothing that the War Cabinet or the Govern-, ment as a whole can do, will have any j lasting effect unless it is backed by 1 the united will of the people. “With a full sense of responsibility, I say that in the organisation of man j power for the fighting services, New I Zealand’s effort is one of which she has I every reason to feel proud. But modern war does not stop with the fighting services and it is up to every one of us to strain every nerve and sinew to . see that the fighting forces, both over- ; seas and in our own country, receive that full measure of support wffiich is 1 the least we can offer them. The first essential toward this end is the at- ! tainment of a real sense of national ! unity. i “My own position in national politics is, I think, generally understood. I s have not departed from one of those poli- i tical principles for which I have stood J in a fairly lengthy public, career. But 5 throughout that career I have always £ endeavoured to act as a New Zealander for New Zealand. This is what we all c must do. j OPPORTUNITY TO SERVE * “The Government has given me an I opportunity to serve. There are men 1 in other walks of life with specialised £ talents and ability far greater than is found in politics. There are the other c men and women, thousands of them, '/ on whose labours the whole future of 'i the Dominion rests. All must be pre- 7 pared to serve in what is essentially a \ common task. Differences must be 2 swept aside, and old antipathies forgotten so that earlier shortcomings may r be overcome with the utmost speed. We 4 must work together if we are to march £ together to victory.” j 1