GOOD PROGRESS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVI, Issue 23274, 17 February 1939, Page 13

GOOD PROGRESS

DEFENCE MEASUEES PRIME MINISTER'S CLAIM WILL GO STILL FASTER A denial that the Government was "asleep" in regard to defence was made by the Primo Minister, Mr. Savage, in an interview published by the Labour paper, the Standard, in which he discussed the statement made to the party caucus last week by the Minister of Defence, the Hon. F. Jones.

The Minister's story, Mr. Savage said, was a surprise to most of the members. He had been subjected to some criticism from people who did not know what they were talking about—people who said the Minister was asleep and the Government was not doing anything.

"He showed us that he was not asleep and that neither were his officers sleep," said Mr. Savage. "In the three arms of the service there is greater activity, and intelligent activity, than there has ever been before. Mr. Jones showed that he was not only concerned with teaching men the arts of war, but also something of the arts and crafts of civil lifo, so as to give them a vision, of citizenship as well as soldiery. Conscription Not Needed "Mr. Jones mado it clear to the caucus that if men were given the encouragement they were entitled to expect there would be no need to talk about conscription or anything of that sort. Every man will defend, when it conies to a show-down, the things that are worth while. The Minister is backed by the Government and he made it clear that he is certainly not asleep on the job." During the last three years, said Mr. Savage, more had been done by the Government than had been attempted by any previous Government, and it was going to go still faster. Overseas Trade Risk "We realise, as most other people do," he added, "that if it came to a show-down we would have to make some decent attempt to stand on our own feet, at least for a considerable period. That means a lot more than simply training for military service. "No one knows how long the transport system between hero and the markets of the world would exist after the outbreak of a war, if the worst came to the worst. I do not know how many people thought of that when they were condemning import control. The time may come when imports will bo controlled for a military reason.

"Mr. Jones' department has the job of having some plan ready, some vision of the possibilities of the future if the worst came to the worst, and in his talk to the caucus he 6howed us that he is not forgetting any of it. We have the organisation for national security. That will apply in any time of emergency, not merely in a time of war."