GOVERNMENT COMPLACENCY

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVII, Issue 23661, 21 May 1940, Page 11

GOVERNMENT COMPLACENCY

Sir, —As I see it, the people of the Dominion were on tip-toe on Sunday evening, for the broadcast speech of the Prime Minister, many of them expecting, as I did, a clarion call to service, following the sorious news from Europe. You know what we got; a semi-politi-cal address and the announcement, at long last, of a modified form of military training, although just how the trainees are to be secured, is left to the imagination. No repeal of the 40-hour week, or the bringing into force of compulsory training (don't whisper the word conscription). The slogan of the Government appears to be "Business as usual," that phrase which proved so disastrous for England in the early months of the Great War. Again, as in 1914-1918, our kinsmen in Britain are dying in their thousands on the fields of Flanders, while here, a five-day week prevails, with the grog shops open from eight to six on Saturdays, thus sapping the moral, mental and physical capacity of our young men. All fair-minded people should rise and protest against the iniquitous delay iri bringing in compulsory national service. Mr. Fraser admires the quick change from a party "to National Governmeift in England, but does not follow the excellent example. The writing is on the wall, remember Chamberlain. Oh, for a Churchill in this country. He would not be dictated to by trade union bosses. Britisher.