THE WAR EFFORT

Otago Daily Times, Issue 24632, 13 June 1941, Page 4

THE WAR EFFORT

The introduction of an. Imprest Supply Bill in the House of Representatives yesterday afforded an opportunity for public debate of some of the aspects of the war effort that had been discussed in secret session on the previous day. There seems to have been no indication in yesterday’s debate whether the question of war strategy was considered at the secret session, but if it was it may be seriously doubted whether the Parliament of the Dominion is a body competent to express a judgment of any great value on the subject. It may be supposed that Mr Lee was expressing a view that is entertained in some quarters in New Zealand when, in effect, he denounced the participation of. the Dominion troops in the campaigns in Greece and in Crete as an adventure that should not have been undertaken. In his mind, apparently, the enterprise was hopeless from the beginning, and he seems to have taken grave offence from a statement attributed to the Prime ister in Egypt which implied that if the same experience had to be suffered again the Government would not hesitate to face it. The

answer which an expression of opinion such as that offered by Mr Lee calls for was in part given by. Mr Winston Churchill in the House of Commons, this week. It is that had it not been for the delaying operations in Greece and Crete, the Huns might now have been the masters of Syria and Iraq. They were operations the issue of which must at all times have been uncertain unless the Imperial troops received the benefit;, of adequate air protection, but it is impossible to disagree with the conclusion adopted by the High Command that it was necessary that they should be undertaken. And, if they were to be undertaken, it is clear that the New Zealand troops could not honourably have been withheld from participation in them. Nor, it may be confidently suggested, would the members of the Expeditionary Force of the Dominion have been flattered by the suggestion that their services should be utilised only in engagements that might be described as “safe” battles. The value of the military contribution which New Zealand is making to the war effort of the Empire would be diminished materially if it was associated with any condition regarding the class of operations in which the Dominion soldiers should be engaged. The sacrifices which the Expeditionary Force has suffered have been regrettably heavy, but any suggestion that it should not have been exposed to the risk of them will be widely repudiated throughout the community.