PARLIAMENTARY BROADCASTS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 24912, 11 May 1942, Page 4

PARLIAMENTARY BROADCASTS

ADVISABILITY AT PRESENT QUESTION RAISED BY MR FRASER (F.0.P.R.) WELLINGTON. May 9. The advisability of broadcasting even the ordinary business of the House of Representatives in times like the present was questioned by the Prime Minister Mr P. Fraser, when replying to the debate on the Financial Statement in the House of Tvepresentatives to-day. He said that in the present tense atmosphere even the most innocent and earnest interjection seemed petty and out of place when heard over the air, and he would have to ask the House to consider whether it would not be better to be off the air altogether. Mr Fraser said there had been unanimous recognition of the policy of. pur* suing our war effort to its maximum and of paying for it as much as possible out of current income. There, was no uncertainty in regard to these two overwhelmingly important points. In spite of the high level of the debate, he felt, however, that our fate was not being decided here, but in the waters off New Guinea and the Solomon Islands, just as it was influenced in Greece, Crete, Libya, and Franca and at the present time on the Eastern Front and around the Arctic Circle, where our convoys were doing great work getting supplies through to the l^iissisns The speeches in the debate, Mr Fraser said, were of a uniformly ; high character. Some of the contributions had been very good. All the same, with the fate of the country in the balance, it was just doubtful if the ordinary business of the House struck the ear of the listener as of being of much importance. He would like the House to consider the matter. "Everything humanly possible has been done to further our war effort," Mr Fraser said, referring to the work of the War Cabinet. "We are now far better prepared to hurl back an invader than ever before. There is no difference of opinion, either in the House or outside it, as to our doing everything possible to resist an invader, and, after we have resisted, to attack as quickly as possible."