VITAL ISSUES AT STAKE

Southland Times, Issue 24444, 26 May 1941, Page 4

VITAL ISSUES AT STAKE

Ti’ue Character Of The War An appeal to the people to realize the tremendous issues that were at stake in the present conflict was made by the Acting Prime Minister (the Hon. W. Nash) in a broadcast address last night. Most people, he said, were quite prepared to do everything they could to assist in winning the war, but it was necessary that they should have a clear picture of the character of the struggle. Mr Nash began his address by reviewing recent speeches by Mr R. G. Menzies, the Australian Prime Minister, and Dr E. N. van Kieffens, the Dutch Minister of Foreign Affairs. Dr van Kieffens had given one of the most vivid descriptions of the German outlook that he had ever heard, said Mr Nash, and from the first-hand knowledge that he possessed was able to describe very clearly the real nature of the conflict. “We are short of machines in this war,” said Mr Nash, “and unless we make up this deficiency there is a doubt about the issue of the war. It is only by hard and concentrated work in producing machines that we can come out on top. It is not only the men in the front line who will have to make sacrifices. We will all have to make kin overseas receive the necessary goods, in the form of food, munitions, clothing and so on.”

NEW ZEALANDERS’ PRIVILEGES

The people of New Zealand possessed privileges that were possibly greater than those of any other country in the world. Even in England the people had not the same freedom. They could not get all the food they required and restrictions had also been necessary in other directions. If there was a way in which New Zealand could produce more goods by working longer hours, or if there was a way to send money to free Britain of some of her financial worries, then he thought they ought to do it. However, they could do this only if the people saw the true character of the war.

There was nothing more astonishing in history than the indomitable courage of the British people, continued Mr Nash. The man in the street, the woman in the home and even the youngsters were doing their bit in the fight to maintain the right to belong to the country of one’s birth, instead of being the serfs of another nation. The “New Order” which Hitler sought to establish was one in which the Germans would be the overlords and the people of the conquered countries their slaves. Liberty of speech would disappear and religion as they knew it today would cease to exist. In their struggle to uphold the principles of democracy the Allies were fighting for the freedom of all the people of the world, so that the common man could obtain security from hunger, security for his family and the right to express himself freely.