"NOT A SAFETY ZONE”

Southland Times, Issue 24500, 30 July 1941, Page 6

"NOT A SAFETY ZONE”

MR WEBB’S WARNING TO DOMINION EMULATION OF SPIRIT OF ARMED FORCES “It would be foolish for us to imagine that we are living in a safety zone,” said the Postmaster-General (the Hon. P. C Webb) in a statement to the Press yesterday. “The war clouds have never been blacker as the Nazis utilize all their skill and organization to make a decisive stand before the winter arrives. But the magnificent effort of the Russian Army on the Eastern front, together with the pounding that Germany is receiving from the Royal Air Force bombers, 13 giving Hitler a worrying time. While the war clouds are undoubtedly black, I am confident that we will soon see a silver lining and that the rights of freedom and democracy will prevail over a form of military distatorship that is the blackest and the most despotic the world has ever known. “I say to every man in business, to every employer and every worker that they should emulate the spirit of the armed forces in the fight for freedom. They should sink any petty differences and stand together as a solid body, giving of their best to the nation to make victory doubly sure,” continued Mr Webb. MUST NOT STAND STILL However, they must not stand still, even in war time, for that would be the negation of democracy. Progress demanded that every new problem should be tackled intelligently as it arose. The cure for any weaknesses in democracy was more democracy. He had employed this principle in consulting those concerned in legislation so as to obtain their knowledge and to enable legislation to be more representative of the needs of any industry. “The best way of doing this is to consult all parties and finally decide what form of legislation should be introduced. I have already found this effective in the mining and petroleum legislation, which reflects the knowledge of the industry as a whole. I think it will be generally conceded that the mining and petroleum legislation in New Zealand eclipses that in any other part of the world. When I introduce later legislation I hope to adopt the same principle.”