WAR POLICY ATTACKED

Southland Times, Issue 24680, 27 February 1942, Page 5

WAR POLICY ATTACKED

LABOUR CRITICS TO FORE RADICAL CHANGES ADVOCATED (Rec. 5.30 p.m.) LONDON, Feb. 25. “We will never get a full national effort until every man and woman in Britain is conscripted and given a basic minimum wage, with a system of bonuses according to their responsibilities,” said Mr Vernon Bartlett (Ind.) speaking in the House of Commons debate. “If the muddles continue the next victims of criticism will be the civil servants. The Government should review the extent to which the dead hand of the Treasury impedes the war effort. The war is going to be won by the people, whom the ruling class of Britain have treated with dislike or contempt, and with sometimes fear.” Mr Bartlett added that he believed that the new Government had a great chance of reviving the spirit of enthusiasm to the disappearance of which almost every member who had spoken in the debate had drawn attention. Mr P. G. Barstow (Lab.): Mr Lyttelton can be brought back to organize production, where Lord Beaverbrook failed. He will ako fail. No man can solve the question of production without entirely changing the methods we are employing to run the war. There has been no real change of Government, merely a change of heads. Big business is still firmly in the saddle. Mr A. Sloan (Lab,) said that Mr Churchill’s speech had done nothing to disperse the gloom. If anything his, speech had deepened the feeling of despair. It showed the greatest incompetence at the top. Lives had been needlessly thrown away. The whole strategy of the war was in tire hands of blunderers. Mr E. L. Burgin (Nat. Lib.): On going into the industrial field from the House of Commons one finds a sense of frustration. There is profound dissatisfaction among the public over the General Staff’s handling of the war. Mr F. W. Pethwick-Lawrence (Lab.): I fully sympathize with the Government’s critics who demanded the abolition of “blimpery” in all administrative fields. “Blimpery” has refused to entertain new ideas and has endeavoured to keep the bottom dog in his place. Mr Leslie Hore-Belisha (Ind.) said that the implications of total war had not yet been accepted and that industry should be as much a fighting arm as the military services. He welcomed the reconstructed Government but said that it must stand or fall by the manner in which it met the needs of the war. Mr Vyvyne Adams (Con.) asked the House not to under-estimate the Japanese, who, in. some ways, were more terrible than the Germans because their needs were less and they were more indifferent to individual safety. “Despite the gallantry of the many allies who are supporting us today in the Far East—the Dutch, the Chinese and the Americans—it is rightly emphasized that the added onslaught of the Japanese to the already enormous effort of Germany and her satellite Powers places upon us a burden heavier than any we have yet borne,” said Sir Stafford Cripps, Leader of the House of Commons, when replying to the debate. Sir Stafford added amid cheers: “It is not the last straw and it will not break the back of the British people. We are no less confident today of ultimate victory. But for weeks, it may be for months, we shall pass through times of acute anxiety and difficulty. It is because of this that we must brace ourselves anew in our efforts for victory. SELFISH MINORITY “The circumstances are grave and the Government is convinced that it is the wish of the people in this country to treat this grave situation with all the seriousness and the austerity it undoubtedly demands. For two and a-half years now the great majority of the people of this country have been working their hardest in various spheres to give every help they can. But there still remains a minority who regard their personal interests in a manner not consonant with the totality of effort required. The Government is determined that such an attitude cannot be permitted to exist. “The Government proposes to take such measures as may be necessary to prevent the abuse of the wishes of the' majority of the people by any small or selfish group. Personal extravagances must be eliminated together with any other form of wastage, small or large, and any unnecessary expenditure.” BOMBING POLICY On the question of bombing policy, Sir Stafford reminded the House that it was the policy in force at a time when Britain was fighting alone against the combined forces of Germany and Italy. It had then seemed the most effective way in which Britain could take the initiative against the enemy. Since then Britain had had an enormous access of support from the Russian armies and also from the great potential strength of America. Naturally, in such circumstances, the original policy had come under review and was being kept constantly under review. Some doubt had been expressed as to whether there was that degree of co-ordination of the three services through the chiefs of staff and in the field, which was satisfactory. At the present time, he assured the House, every effort was being made to improve that co-ordination.

Regarding industrial efficiency, Sir Stafford referred to the suggestion that the joint effort of workers and managers might be increased by fuller co-opera-tion between the two parties in industry. The Government, he said, was fully conscious of the most valuable part that the skill of the workers could play in assisting the management and they had already taken steps to set up workshops’ committees in order to review this valuable co-operation. The Government was very anxious that it should be encouraged to the fullest extent throughout every industry. “We are passing through a period of difficulty and anxiety of which there has probably been no equal in our history,” concludetl Sir Stafford. “We shall not be borne down by those difficulties or worn down by those anxieties because we are all determined in our purpose to win through. “In the hard months that lie ahead the House can and will, I am sure, give to the people of this country a great lead in determination, freedom and Constance of purpose.”