OUTRAGEOUS DECISION

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 64, Issue 4534, 9 February 1942, Page 4

OUTRAGEOUS DECISION

AT a time of grave crisis when an unbending “No” should have been unhesitatingly given, the Government has yielded to the pressure of the pleasure-seeking mob—that is the only word for these people who place self before patriotism—and granted licenses for petrol whereby racehorse floats will be seen on the roads of New Zealand. It was announced on

Saturday by Mr G. W. McCormack, President of the New Zealand Horsefloat Operators’ Association, as follows:

The Government has agreed to allow horse-float owners to operate on a restricted schedule so that the vehicles may be kept in good running order for use in an emergency. . . . The decision was reached following representations by the Association, which pointed out to the Government the difficulties which threatened the livelihood of the operators as a result of the prohibition on the use of petrol for horse-floats.

Well, if it is desirable to keep horsefloats in “good running order,” why not apply the same principle to all motor cars “for use in an emergency”? Why single out a fleet of vehicles engaged in a non-essentiai occupation? As to the “threat to the livelihood of the operators,” emphasised so much, are there not dozens of avenues offered to-day to which these employees could be transferred and their efforts made available to augment the war effort? The Government’s decision is an outrageous affront to every patriotic-minded citizen. It is not only akin to Nero fiddling while Rome was burning, but it at once. discounts the whole plea, “Be patriotic and save benzine.” It was the enforcement of decisions such as these which laid the seeds of decay and the subsequent downfall of France. Is New Zealand, by toying with pleasure instead of settling down to hard work, to follow on the road to catastrophe? In the vernacular, if New Zealand does not “pull up its socks,” it will not only not help to win the war but will richly merit the cruel fate which pleasure-seeking invites.