The Timaru Herald THURSDAY, JUNE 19, 1941 Mr Menzies Leads

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLIX, Issue 21993, 19 June 1941, Page 4

The Timaru Herald THURSDAY, JUNE 19, 1941 Mr Menzies Leads

IN one of the most important speeches made since the outbreak of war by a Dominion political leader, Mr R. (1. Menzies, Prime Minister of Australia, told the people of the Commonwealth the extent of the contribution they must make to the Empire’s war effort. Mr Menzies announced sweeping changes in the economic life of Australia, each one of which is designed only to increase the industrial output of the nation so that great stores of war material will be made available for home and overseas defence. In recent years there has been vast industrial growth throughout the Commonwealth and there is already in existence a framework about which one of the arsenals of the Democracies can be built. Preliminary work, howewer, is necessary, and the most important change to be made is that war industry will make an almost exclusive demand upon the plant available. For their ordinary life Australians will have from their factories only what can be spared from the war industries. These ordinary wants,- whether they are luxuries or what are now thought of as the rightfully expected amenities of. life, can be only partially satisfied in future. As Mr Menzies has put it, “the entire national structure henceforth would change from one of peace to war.” Candid and brave leadership of this kind is now required in all the Pacific countries and this message from Mr Menzies strikes as tellingly at the heart of New Zealand as it must have done to the heart of Australia. Mr Menzies, speaking of his own country, said that business had been going on much as usual, and “people had been taking their pleasures as freely as ever.” All this, he added, must change; it is going to change. Since the economic structure of New Zealand differs from that of Australia, it is not possible that this country should be able to make such profitable changes in industrial effort as can be made in the Commonwealth. The manufacturing industries have been tardily developed in this country, but within the limits imposed by necessity and rudimentary development, New Zealand’s contribution to the war in every economic form must be relatively equal to that of Australia. The Minister of Labour, the Hon. P. C. Webb, in an address to employers in Wellington yesterday, complained about the prevalence of criticism and “the misuse of bodies and organisations which claimed to have no concern with politics for the dissemination of political propaganda.” This, he declared, was “most seriously detracting from the all-in effort New Zealand must make in the present time of grave international crisis.” There has been criticism; the Government concedes the right of fair criticism to continue, and criticism must flourish in the midst of the uncertainties which are the sole creation of the Government itself. The Standard, the official Labour newspaper, has said: “There is not going to be a National Government, so without further ado we must get on with the job of preparing for an election.” It is extraordinary that such important information should be communicated to the public in this way. Only last week the Government would not reveal its intentions to the elected representatives of the people. It would have been a simple matter for Mr Nash to declare whether the Government intends to hold the General Election or not. If it does intend to go to the country the Opposition cannot let the challenge pass unanswered, and if Labour is preparing for an election others must do so too. But this is certainly not the best atmosphere for an all-in war effort. In any case it is idle to speak of an all-in war effort when, as Mr Nash affirms, and has repeated, that not five per cent, of the people of New Zealand are aware of the issues at stake in the war. Perhaps they will not be so until the Prime Minister returns from his visit to the Middle East and Britain. Mr Fraser will be just as impressed by what he sees on his travels as Mr Menzies has been. He has, too, the same capacity for leadership, if he is freed from the shackles of his party political organisation. An all-in effort means a complete change-over from peace to war conditions. It will mean, as it certainly does not mean yet, sacrifices which will make most peace-time pleasures and amenities impossible. As Mr Menzies has said, every right to comfort will have to be put in pawn.