THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. MONDAY, FEBRUARY 4th, 1918. WINNING THE WAR.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 11752, 4 February 1918, Page 4

THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. MONDAY, FEBRUARY 4th, 1918. WINNING THE WAR.

In the course ot an address to local bodies at Kawhia last _w.eek, Sir Joseph Ward, Minister of Finance, is reported to have said : ( 'He did not believe the people realised the necessity for the establishment of a Government that would be strong enough to do everything required to win the war as far as the Dominion was concerned. New Zealand amd the Em-* pire were in a critical situation, and the time had come for sinking all political differences, with a view to everybody concentrating on the one object of seeing the war through." This is magnificent sentiment. But it is somewhat ambiguous. What doe* Sir Joseph mean when he. says he does .not believe the people, realise the necessity for the establishment of a Government that will he strong enough to do everything required to win the war? Does he wish us to understand that the existing National Government has done, and is doing, everything required to win the war? Or,'does he think the people should have demanded u stronger Government? So far as the mass of the people are concerned, they certainly do not think the Government has doner everything that is required. It has been weak-kneed and spineless throughout. It has allowed millions of money in war profits to drift into the pockets of private individuals. It has winked at profiteering of a most impudent character. It ha? preached economy, but failed ,to practice it. It has run the railways to death for no earthly reason. It has piled up a huge national debt, when there was no necessity for it. ft has filched from the people some of their most cherished privileges, without the slightest justification. It has pandered to sectional interests in a shameless and unconstitutional manner. It has, indeed, proved itself to be the very antithesis of what a strong, patriotic, wim-the-war Government should be. S'ir Joseph Ward is wrong when he asserts that the people do not realise the necessity for the establishment of a strong Government. The people have realised the necessity for months past. But they have not been afforded the opportunity of giving expression to their will. It is very well to say that we should sink our .political differences with a view "to concentrating our energies iu seeing the war through. How can the people be expected to concentrate their energies when the Government does not" give them a lead? The war has been in progress for three and a-half years, and no attempt at scientific organization has been made in New Zealand. Everything has been run in a haphazard, go-as-you-please slipshop manner. The time has truly come for the concentration of our energies. The time came years ago. But the favoured few bad to be given the opportunity of making money out of the business. So soon as the last pound <\f flesh is exhausted, so sootf will the people concentrate their energies in bringing the war to a conclusion. Any person who talks of equality of sacrifice is a fit subject for a mental hospital. Thanks to the pusillanimity of the National Government, equality of sacrifice is now an utter impossibility**