THE NEED FOR DISCIPLINE

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 89, Issue 269, 14 November 1945, Page 4

THE NEED FOR DISCIPLINE

CVERY day the news from Australia contains reference to industrial unrest. At the same time, almost as a daily practice, the leaders of the workers, both there and in New Zealand, keep reminding the workers that while their lot may be of the greatest importance, there are other people in the community to whom attention must be paid. Mr. James Roberts, leader of the New Zealand Federation of Labour, has told his followers that they must produce to improve their standard of living. The Prime Minister, Mr. Fraser, has reminded his followers that there is no substitute for work. Those warnings are from Labour’s own leaders. The Minister of Works, Mr. Semple, has been equally forthright. How many have the vision of those leaders? They know now, if they have never known before, that even in a socially secure world, where the State is a kindly, “grandmotherish” sort of institution, unless there is discipline and responsibility, the basis of democracy will be undermined. If democracy is to die, does it matter much into whose hands is given the dictatorship? That dictatorship will follow js surely obvious. The time seems over-ripe now for some firmer stand by the workers’ leaders, a stand taking them beyond the warning stage, beyond words and into action. There must be discipline in industry and responsibility to the nation, and leaders who ignore the signs and refuse to act. who cling to office rather than face the unpleasant, will be as “equally culpable in the destruction of democracy as any man who stops work because he thinks he is badly treated.