MOMENTOUS YEAR

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 89, Issue 303, 24 December 1945, Page 5

MOMENTOUS YEAR

MR. S. G. HOLLAND’S MESSAGE CONFIDENCE IN NEW ZEALAND APPEAL FOR NATIONAL UNITY (Special) Wellington, Dec. 23. “On the threshold of another year, New Zealand can look forward to the future with complete confidence,'’ said Mr. S. G. Holland, Leader of the Opposition, in Christmas message issued to the Press to-day. .“Provided we realise that our whole economy depends on our production in every field of activity and that what we distribute depends entirely on v. hat we produce, then the future of this country is bright indeed.” “The past year has been a momentous one, and now, for the first time in seven years, the Ch: istmas holiday period is unclouded by war. Many j families have already been re-united ;and those with loved ones still overjseas have th? reassuring knowledge ithat there will be no more casualty lists. But wo must not forget that many will never return. Those whose sacrifices contributed to victory should have a special place in our hearts. MACHINERY OF PRODUCTION “We are fortunate that our country was not touched by enemy action. Our homes, farms, and factories are intact. The machinery of production is there. AH we have to do is to use it to full advantage. The future is what wc make it.

“Social services and living standards depend upon what we ourselves make and produce, and there can be no magic formulas to give a lasting assurance of higher living standards unless we are prepared to work for them. New Zealand’s prosperity in the past has been founded on the energy and capacity for work of the people. Wc must safeguard those attributes by seeing that there is a fair reward and an assurance of employment for those whose efforts, whether on the farms, in factories, mines, shops, sawmills, on the waterfront, ad in all other fields of