RIGHTS OF PEOPLE

Waikato Times, Volume 125, Issue 20988, 15 December 1939, Page 2

RIGHTS OF PEOPLE

ADJUSTMENT OF WRONGS CONSTITUTIONAL POSITION AUCKLAND MASS MEETING (Special to Times) AUCKLAND, Friday “The Government is being forced to rely upon a whole family of ‘Radio Uncles’ in its determined and continuous efforts to induce the people to believe that things are not as bad as they seem. - ’ With these words Mr R. M. Algie opened his address to a mass meeting in the Auckland Town Hall Last night. There was an audience of about 1500. Mr Algie was given enthusiastic attention by the great majority of his audience. Continuing, Mr Algie said: “Our ‘Unde of the Friendly Road’ has now been partnered in a combined double on Sunday evenings by no less a protagonist than the Prime Minister himself and, almost nightly throughout the week, we flit from ‘Uncle’ to ‘Uncle’, the tune changing according to the voice, but the purpose being always the same—propaganda, and always more propaganda. “Shakespeare might have been tempted to remark that perhaps ‘they do protest too much’. If the policy of the Government had been as successful as we were told it would be, then surely there would have been no need for all the broadcasts. People who are sure of themselves and who are satisfied that all is well, do not fear criticism; still less do they resent it; and when they get it, they have no need to descend to threats and mere personalities. They respond naturally to the finer principles of fair play, and they extend to their opponents a right to use the radio equal to the which they demand for themselves. This, ’ said Mr Algie, “the Labour Government has never done. No one would ever say that the use they have made of the radio could ever be described as fair and impartial.” Not Due To The War The wrongs of which so many people were complaining, and the difficulties in which the Government now found itself, were not attributable in any real sense to war conditions. They were simply and solely the cumulative result of three years of Government policy, and there was no escape from that. The average citizen was as loyal as any member of the Government, and just as determined to play his part in the war effort of his country. But he was equally determined not to submit to any further and unnecessary instalments of socialisation, and it was perfectly clear to him that four years of Government policy were a major factor in preventing him from rendering that degree of national service which he would otherwise have been glad and able to give.

When the war broke out, however, the Government had to make some most important decisions. Amongst other things, it had to decide whether it would carry on with its attack on individual enterprise and free business or suspend those activities for a time and concentrate entirely upon winning the war. What happened? Jbfr Savage himself had said over the air on a recent Sunday evening that his Government felt that it would have been untrue to its party supporters if it had slackened in its policy of socialisation.

When the Government passed the Marketing Act and the Reserve Bank Act it had demonstrated that the war effort of New Zealand was by no means their only aim. At such a time it was right and proper that all sections of the community should be united in one great and determined co-operation effort, but cooperation implied mutual concessions. The Government expected co-oper-ation but without any concessions on its part, and those who would like to give the co-operation found that if they did so they were expected* to assent passively to the terms persisted in by the Government. “Tragic And Regrettable” It was a tragedy, and a most regrettable one, that at a time like the present, questions of internal politics could still loom so largely in the forefront of public discussion. The prosecution of the country’s part in the war, and the making of every possible provision for the soldiers, were tasks that demanded wholehearted unity on the part of the people, and a measure of forbearance on the part of the Government. There was no reason on earth why, in order to help to win the war, the people should have to submit to the permanent socialisation of their economic life. If we were expected to do all we could to resist aggression and dictation abroad, why was it necessary that we should have to begin by making a permanent surrender of every liberty we possessed in New Zealand? Constitutional Rights Realisation of the facts was forcing people to ask very direct and pertinent questions regarding the nature of their legal and constitutional rights. Could the British Government help in a case of emergency? Had citizens a right to petition the King? Could the Governor-General dismiss his Ministers? Must he dissolve Parliament if they asked him to do so? These and many other similar questions were being put and this search for information showed conclusively that there was a growing uneasiness, a groping for a lead, and a desire for a clear statement as to what the position really was. All good citizens would at once agree that any form of protest by direct and illegal action was fundamentally wrong in principle and bad in practice. Those who advocated unconstitutional methods were disloyal to their British tradition; they could not expect any better treatment than they were prepared to give; and by pursuing direct and illegal methods they were undermining the very system that gave them security and protection. Right To Petition “An irate farmer told me,” said Mr Algie, “that he was going to pour

all his milk down the drain for a week.” That, of course, would just be silly and would hurt no one so much as himself. If a group of farmers banded themselves together to do the same kind of thing, they would expose themselves to prosecution undei the War Regulations; and public opinion would rightly be against them.

Others had claimed the right to ; petition the King. They could do so * il‘ they wished, but the : r petition would have to go first to the Govern- j or-General; and when it duly reached His Majesty, he would be guided en- ‘ tirely, or practically so, by the ad- ® vice given to him by his Ministers * in New Zealand. The position would ( be the same if the petition were pre- ( sented to the Governor-General direct; he, too, would have to follow the advice of his Ministers. That was what was meant by “Ministerial responsibility.” “Another wild but amusing suggestion that has become a little too J common of late is that New Zealand i should put her affairs in the hands j of some sort of Commission or Re- 1 ceivership. Such a thought,” said Mr j Algie, “was utterly unworthy of us; there was no need for it and even if I there were, the discussion of it, as a ! serious proposal, would amount to a ; ' confession of a lack of courage, and i of our moral bankruptcy.” “Right Thing to Do” If any section of the community ! believed that it was injuriously j affected by Government policy, the i l ight thing to do was to marshal the facts, to satisfy itself that they were facts and not merely prejudices, and then to present them in a proper manner to the Government with a request for full consideration and reasonably speedy redress. No majority had any right to oppress or to dictate to a minority: and if the people who complained of wrongs could show that their wrongs were substantial and properly supported ; by facts, they had a right to relief. From a purely realistic and prac- : tical point of view, the end to aim at would seem to be the securing of a true coalition of political parties for i the duration of the war. Such a very ! desirable co-operation could be : brought about only if the Govern- j ment itself were prepared to make j certain concessions. Failing an actual coalition of j parties, there would still remain the I right of reasoned approach to the Government. If those approaches j were made repeatedly and were ignored, or were given no effective consideration, the only remedy left j would be to place the facts fairly and j in a temperate manner before the j public, and to place full reliance ) upon the constitutional remedy avail- j able to all citizens at an election. | At the end of the meeting a mem- > ber of the audience moved that the j meeting pledge its support to the | Labour Government in anything j that might arise. The motion was I supported by only a small section of the audience.