ASSIST ENEMY

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIII, Issue 169, 20 July 1942, Page 3

ASSIST ENEMY

WAR WORK STRIKERS Scathing Condemnation By Mr. Curtin Special Australian Correspondent. United Press Association.—Copyright. SYDNEY, July 19. The Australian Prime Minister, Mr. J. Curtin, has accused strikers in war industries of assisting the enemy. He said he made this accusation with a deep sense of his responsibility as Prime Minister. "Any workman in any democracy who to-day argues with authority regarding industrial conditions and fails to work at his appropriate job not only worsens the war effort but is acting in a way that assists our Nazi and Fascist enemies," he said. "Two or three snakes-in-the-grass can poison the effort of a whole patriotic community."

Mr. Curtin was opening an exhibition of Russian pictures organised to raise £25,000 to send sheepskins to Russia.

"I would sooner see them at work in factories and mines than sitting behind me," said Mr. Curtin when a speaker remarked that the workers were behind Mr. Curtin and the Government.

Asked by a woman when there would be a Russian Minister in Australia, Mr. Curtin, said: "As soon afs Russia wants one."

The Prime Minister's uncompromising condemnation of strikers is regarded as especially significant because of his conference with the Miners' Federation officials next Tuesday. It is interpreted as paving the way for more drastic measures against coal strikers.