MR. CURTIN'S WARNING

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIII, Issue 169, 20 July 1942, Page 2

MR. CURTIN'S WARNING

T H ?u^! ,Stt L aUan prime Minister, speaking with a full sense of responi . V ' , h * 8 ac , cus i c l strikers of assisting the enemy, and it is clear m? L ♦ u° ta e more drastic steps against them. What Mi Cur tin has to say has equal cogency here. While our losses in coal for essential industry have not been so severe as those in Australia thev !l a uL " relativel y as important, and they have arisen from equally trivial causes, causes so trivial at times as to be utterly fantastic. The i? i SU incidents has been to decrease our war effort at a time when it is essential that cur full weight be pulled, when we should be all out on every possible occasion to protect our country from invasion, «°v,? l i e ? n °. f the miners' loyalty, but there is an irresponsible minority which foments trouble on every possible occasion to assert some trifling question of peacetime union privilege or to demonstrate their own power over a majority which lacks sufficient firmness to effectually combat their subversive propaganda. The fact that we have so far escaped a hostile visitation is no insurance against the future and Zealand should accept Mr. Curtin's grave warning as an Indication of the seriousness of the Pacific situation. As a lifelong Labour leader, he would only speak in such terms of whole-hearted billtle^nf a tho JhJlm .1 £? mp " lsi ? n <? f his inside knowledge of the possibilities of the situation. New Zealand, we are told by Admiral Ghormlev is as hot a spot as is Australia; we must help ourselves to build up an impregnable fortress, not relying on somebody else somewhere else to smash the enemy. We can achieve that only by putting every possible ounce of energy into the war effort, and that cannot bl don^urless every individual in the producing industries pulls his full weight.