Bay Of Plenty Beacon Published Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. WEDNESDAY, JUNE 15, 1949

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 13, Issue 99, 15 June 1949, Page 4

Bay Of Plenty Beacon Published Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. WEDNESDAY, JUNE 15, 1949

CONSCRIPTION REFERENDUM

Disturbing thing about the conscription referendum controversy is not so much that a referendum is to be held, but thq,t the Labour Party’s conference proved beyond all doubt that it can and does dictate to the Government. One cannot help feeling that such a question should have been one for' Parliament. It is true that in 1935 the Labour Government was elected with an overwhelming majority, but now support outside of actual Party membership has shrunk to the point where, at the last election, it was pretty plain that the Government held office rather precariously. While the majority of people in this country abhor the very thought of anything like dictatorship, they would feel more confident with leaders who would accept the responsibility the electors have given them and handle vital- questions such as the conscription issue as New Zealanders working for the good of all New Zealanders, and not as humble servants of a Party machine.

This question is not new. It was a live issue in 1935, has been debated hotly on a, number of occasions since. There is strong public opinion on both sides, and perhaps a referendum is a good way to settle the argument.

But why was not that referendum taken years ago?

Is it that the Government had no more stomach for facing the criticism it knew would ensue then than it has now for standing up to the Party bosses? Rarely has New Zealand shown more confidence in a political party than it showed in the Labour Partv in 1935. Rarely has a Government had a greater opportunity to govern constructively and courageously, and seldom have we seen such spectacles of weak-kneed hedging at vital issues as we have seen recently.

There was no hesitation about the introduction of compulsoryunionism. There was no talk of a referendum then.

Yet it should be reasonably safe to say there are as many opponents to that' kind of conscription as there are to military conscription. There is no answer to the argument that a referendum is perhaps the most satisfactory way to settle a contentious question. But in this case, if the Government did not feel the people would accept its decision without one, then the referendum should have been taken years ago.

POWER CUTS We note with satisfaction that the Whakatane Borough Council, at Monday night’s meeting, decided to make application, with the support of other local bodies and Mr W. Sullivan M.P., for an increase in our power allocation.

Our satisfaction is not in the least diminished by the fact that the course the Council has decided to adopt is right in line with the one we suggested in our leading article which the Mayor, Mr Barry, said it would have been better not to print. Our further suggestion was, and still is, that if the Controller and the allocation committee will do nothing for us, we should take the case right to the Government.

We might agree that some of the correspondence on the subject was not well-informed, but whose is the responsibility for that if it not the local authorities.? We will not agree that our correspondents, seeking as they did improved service for our community, were “ill-advised.” We feel they have the right to a certain pride in having earned that accusation in such a cause, and we make no apologies for having printed their letters and our own article on the subject.

Though we intend to continue to agitate for a better allocation

of power, that does not imply that we have withdrawn or in- 2 tend to withdraw our co-opera- f tion with the local authorities in -v their efforts to persuade the pub- } lie to conserve what there is. In recognising that need and trying to make others recognise it too we are with the Council all the way. •

But we do not intend to let the need for that palliative overshadow the main issue.

We recognise fully and have said clearly that the fault does not lie wifh the Borough Council and the Power Board, who have no authority over the total amount of power available here, but only over the rationing of what the Controller and the allocation committee allow us. In that regard, we like Cr R. T. Morpeth’s suggestion that a better distribution of available power to individual users might ease the position. We think such a scheme would be fairer to those who are making a real effort to save power and \vho now have to suffer for the thoughtless extravagance of others.