CALL FOR SUPREME EFFORT

Chronicle (Levin), 20 August 1947, Page 5

CALL FOR SUPREME EFFORT

Press Association)

— * 18, FRASER ASKS ALL NiW ZEALANDERS TO RAfLY TO BRITAJfS AID s. - *

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.. WELLINGTON, August 20. A pal-1 for a supreme national effort by aU New pealanders to assist in' saying the greatest country the world ha.d eVer known — Great Britain — ^-even if it was necessary to worjt night and day to do so was made by the Prime ]^Iinfster, MlFraser, opening the aid" to Britain conferepce of pearly 200 delegates and observers at Parliament Buildings this morning. Mr. Fraser said Britain had mortgaged her future to save mankind, and we should be as pioud to assist ^her in the present crisis as wlien New Zealand soldiers in the Dover J Command stood ready to repel the invader from Britain's . shores. „ . .

Mr. Fraser told the conference j hat while we must submerge our j 3wn interests -at the ippment in : Britain's, cause, it was ijnportant to i jur own ecQiiomy, our iiymg stand- i ards and our trade thr.t Britain hould recQver. Whatever we did aow for Britain wQuld be bread cast upon the waters which would return a thousandfold to us iater. .t would be an overwhelming disagter economically, politically and m other ways for New Zealand if Britain went down. The conference, which should be a memorable orie, should issue an appeal which would rally- all New Zealanders to individual and collective effort to discharge to the utrpost our responsibility to aid Britain. Whatever could be done .now by New Zealand and the other Dominions would establish the British Commonwealth more firmly than ever before. The Prime Ministei said the conference would consider Britain's plight, the steps she was taking to deal with the situation and the | means whereby New Zealand could j assist. Britain was in her presentposition solely because of her j heroic stand in the war, when she j expended her v/ealth and resources . hat we, with the rest of the world, might be free. The conference had | been suggested first by FederMed Farmers, chen by the N.Z.R.S.A. and later by many other organisations, so that it met in, response to the heartfelt desires of the people as a whole. Mr. Fraser warned that New Zealand needed a spirit cf sacrifice at the present time." Without it we

jould • • not hope to effectiyeiy ncrease the assistance ' we were aow giving Britain. The slowness }f the European recovery and the severe winter had had a mqst seja3us effect on Britain's programme, and her shortage of dollars nad been aggravated by. the fact that Large are'as of the wqfid were also short of American dollars and were seeking to conyert their sterling. holdings into dollars 'to enable them to buy American gqods. A great part of the world had thus encroached on Britain's dollar resources. Britain had been carrY~ ing the dollar burden of many countries besides her own, with the result that she now faced a dollar deficit at the rate qf 81Q,QQQ,000 dollars yearly, and at present held scarcely sufficient resources to meet the present year's debts. Gharacteristically, cqntinued Mr. Fraser, Britain, q f\ top of the weary years of war, had decided to face , up to the 'situation by all means. She was, for instance, cutting food imports by £12,000,000 monthly and was seeking to increase her exporo targets for 1948 to 140 or 160 per cent. of 1938. Mr. Fraser referred to Mr. Attlee's suggestions qf the waysi'n which New Zealand could assist, and said thatf in addition ro seekmg to produce more foodstuffs we would have to consider reducing our purchases, not only in dollar areas but in Britain, to enable Britain to export to dollar earning areas. Deiays in import programmes, warned Mr. Fraser, might affecr Government developmental projects as well as private trading.