Steps To Get Yes Vote At Referendum

Chronicle (Levin), 20 July 1949, Page 4

Steps To Get Yes Vote At Referendum

Mayor Calls Meeting Of Locai Organisations

About 25 persons representing a wide dross-section of ,the eo'ihftllinity redponded to the bpeeial ; meetf ing cared by the Ma$or, Mr. H. B. Bufdekin, ' last " flight, to reemph^sise the urgent necessity for an afhrmative vote at the forthdoniing referendum op compu sofy ihilitary training. Pollowing an address by the Mayor' and president of the Levin R.S.A., Mr. N. M. Thomson, Ihe Mayor called upon. all representafcives df organisations present to indicate the exten't to which they vtouid co-operate in any scheme to. ensurd that eve'fy crtizen was pfersoha'ly dontacted, and the s'feridusneAs df ihe situatioii iiiade kndwh to" them, and that a transpor't Service was operated on the day df the poll. • In Some cases assurance of this help fvere given at the .meeting but ds some representatiVes had not yet contacted their organisaliohs in regard to what amount df suppdrt could be forthcoming, it was decided that a further nlee'ting bd held on Monday at 5 p.iri» at which it was trusted that tliis ihfofmdtion would be! avaiiablfe. . . Ahswer Must Be "Yes" BLK "I Hdiidstiy beiieye," said ME Burdekin, during the course of his addrdsS/ "that rieVer bdfdr'e haVe vt^e beeri dailed upon to make a bigger decision than this. The famifications envisaged should the vote in regard to compulsory miiitary traiiiihg go the Wrong way are such . that we cannot afford to take any chanGes with anything othe'r than getting an affirniative vote." The main danger was. public apathy. He believed that a large percentag-e of the publid Was coh^vinced of the necessity for compulsory military tfairiing, but it was quite atiother thing to get the affirmative mind transferred to an affirmative vote. After draWirig attehtion to the spread of Communism throughout the world, the speaker' issued a warning note that those who still believed that New Zealand could iodk again to Great Britain for protectiori Were afgiiing dn unsotind ground. The desire to help wouid be there, the wiii to heip was there but the capacity to heip was not. Mr. Burdekin quoted >Sir Howard Kippenberger's studieU opinion that with a population increase and compulsory military training NeW Zealand could defend herself in the event of an "emergency. That was the reasoii why the R.S.A. had taken the lead. It kneV what it meant to be pfepared and to go into. battle with the greatest amount of training posgible. The speaker -then outlined the proposals and quoted figures showing that the disruption to industry throug'h 'the entry of young men intd cainp could at no siage of Ihe scheme be more than .61 from the totai number of units in Ihe industnal world. - This year. would see the training df volunteer dffiCers arid n.e.o.'s so that in 1950, when the scheme would begin, the trainees would be assured of being trained by men who knew their job and who had also been through the hard school of actual warfare.

An mtensive campaign would b'egih iiext Week to ehsure that the pedple WOu'd be given the oppori/Uitity Of KhOwing the facts and getting to the poiiing boo/hs, said Mr. Burdekin. There woiild be" a biiblic meeting in Levin on Monday flight at- Which k Nationai* Party speaker wouid be prdseht. He had called the QfgdhiSatiQhs together to ask them to put ah their energy aild fesources into this campaign, and he trusted he would obtain their support.Must GJ To Poll ' • .BLK . Natdraily one could not tell the people how to vote, -but at lfeast one could beg "them to go* to the poi s and vote, and 'point out the desirabiiity of compulsory military traffiffig, said Mf. N. M. Thomson, president of the Levih R,g.A, "We can Serid Woliderfui teaihs frdiii NeW Zealand to'participate in sport. We excel in every sport, yet land a foreign force in New Zealand and, even if we had the equipiiieiit, iack of training would make us unable to defehd ourselves,"' he added. Co'mpulsdry military training did not mean training for an offensive war, but merely training so that we could defend ourselves. The R.S.A; was favourably situated td take the ie^d in the mat'ier, having 100,000 members with branches in every district. That was why it .was more Or Jess taking that lead, but it could- not, of course,, do . it on its own. The . organisations present could heip materially in making siire that ah Iheir members were personally contacted. If they Cotild hold full meetings of their membership, addresses could be given on the subjeet and, if required, speakers Would be ; found for them. The main thirig Was to get a wide coverage and remdve the apathy which the R.S.A. was really frightened of. FolloWing the two addresses various suggestions were put forward as to the way in which the district could best be covered, house-to-house personal visits being most fayoured. It was finally decided to form a p'an of campaign at next Monday's meeting.The folloWiilg organisations were represented: Piunket Society (MesdameS Sniaill ahd Stewart) ; women's section of R.S.A. (Mrs. N. M. Thomson) ; R.S.A. (Messrs N M Thomson, E. R. Winkler, N. H Atkinson and J. G. Taplin) ; U.N.A., County ... Council and Federated Farmers (Mr. E. R. Winkler) ; Corso (Mrs. H; B. Burdekin) ; Red Cross (Mrs. Bryce) ; Salvation , Army (Major F.etcher) ; Presbyterian Church (Mr. A. Brash) ; Church of England (Mr. H. L. Jenkins) • Roman Cathoiic Church (Rev. Father Lynch and Mr. R. W. Brad,ley) ; Ro„ary ClUb (Mr. H. Black) ; St. John Ambmance (Mr. A. J. HAlien) ; Nationai Party (Mr. B. J. Antcliff) ; Maori (Mr. J. D. Scia[scia); Labour Party (Mr. H. Haryey) ; Boy Scouts (Mr.- V. E. Hudson) ; Girl Guides (Mrs. Kirkcaidie) . The Deputy Mayor, Mr. R. A. Frederikson, was also present. Apo.ogies for unavoidable absehce were received from the Rev. H. - S. Kings (Methodist Church), Mr. A. M., Colquhoun (chairman of the County Council) Rev; G. B. Stote-Blandy (Church of England) and Mr. c. E. C Webb (Federated Farmers) .