NO TIME FOR HALF MEASURES

Dominion, Volume 33, Issue 192, 10 May 1940, Page 10

NO TIME FOR HALF MEASURES

Sir Harry Batterbee On

The War

"This is no time for complacency or half-measures: it is a time for the sternest resolve and that alone will pull us through.'’ said the High Commissioner for the United Kingdom in New Zealand, Sir Harry Batterbee, in response to the toast of the Imperial Government proposed at the annual reunion of Hie Wellington South African Veterans’ Association last night by the president, Captain J. J- Chirk. Sir Harry said that the speech' of .Mr. Winston Churchill had put the situation clearly: they were up against a most desperate position. After the temporary fate of Norway and Denmark who could doubt that of New Zealand if Germany won. Unless they all took off their coats and did their utmost, there was grave danger. It was clear from what, had happened in Norway that they were ju for a grim and anxious struggle, said Sir Harry. The Nazis had organized for this; they too had to organize and put every ounce of tlieir strength into the struggle. Mr. Perry. M.L.C.. in responding to the toast of the Returned Soldiers’ Association and kindred bodies, proposed by Mr. J. I. Goldsmith, said, that flic U.S.A, and by that fie meant the South African Veterans’. Associatipn also, was the only body which realized the present position in that it. advocated compulsory universal national service. That went a long way further than conscription. Many bodies had glibly passed motions favouring conscription. meaning that only the men of military age were expected to make the sacrifice. The U.S.A, resolution went a good deal further in that, it meant that every man and woman should be prepared to do to the utmost in this or any other war waged by the Crown, the job for which they were best fitted in a. war-winning endeavour. This was the only principle which would support a democracy. If Britain lost, she would still survive as a nation, but New Zealand would not as a country and the sooner that was realized by the people of this Dominion, the better chance they would have of winning the war. said Mr. Perry.