A PLEA FOR UNITY

Evening Post, Volume CXV, Issue 72, 27 March 1933, Page 6

A PLEA FOR UNITY

(To the Editor.)

Sir, —Amidst- all the clamour of interested factions, each (to use a vulgarism) endeavouring "to make its alley good," is anyone of us really troubling to take a broadminded view of the present position in which.New Zealand finds itself? We are silent, probab.ly we smile commiseratively, when some other section of the community is affected by legislation—legislation absolutely necessary if the Dominion is to emerge victorious from the present economic battle in which the whole world seems to be engaged. But we are violently indignant • when some equally necessary Act: calls upon our particular section of the community—be it agricultural, industrial, commercial, educational, or social— to bear, its weight of the national burden, to share in the general sacrifice so vital to the preservation of solvency and' the Dominion's fair name. Surely any individual with ordinary common-sense, and with arithmetical knowledge that enables him to understand that five and five are ten, and ten only, and cannot under any circumstances make twenty, or fifteen, or even twelve; surely, I say, that individual must know that the Government cannot produce money from any other source than from the people, and that until the great nations of the world solve the tremendous problems facing them, New Zealand cannot free herself from the shackles, but must, perforce, continue the present policy of safeguarding the interests oE the people as a whole, and keep the Dominion solvent. We are not, and never can be, a self-supporting country. We are but a small, and (for our size and population) important unit in an Empire that emerged with honour from the Great War, only to find itself faced with an economic war in which again the. whole world was engaged: And we cannot escape participation.

That New Zealand is playing its part in this great economic struggle is generally admitted—by outsiders, who. probably see more of the game than, the participants, and can give a less biased opinion on the play. But if we continue our present line of conduct, then, there is grave danger of us developing into a nation of squealers, of quitters; and with factional criticism we will court further disaster, this one of our own making. The Government has been compelled by force of circumstances, over which they had no control, to do many unpopular things—to pass necessary Acts, impose necessary restrictions, and generally, to act in the interests of New Zealand as a whole, so as to save, not one, but every section of the community fioin worse experiences than those already encountered. It takes brave men to deliberately do things that they know-full Well will not be popular. And it would be more in keeping with the splendid British traditions, adherence to which.has made this great little country what it is today, if we ceased factional criticism and obstruction, and evolved something practical, constructional, and helpful. Factional fighting will but perpetuate schism, and thus increase the national danger. Effective . co-operation will enable the many obstacles to progress and prosperity to be more easily and rapidly overcome.—l am, etc., •

UNITED WE STAND, ETC.