CALL FOR UNITY

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20032, 2 September 1939, Page 16

CALL FOR UNITY

PEOPLE OF DOMINION NEW ZEALAND DEFENCE PLANS WELL LAID APPEAL BY MR, COATES (Per Press Association.) AUCKLAND, this day. “We must not allow ourselves to be carried away by party political feelings when there are circumstances so serious that they demand all our attention and energy,’’ said the Rt. Hon. J. G. Coates, speaking at the National Party’s fair at the Town Hall. Mr. Coates deputised for the leader of the party, the Hon. Adam Hamilton. In such a time, he said, the Government became a responsible, machine upon which the people must depend for guidance. The present Government recognised its responsibilities and was doing its best to co-operate with the British Empire for the pro'ection of New Zealand and for the protection and assistance of all other parts of the Empire.

He was one of those whom the Government had taken into its confidence on the steps it was taking to see that the country was equipped to play its proper part. Even the most determined disagreement on questions of domestic policy must now be put into the background, he added. Only with unanimity and united determination in the common cause, could the country nlay its part in protecting everything that was worth while. In general terms, he could say that plans were laid and that the scheme of things was well thought out.

Mr. Coates also appealed to his audience and the party to do what it could to assist volunteering in the territorial forces and to encourage young men to join up and then to help them in every way‘to remain keen in +heir task and to be proud of their job.