THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES THURSDAY, DECEMBER 11, 1947. VOLUNTARY AID

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26641, 11 December 1947, Page 6

THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES THURSDAY, DECEMBER 11, 1947. VOLUNTARY AID

To declare that there has been, in Otago or elsewhere in New Zealand, any popular indignation at the Government’s decision to allocate an extra ration this Christmas would be to deny such evidence as is available. The people of New Zealand are, generally speaking, ready and indeed anxious, to accept additional rationed foodstuffs as a useful contribution to their Christmas fare. This is not admirable, but it is, no doubt, very “ human.” The local Aid to Britain Committee, after discussion with the chairman of the national organisation, Mr F. P. Walsh, has agreed that the campaign to save food for Great Britain must be conducted on a basis of voluntary assistance. This places upon the individual the responsibility of making some personal sacrifice if he is prepared to do so. Sacrifice so ordered must be unequal in its incidence, but apparently good results have been obtained —no specific information on the extent of coupon saving was disclosed to the press after the meeting. The fat collections organised by a private gitizen of Dunedin, who evidently preferred direct action at his own expense, have proved the bounty of country people if they are appealed to for support of a practical scheme. This singular effort has shown clearly that an appeal must have a positive objective, which is clearly understood by the people to whom it is addressed. Other successful “ drives ” for coupons, goods and money to assist in sending food abroad have been organised in the same way, by the Navy League, church congregations and other groups which have a special body of support. The Aid to Britain Committee will, no doubt, concentrate upon extending the appeal through the co-operation of these and other community organisations. In this way much good may be achieved. It would be idle to pretend that the people of New Zealand are, as a whole, much concerned to make further cuts in their consumption of foodstuffs suitable for exportation to the world’s hunger zones, so that voluntary saving for Britain will have support from only a limited public. The realisation should spur those who, understand the extent of the British need,.and of starvation elsewhere, to the greater effort to., make the campaign a success.

DANGEROUS LEGISLATION Members of the executive of the Dunedin R.S.A. have very properly taken the Minister of Defence to task for his unwarranted criticism of remarks which were reported to have been made when the executive discussed recently the effects of legislation to compel the letting of empty houses. The Minister’s comment invited the rebuke that has been administered. The fact that the Dominion executive of the R.S.A. had approached the Government for legislation for the compulsory letting of unoccupied houses does not deprive individual members of the association from exercising their inalienable right to express their opinions on the subject, and, more specifically, to complain of the lack of adequate safeguards in legislation that infringes qn the principle, of private ownership, The R.S.A. is a democratic body which has the confidence of thousands of men of. all shades of political opinion. Its deliberations are not conducted behind the locked doors of a political caucus, and its members —in spite of the taunts and clumsy sarcasm directed against them by the Minister—are genuinely concerned with the welfare of all servicemen.

The speakers criticised by Mr Jones did not comment without authority. The investigations carried out by the local executive of the R.S.A. revealed only one case of a landlord’s having no genuine excuse for his failure to let an empty house. As far as the situation locally is concerned, therefore, it would appear that the regulations will contribute little towards relieving the admittedly desperate housing problem. It may prove that in other centres the regulations will justify themselves temporarily by providing for more homes for returned servicemen, but it must not be forgotten that the legislation has not been written into the Statute Books as a temporary measure only, to be recalled when the housing emergency no longer exists. The law has become part and parcel of Government policy and the organisations that agitated to have it ‘brought into being will have no voice in the manner of its interpretation. The victory achieved by the national executive of the R.S.A. will have been dearly won if experience proves the law to be capable of being applied in a manner that will imperil the liberties of every citizen of New Zealand, returned serviceman or otherwise.