PEOPLE’S SAFETY FIRST

Southland Times, Issue 24869, 8 October 1942, Page 4

PEOPLE’S SAFETY FIRST

MR COATES’S ATTITUDE (P.A.) ' WELLINGTON, October 7. The Rt. Hon. J. G. Coates said today that his unalterable view was that in the present circumstances first principles should be the only consideration. The safety of the people came first ana must be. the overriding principle. He said that at the National Party caucus he put the whole position fully an “ frankly to members. There was general agreement upon the urgent need to get coal out and that a further interruption would have immediate and far-reach-ing consequences upon urgent war requirements. There was also substantial agreement on the point that sending the men to gaol would not have helped the position. There was no positive alternative to giving the men an opportunity to return to the hewing ot Mr Coates revealed that he travelled to Auckland at the express wish of the coal-mine owners that he should accompany any Minister who went up. He was glad he had done so because of his very keen appreciation of the critical situation that was developing to the detriment of the country. He regretted that Mr Holland and his supporters had seen fit to make the matter a political issue at a time when he believed the majority of the people had little patience with party differences. Similar methods to those adopted in the Waikato had had to be employed in Great Britain in respect to workers who were engaged in strikes in essential industries, yet there had never been a suggestion that British political unity had thereby been disturbed.