Wairarapa Times-Age FRIDAY, JUNE 7, 1940. THE NEED OF DOING MORE.

Wairarapa Times-Age, 7 June 1940, Page 4

Wairarapa Times-Age FRIDAY, JUNE 7, 1940. THE NEED OF DOING MORE.

PROBABLY no intelligent New Zealander, man or woman, believes that we are yet doing, as a community, as much as we ought to be doing to help to win the war. there is a very general desire to have a hand in doing more than New Zealand has yet done to that end, but there is also a considerable haziness as to what ought to be and can be done. We are all proud of the members of our fighting forces —airmen, seamen and soldiers —and confident of their ability and readiness to meet every demand that may be made upon them. There is a good deal of uncertainty, however, as to whether we are yet organising fighting forces on a sufficient scale and also as to the relative importance, amongst other things, of organisation for overseas service and for home defence, and as to the extent to which national energies and resources should be concentrated on production, particularly in those branches of industry which have a vital bearing on the prosecution of the war.

The primary demand made upon leadership in these critical days is that all uncertainties regarding the shaping and extension of the national war effort should be cleared up as decisively and as speedily as possible. A good deal has been heard of late in general terms about an all-in war effort and in more particular”terms about specific activities and developments, all or most of them excellent in themselves. It remains, however, to draw up a comprehensive programme under which an unsparing call will be made upon the total resources of the Dominion, human and material. ,

No more open opportunity than is at present afforded for action on these lines in New Zealand could well be desired. The broad position is that the people in great part are waiting to be called upon. Political controversies that formerly were acute have in great part died away. Even the dislike of heavy taxation, which normally is general and gives rise to bitter protests has largely been superseded by a conviction that the highest scale of taxation the country can bear has not only become inevitable, but is in the circumstances desirable/’

The Government, 'whether or not it transforms itself into a National Government, thus has a fair and open field in which to work. One great task to be undertaken plainly is the most effective concentration of productive effort of which as a people we are capable. Looking at only one great branch of economic organisation, the Last word evidently is far from having been said regarding a well-considered use of the machinery of transport in export and other trade. It has been suggested, for example, that much might be done to expedite the movements of oversea ships, and in effect to increase their carrying capacity in a given period, by loading them quickly with full cargoes at main ports.

In this and many other matters there is room and need for a strong lead by the Government. In. the extent to which the position and its demands are not already sufficiently defined, our Government should get into touch with the Government of the United Kingdom and find out what, taking account of our total resources, it is possible for us to do, not merely to help the Mother Country, but rather to co-operate with her in helping to win the ’war for our own sakes.

That is the right thing to do, irrespective of what may happen meantime in Europe or elsewhere —whether it is going to be practicable to stop the German onslaught on the present defensive line of the Somme and the Aisne, or only after further reaches of France have been invaded. It would still be the right thing to do even if we came to the grim pass envisaged the other day by Mr Winston Churchill when he said that the British Empire would go on fighting, if necessary alone. If the face of the war changes, the nature of the call made upon this country and other Dominions may alter correspondingly in detail, but while the war continues there will be no change from the necessity of doing everything that is possible to win it and win it decisively. We are doing something less than that now, and as a people are dissatisfied with our total performance. The essential point to be grasped is that the people of this country genuinely are intent upon an all-in war effort and with rising, if as yet incompletely vocal force are demanding the leadership that will enable us to put the whole of our weight into the task of winning the war.

Whatever political adjustments are or are not made, it is the essential business of our leaders to find out, if necessary by further practical consultation with the Government of the United Kingdom, how best this country may use its total resources in helping to win decisive victory, and then to make the call 'which will bring these resources completely and unreservedly into play. The call, if it is made, will not be made in vain, and neither this Government nor any alternative Government will be forgiven for failing to make it.