NATIONAL SERVICE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 5 August 1940, Page 5

NATIONAL SERVICE

OPPOSED BY THE MAYOR OF MONTREAL DOMINION GOVERNMENT CHALLENGED. ALLEGED VIOLATION OF PLEDGE. (Bv Telegraph—Press Association —Copyright) OTTAWA. August 3. The Prime Minister. Mr Mackenzie King, announced in the House of Commons that the Government would make a statement of policy later arising from the refusal of the Mayor of Montreal. Mr Houde, to comply with the forthcoming national registration. Mr Houde had urged the population to follow his example. Mr King’s statement was made after the Opposition Leader. Mr Hanson, had drawn his attention to Mr Houde's speech in which he declared himself against national registration, which he described as a form of conscription which the Government had pledged it would not introduce. Mr Moude’s speech was printed in an early edition of a Montreal newspaper and later was withdrawn at the request of the censor. The Conservative leader in the Senate. Mr Arthur Meighan. alleged that control and propaganda had resulted in Canada being "blacked out and not knowing conditions." He said the failure to table the regulations under the National Mobilisation Act before the prorogation of Parliament was ‘'autocracy unparalleled in the history of any democratic country.”