WAR EFFORT

Wairarapa Times-Age, 7 December 1940, Page 11

WAR EFFORT

DISCUSSION IN HOUSE MEMBER FOR TAURANGA AND PRIME MINISTER. PERSONAL AND INDIVIDUAL REPONSIBILITY. (By Telegraph—Press Association.) WELLNGTON, This Day. More was heard in the House of Representatives yesterday of the question on Thursday, in which Mr. Meachen (Government, Marlborough) drew attention to remarks on the war effort reported to have been made by Mr. Doidge (Opposition, Tauranga) in an address in the country. Mr. Meachen asked whether the Prime Minister, Mr. Fraser, in conjunction with the Leader of the Opposition. Mr. Holland, would take suitable steps to curb “the misleading, extravagant, incorrect and often irresponsible statements” which had been appearipg. Mr. Meachen and Mr. Doidge were granted permission by the House to make statements on the issue. Mr. Meachen said Mr. Holland had inferred that he was not playing cricket in asking the question, because it was too near the end of the session for such a question to be asked. Mr. Meachen said he considered there was in the statements a grave danger to New Zealand s war effort, and he considered it his plain duty to bring the matter before the House. “I do not consider that such statements by any member of this House or of the public are in the public interest or will play any part toward our desire to win this war,” Mr. Meachen added. “What did the honourable member for Tauranga say that has caused this storm?” Mr. Doidge asked. “That has not been disclosed even now.” Mr. Doidge said he thought Mr. Meachen might at least have shown him a copy of the question he proposed to ask in the House. He added that he had been correctly reported as saying: “More than a year has passed since the war began. A handful of valiant men has gone overseas. But the sum total of our war effort to date has been negligible.” The member for ' Marlborough had detached a sentence or two from his speech. The only statement he made in criticism of the Government was the statement that we lacked inspirational leadership, Mr. Doidge said. He would remind the House that the Prime Minister himself had said that only a bomb on the breakfast table would awaken some people to war consciousness.

Mr. Fraser, rising to a point of order. asked: “When was that remark made?” Mr. Doidge: “I have heard the Prime Minister saying that.” Mr. Fraser: “When was it made?” Mr. Doidge: “The Prime Minister said it and elaborated it in the House last night. Mr. Fraser: “Mentioning remarks made in the House last night in secret session is infringing a sacred trust.” The Speaker Mr. Barnard: “The honourable member had no right to refer to anything said at the secret session, and should realise that that is a very serious breach indeed.” Continuing, Mr. Doidge said he would claim that no member pf the House had done more to urge that New Zealand should contribute its maximum war effort.

Mr. Fraser was then granted leave, to make a statement in connection with the war effort, and “particularly in regard to whether it is negligible or not.” The duty of members of the House to make any suggestions which they considered would help the nation’s war effort was emphasised by the Prime Minister. It was essential, he added, that statements should not be made recklessly by members. “Members have the opportunity of the secret sessions of the House to bring up any points which they think should be considered,” Mr. Fraser said. “If the war effort fails in any respect, they have that opportunity to draw attention to it, and it is the duty of members to bring forward any weakness and make suggestions for improvement. There is no limit in the secret sessions.”

The Prime Minister said that many members of the House had come to him personally and probably to other Ministers making suggestions when they considered that there was any uneasiness in the country, and on every occasion those suggestions had been welcomed and an attempt had been made to act on them, immediately. It was not helpful—indeed, it was detrimental to the country—for members who had such opportunities not to take advantage of them but to publish statements which reflected on the war effort for which they were partly responsible. “There must be a sense of individual personal responsibility on the part of

every member of the House, because the minds of the Government and the War Cabinet are open to any suggestion,” Mr. Fraser said. “That is so that statements will not be made recklessly. The facts are available at any time on such questions as whether men can be spared from any particular industry or what is the maximum effort we can make overseas without crippling our own defence in this country. These are the questions that are discussed every day by those in responsible positions. We ask for co-opera-tion and friendship, not for the killing of criticism, but for the offer of criticism in a friendly and helpful way, so that we may do our best.”