COMMONS DEBATE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 25 February 1942, Page 4

COMMONS DEBATE

REPORTED OUTRAGES IN HONG KONG AGAINST BRITISH PEOPLE. CRITICISM OF BUREAUCRACY. (By Telegraph—Press Association —Copyright) (Received This Day 1.15 p.m.) LONDON, February 24. In the House of Commons. Sir P. A. Harris, referring to the reported illtreatment of British people in Hong Kong, said that if the debate had been secret, he would have mentioned sinister. appalling and horrible incidents which it was reported were occurring. He was informed that the Government was preventing the circulation of these stories because of the bad effect they might have on morale. If these stories were founded on fact, as he believed they were, they would sooner or later leak out. Nothing destroyed confidence and faith so much as the suppression of news and an attempt to prevent unpleasant things reaching the people. Major Sir C. F. Entwistle said much of the country’s disquiet was due to the extraordinary inefficiency within the bureaucratic machine as a whole. The machine was still entangled in red tape. Many men were not worthy of the jobs they held, but apparently it was hard to get rid of them. Mr J. Maxton said Sir J. Grigg's appointment as War Secretary introduced a Civil Service element which hitherto we had prided ourselves on keeping .out. Welcoming the new Government, Mr James Griffiths said recent events had caused grave disquiet, accentuated by a widespread feeling that we had not been all out in recent months. “’We see slackness, complacency and a return to normality in our life.'’ he said, “which is repulsive to the country’s best spirit. If the war is to be waged successfully the three Services must be regarded as a whole, not as separate compartments of the war effort. It is questionable whether the central control of the Air Ministry is adequate. The Army is still too much based on 1914 methods —drilling, marching, saluting and obeying. If we are to win the kind of battles fought in Malaya and Libya men must be trained for that kind of fighting, depending on initiative for success and not a blind obedience."