FATE OF DOMINION

Wairarapa Times-Age, 2 March 1942, Page 2

FATE OF DOMINION

DEFINITELY AT STAKE NEED OF GREATER EFFORT & SACRIFICE. DECLARED BY OPPOSITION LEADER. (By Telegraph—Press Association.) WELLINGTON, This Day. “New Zealand’s security and the safety of our people are in jeopardy, and it is no use blinking our eyes to that fact,” said Hie Leader of the Opposition, Air Holland, in an address last night. lie said he was confident that whatever demands were made would be cheerfully met by the people, provided the burden was fairly and justly spread in accordance with flic ability of the people to help.

They should be ruthless in destroying inefficiency. In the ultimate outcome of the struggle he had not the slightest doubt, not because of past successes but because he was convinced no combination of Powers could defeat Britain, Russia, America and China combined. “Either we win this war or we lose it, and losing it means the loss of everything that is dear to us,” said Mr Holland. “This is no time for fine words. The people of New Zealand have now got to realise the true position, and, in my opinion, they have a right to demand, as they are demanding, to be told the simple truth. Our enemies will undoubtedly make an effort to capture New Zealand unless they can be prevented from doing so. If an enemy were to come here, it would mean that he would occupy our homes, confiscate our foodstuffs, dictate our form of government, cancel cur social services, flood our country with foreigners, control our markets, and destroy our freedom.” MAKING UP LEEWAY. Mr Holland said it was obvious that if thousands of the country's best men were to be taken out of production for service in the armed forces, then it vzas the plain duty of the rest of them to take their places and make up the leeway. If they were to avoid a terrific fall in their customary standard of living, plus increasing their war effort, those who had not been called up for the armed forces would have to work as they had never worked before. “Unquestionably, it will mean people having to do work they have never dreamed of doing before. It means that people will be required to work in cur factories and on our farms to ensure that goods and services essential to both the civilian population and the defence forces are fully maintained. It means that those who have gone into retirement, or semi-retirement, : will have to take up work again, if they are physically able to do so. Townspeople will have to give our farmers a hand to get their crops harvested and their fields cultivated. Because of the sinking of our ships, we cannot import the things we have been accustomed to import, so sacrifice is essential in this, as in every other field. Soldiers wear out clothing and boots at a phenomenal rate, so we civilians will have to make our clothes and footwear last longer so that the soldiers can have more.” SCOPE FOR GREATER EFFORT. Mr Holland said he was not unmindful of the immense amount of work that had already been done, but he had no hesitation in saying that there were thousands of people who could, and should, and would, like to do more than they were doing at present. There were enormous reserves of man and woman-power in New Zealand, as yet untouched, but the Government would have to give the people a lead by telling them where their services can best be utilised. SPREADING THE BURDEDN. It was a great essential to spread the burden as fairly and equitably as possible. He was alive, however, to the fact that absolute equality of sacrifice was impossible. It was difficult for the owner of a non-essential industry or business to feel that it was equality of sacrifice for his business to be closed down while some doubled or trebled their turnover. “The word ‘sacrifice’ has been very much used in war propaganda but I sometimes wonder if its proper meaning is fully understood,” said Mr Holland. “Sacrifice does not mean working harder and Jonger, and being fully paid for it. Sacrifice does not mean living a normal everyday life. It means going without things we have been .accustomed to regard as absolute necessities. It means work regardless of , pay. It means long hours regardless of overtime. It means giving more of t our incomes for war purposes. It means lending more and still more j money; regardless of interest. It . means less leisure and more work.

ECONOMY & EFFICIENCY. “One way we civilians can help materially in the war effort is by increasing our own efficiency, by avoiding extravagance and the unnecessary use of commodities,” said Mr Holland. “War is a wasteful business. It demands production for the purposes of destruction. This fact in itself requires that increased efficiency should be practised wherever possible. Waste should be avoided in every field. Waste is always a crime—it is doubly so in war time. “Wherever inefficiency is found, it should be stamped out —whether it is in private industry, the public service, the armed forces, politics, or in the direction of the war,” continued Mr Holland. “Nothing could be a greater danger to a maximum war effort than the present widely held view that criticism of any phase of our war effort is tantamount to subversion. The greatest deterrents to inefficiency, waste and extravagance, are criticism and exposure. In New Zealand we have tended to stifle and suppress criticism, and to apply far too much secrecy to discussion of our war effort. None of us are without some measure of responsibility for this. If in this respect we have made mistakes, let us profit from them and not repeat the error.”