UNGRUDGING EFFORT

Wairarapa Times-Age, 29 October 1943, Page 3

UNGRUDGING EFFORT

DEMANDED BY FEDERAL PRIME MINISTER LIMIT OF WAR SACRIFICES NOT REACHED. SEEKING GREEDY ADVANTAGES MUST' STOP. (Special Australian Correspondent.) SYDNEY, October 28. With the announcement that the weekly meat ration for Australians is to be 2,}lb„ the Commonwealth has further tightened its belt.' Australia today is organised on a war footing which, among the democracies, ranks second only to Britain. War restrictions and commodity shortages are already much more severe than in New Zealand, nor has the limit of these impositions been reached. The Prime Minister, Mr Curtin, ?s demanding support for the fourth Liberty Loan of £125,000,000. He told Australia that if the targets of 750,000 subscribers and of over-subscription of the loan were not achieved by 9 the Government “could not continue to countenance anything that retarded the war effort.” He added that the alternatives were far more drastic than anything involved by voluntary contribution to the loan. To achieve its targets the loan requires another £50,000,000 and 500,000 more subscribers. During the next six months, Mr Curtin said, Australia will spend as much on the war as during the entire years 1914-18. He gave an additional warning that maintenance of Australia’s war effort will certainly involve further shortages in the next 18 months, j “I do not foresee any actual deprivation,” he said, “but I definitely see limitation to what may be regarded as our fair share of the production of this country. If I did not believe this is a war for a philosophy of life I should sometimes be inclined to believe that the price we are called on to pay, and that other countries have had to pay in a much greater measure, is hardly worth while.” Attacking the dangerous spirit of complacency, Mr Curtin declared that any slackening of Australia’s war effort in the next six months would have' serious effects on the war in the Pacific. The seeking of greedy advantages by both trades unions and employers’ organisations must stop. There was no possibility of any increased meat, butter, or tea ration.

Other United Nations’ workmen received less of these foods than did Australians. Common justice demanded that Australia should share her food resources with Britain.