PART OF LABOUR

Waikato Times, Volume 125, Issue 20911, 16 September 1939, Page 9

PART OF LABOUR

WARTIME ORGANISATION MEN FOR ESSENTIAL INDUSTRIES OFFICIAL ADVICE TO BE GIVEN (By Telegraph.—Special to Times) WELLINGTON, Friday The question of organising labour to enable the Dominion to play its part as a wartime source of foodstuffs was referred to by the acting-Prime Minister, the Hon. P. Fraser, in the course of his statement in the House of Representatives this afternoon. ‘‘Many serious problems are involved,” the Minister said, “and, although a considerable amount of attention has already been directed to the question, it is clear that a great deal of further investigation may be called for. Tho preliminary steps in this direction arc now in hand. Essential Industries “There can be no doubt that in many cases men who are engaged in essential industries will be rendering greater service to their country and to the British Commonwealth and to the Allied cause by remaining at their work rather than by undertaking mili-

tary service. At the moment, and while the Government is anxious to obtain the greatest possible number of recruits for the armed forces, they must at all times exercise due care to ensure that this does not cripple the production of the Dominion, which may he so essential to victory.

“I am sure that those volunteers who are told that their services are more valuable in their ordinary work will realise the position, and as soon as practicable the Government will take steps to see that In such cases the man concerned Is given an authoritative decision to that effect, which will be adequate evidence to the whole country that his duty lies In his ordinary Job. Service In the farming Industries can offer opportunities to those not eligible for enlistment. i “The question of supplying the United Kingdom with an even wider range of commodities than is sent there from the Dominion at present is under consideration. It is the intention of the Government, as it is of Parliament, and the people of New Zealand, that the whole resources of the country should be thoroughly mobilised, efficiently organised, and effectively directed to assist, to the utmost the British Commonwealth of Nations in the struggle for democracy and freedom against dictatorship and tyranny. “At this time of national and international danger, New Zealand as a nation is indissolubly bound up with the United Kingdom and the other units of the Commonwealth. We stand or fall together, dwarfed or upright, bond or free, in war or peace, in defeat or victory. Defeat might mean the collapse of the British Commonwealth and the domination of our land and our people by a foreign Power or Powers. False Sense of Security “The ruthless treatment of the Czecho-Slovakian, of the Austrian and of other unfortunate minority peoples convey a startling warning to us all. The fact that we are so far from the actual existing fields of war operations should not engender a sense of false security and immunity. Let there be no mistake. The future of New Zealand is at stake equally with that of Great Britain and the other democracies.”