Labor Trends in New Zealand
Shafer, F.
Labor Trends in New Zealand By F. Shafer NEW ZEALAND consists of two little ialsaaa in th« southwest Pacific. Theegh this comparatively small community af \jmjm mhabitaeta amy seem remote fnam...
...The emphasis was laid on the fine record of the past and the energetic way in which the war had been prosecuted...
...We never slept and just kept going...
...New little New Zealand ia one of the bastions hi the struggle against Japan, and American intereat haa been sharply increased...
...We hav* been receiving marvelous support from the Italian civilians...
...There has inevitably been a slowing up of its program...
...Our regiment, which had just com* through the Gustav line, also smashed through the Hitler line...
...The war effort has, of coure, demanded great sacrifices...
...The Gustav line was smashed by an Indian division assisted by Canadian artillery...
...But the Yanks didn't know the Eighth Army, the Indians, Canadians,and Poles...
...At a remit of thie policy and th* firm manner in which it hat teen ad minute red, in New Zealand the index of the cost of living hat shown the emallett increat* in any country in the world tinct the outbreak u) the war...
...The day after the smash through the Hitler line the gang waa lying round playing gin rummy and you'd never think that some of our best friends were lying oat there . . . having given their all...
...Any Administration in power at such a time would have felt the unfavorable reaction...
...driver got oat , first, but when I crawled out and saw the smoke, those of my troop who saw me say that I set s world's record for a hundred-yard dash...
...Againat the** opponents with their deceptive arguments the labor Party, though under the necessity of explaining and defending its wartime measures, was able to carry on e successful campaign...
...Because of the situation in the Pacific they had been postponed...
...It was mainly on the basis of this situation that the opposition to the Labor Party baaed its hopes for success during the recent election campaign...
...On the first day 1 was on the bank of the Rapido River waiting for it to be bridged...
...During battle, ai long as body and soul are together, you get no time to worry about how < Inst you are to getting it...
...It's like-getting shot out of a plane...
...After the b r i d g • was finished my troops made a rush across...
...The Yanks round here, mostly handling long range artillery, laid 10 to 1 we'd never get across the Rapirio or take Cassino...
...When 1 said, Gandhi iml...
...It tore the rear end right off...
...There were two significant facto shown by the election...
...My tank got stuck in a barbed wire mesh...
...SoON we were through the Hitler line and 1 got into Ponto Corvo with the first patrols in the middle of th* night...
...The ¦ standard of living has inevitably been lowered...
...Thus there is every reason for thinking thst New Zealand, after eight years of Labor government, will continue for years upon her accustomed road of progress...
...That same day 1 had another tank and was up the line doing recce...
...Thia fact indicates the desire of the soldiers not to fight in vain for the promise of a better postwar world...
...Italian is our common tongue) their bearded faces opened up showing fine sets of white teeth and the answer came in chorus, Si, GandkiGrande noma...
...In spits of high rewards offered by the Germans as well as threats of punitive action, these peasants refused to betray the British prisoners It is these poor Italian peasants, characters out of lgnazio Silone's novels, who give dignity to Italy...
...The length of the workday has been increased...
...Prophesies of the flight of capital and other forms of disaster fsiled to come true...
...But after three days out of the line mostly spent doing maintenance —what a word, maintenance!—if you ever gave your old jalopy the once-over you will understand that a tank means a lot of work—we, got word that a big show was coming up...
...Public works were started, railways and highways were built, large estates were broken up and a program of labor and social legislation was inaugurated...
...Of coarse news from thia part of the world is second fiddle compared with France...
...Sergeant Gladnick is a boy from the Bronx who feeght the Fascist* and Nazis ia Spain aad then catered the Caaadian Army te continue the battle...
...That's why they call us "butchers...
...It is to b* expected that the returning veterans will wield s potent influence upon the political opinions of the people who have remained et home during the war...
...Otherwise the ruling class and th* politicians will ruin everything, end in the cities every barber as well as every storekeeper is a rotten politician...
...In thia struggle for the survival of basic rights, the war effort necessarily became the -main concern of the administration...
...Ia ItM it was returned to power with aa Increased majority...
...You just keep pushing...
...That waa before the United State* entered the war...
...This is proved by the growing literature dealing with this small and far-away land...
...Today tke peep's »/ New Zealand enjoy tkt kigkttt level of avrrag* m-tume m tk* world...
...and by the way, the Canadian soldiers cast the highest percentage of votes for the Canadian Commonwealth Federation...
...The National Party euddenly adopted elegant which it bad bitterly •passed in former times end /or which Laser bad ccneveryeae tea Jab sad vast asnmmaaam% projects formerly rejected by them as radical pad Utopian These aonesTiativoo argued, Of coarse, that all of these good things shawls' ha earns kg the government concurrently with fall amfartajaaeo af fibs principles of private satmpiiae...
...Under the pressure of this situation a broad policy of government supervision and encouragement of the national economy waa introduced 70 years ago...
...Voters did not went a non-party system...
...Mortar and machine-gun Are was terrific, but those brave sons of India continued to put up girder after girder as though working on a bridge crossing a peaceful stream...
...A century age, at the time of her founding...
...The campaign waa a tremendous propaganda effort againat Labor...
...Anyone who saw the stuff coming up knew it was going to be plenty BIG...
...Thia electoral secceaa wee deabtleea da* to the fact that the Laker government not ealy oaccoodod ia restoring general prosperity after the great depression which started ia 1920...
...Men were falling like leaves in an autumn wind...
...There is no use in trying to enumerate the pillboxes, bunkers, wire entanglements, the mines, mines, mines and more mines The Hitler line was the Maginot line—plus German military experience...
...Now the assault on the Hitler line was going to be an all-Canadian show, and the Hitler line made the Gustav line look like tiddle-dewinks...
...The war at the moment is a pursuit mostly a struggle against demolitions, and in mountain country when you blow a hole in the road nothing can pass...
...The eaeabhs seeag^dhn^bmijammgnj |a^,ejar»mg4ajajgy bad fafth an La*to**a .aeadaass -sat aaaaa raairt snrssl aad man in ml ' which the Labor Party entered the contest bar ballots, it came eat with fit per cent of the rote hs comparison with 64 per cent in 1038 Whereas in the old parliament the party held 60 of the 80 seats, ft now finds itself fat posaeasloa of 44...
...A bunch of Nazi paratroopers were dropped to raise hell with us, but the Nazis forgot to take into consideration that they were dealing with the First Canadian Division or, as the Nazis call us, "Montgomery's butchers...
...or bringing up ammunition to the big tanks...
...They form volunteer parties to fill in holes in the roads and to guide our men through the hills...
...The quantity of imports has been cut down...
...There is a shortage of certain essential goods...
...Any Yank who's been up against it for the last number of months will tell you that, all the military and engineering skill of the Nasi High Command went into its construction...
...There has been introduced a rigid sytem of rationing...
...Hew free eaispiiae aad state activity were to be coordinated waa a matter left la obscurity...
...However, despite this handicap, the Labor government wss sbl* to make some headway on the road of social progress...
...The importance of New Zealand ia partly due to the role which she plays within the British Commonwealth of Nations...
...You se* the Cannucks play tough, and the Herrenvolk don't like it The esprit de corns of the Canadian Army is seme-thing marvelous...
...New Zealand served^a a thinly populated outpost of the British Empire...
...Theegh this comparatively small community af \jmjm mhabitaeta amy seem remote fnam th* United tetw, mature connected with Ha political and ecoaomk development have always aroused spscial intereat among Americans...
...I crawled out and started hacking the wire out of the aprocket and wheels, while all around there was a hurricane of metal flying in all directions...
...We have been running into loads of British prisoners of war who have been hiding in the hills and fed by the local peasants...
...Yea, a price must be paid, and the Canadians never ask the coat But we make the Nazis pay too...
...The problem of the protection of the new colony againat ether European powers and, later, against the pressure from over-populated Far Eastern lands, waa an argent one...
...Thia ia is dear stand against fascist ideology...
...I' talked with some of them...
...Varieties of goods to the number of 110 were declared essential and their prices were fixed...
...This still constitutes a good working majority...
...War conditions inevitably caused a serious check in the extension of humanitarian and progressive activities...
...Th* Indian sappers, mostly bearded Sikhs, worked under murderous fire putting up that structure—built to carry 40 tons— with only a smoke-screen between them and Jerry, who was on the opposite height and only a few hundred yards away...
...In certain respects social gains were registered in the midst of the strains of war...
...Moreover, the largest anti-labor group endeavored to confuse the electorate by the adoption of aa extremely dishonest campaign method...
...In short, governmental agencies participated in the development of economic and social life to an extent that waa considered fantastic by many economists and other scientists...
...A BOLD program of price stabilization was introduced...
...Despite the demands of the war, however, it was decided to hold them in September, 1043...
...While hiking bark to the rear I ran into a group of U. S. war correspondents...
...First, the "independents" were rejected...
...General elections had been due in 1941...
...Secondly, the soldier votes showed substantial majorities for Labor...
...Bat there was always the possibility that this sort of s campaign would sonfnoa many of the voters...
...If you go bttrV right away, your nerves have no chance to go bad on you...
...You see I had a load of H. K inside, and I wasn't going to wait for it to blow, besides, we were in full view and the Nazis were churning up the field with shell fire...
...f only the future of this country could be entrusted to these hard-working and honest sons of the soil, w« could expect another resorigmento...
...It was somewhere in this line that my reconnaissance tank got a direct hit by a huge shell...
...In addition to the National Party, there wes e small radical socialist group fighting against the Labor Party —though the Communista gas* Labor their support There were, too, sees* "independents" fighting the party system end, therefore, coming dangerously cloae to fascist ideology...
...Though the majority of citizens understand the need for these shortages and restrictions, the necessity for such sacrifices has placed the Labor Administration in an awkward position...
...bat wss alee aaceemfai ia extending the labor aad social legislation af the ceaatry at the eases time, lt waa precisely daring these years of dsprssalsa thst New Zealaad took her place of world leadership ia the field of social legislation Tk* citizens of the nation had every reasea for satisfaction aad coaldeace...
...It seems pioi>-able that owing to thia influence we shall have a definitely left-wing trend after th* war...
...His report ia of special iotereat to readers of The New Leader beeaase of the political sidelights oa the siteatiea ia the cosmopolitan British Army and aaseng the Italiaa people...
...My driver told me we were hit The near-hits would make the tank shake like a leaf, bat the direct hit was just a dull thud...
...After that time meant nothing...
...The Gustav line was tough...
...Bat I can speak without any shame or boast We here, by smashing the Gustos line, and Hitler line, opened up the second front...
...Report From Italy We Smash the Hitler Line By Sergeant Robert Gladnick WELL, I've just heard that the second front has been started, but for us here in Italy D Day was way back on May 11, and I'll never forget it...
...Days came and went...
...Since IMS a Labor government haa held ofsr* ia thia country...
...Our regiment had just ended a four-week hide-and-seek game in the ruins of Cassino...
...But all of my efforts were concentrated on freeing my vehicle...
...Labor Trends in New Zealand By F. Shafer NEW ZEALAND consists of two little ialsaaa in th« southwest Pacific...
Vol. 27 • July 1944 • No. 30
