GOOD N.Z. PROGRESS

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIII, Issue 122, 26 May 1942, Page 6

GOOD N.Z. PROGRESS

MAKING OF MUNITIONS "AS FAST AS IN AUSTRALIA" (0.C.) WELLINGTON, this day. "In proportion to the size of the country. New Zealand is producing munitions every bit as fast, as Australia." stated a technical adviser on munitions to the New Zealand Government who has returned to Wellington after a short visit to Australia. From what he had seen in Rritain and America during the past year, he considered that industry for war needs had made greater progress in New Zealand than in any other country. "The danger from enemy action in which Australia now generally realises it is placed has not put an end to industrial troubles," he commented. At one Sydney factory he found a sit-down strike because the workers demanded steel lockers for their clothes. Civilian precautions against raids had reached an advanced stage in Sydney, where the display windows of most of the large city shops had been boarded up. The clock had been taken out of the post office tower and there was even talk of demolishing the tower. In Sydney the blackout was strict, while in Melbourne the engineer said that it was the nearest approach he had seen to conditions in London. Motor headlights were screened in the same manner as in Britain. Referring to the panic buying of clothing, he stated that many of the Sydney stores were open for only a quarter of an hour in the morning during which time there was an orgy of irresponsible buying till the shelves were cleared.