THE ECONOMIC WAR

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 2, Issue 189, 22 July 1940, Page 2

THE ECONOMIC WAR

PROBLEMS THAT ARISE FOR HITLER DRAIN OF CONQUEST In authoritative circles in London there is made known some interesting information in support of the view that Hitler's desperate thrust has been stimulated by the realisation that h-s people cannot face another winter, says The Times on May 23. The economic war, unlike a mechanised offensive, was not expected to bring about quick results, but evidence has been forthcoming that it has been working surely.-: though slowly.' Whereas Germany accumulated large stocks of essential commodities before the war, she lias not been able to replenish them, and meanwhile has been consuming tTiem al' high speed. She has now insufficieat supplies of petroleum proaucls, rubber, leathers, textile materials, soap, ferro-alloys, .non-ferrous metals, fats, oilseeds and fodder. While she has been to a great extent selfsufficient in breadstuffs, potatoes and some other foods, her situation has been complicated by her invasion of Denmark, Holland and Belgium. She will not obtain as much foodstuffs as formerly from the Low Countries, and will probably have to help them in some respects, for such agriculture as these highly m--dustrialised and thickly populated countries possessed has been damaged. She is unlikely to leave them to starve, for fear of producing diseases which the Army of Occupation might catch. Crop Prospects. The Danish grain crop is reported as, poor, and dairying and bacon production have received a heavy b'ow from the shortage of feeding stuffs. According to a recent estimate by the United States Department of Agriculture, before many months have passed half Denmark's 3,000,000 hogs may be exported to> Germany and 1C to 20 par cent of her cattle killed. In Germany the harvest is expected to be well below last year's— which was unusually Large. The hard winter killed much of the sum mer-grown grain., and floods after the snow caused damage in sbma areas. The acreage sewn in' Ru-sia, whence Hitler hop-s to obtain his principal additional supplies of food, was reported at the end of last April to be only one-<third of that sown twelve months earlier. Crop prospects in South-eastern Europe, notably of maize and oil-bear-ing plants, are.less favourable than a year ago. Foot and mouth disease is serious all over Germany and supplies of vaccine which had been used there to stop it of immobilising labour, only smal'l villages and individual farms are being isolated. Scarcity of agricultural labour, which was marked before the war, has since grown much more intense. Widespread mechanisation of farming which has been taking place during the last ten years has been causing difficulty through the need for petrol and Diesel oil, on which the forces have prior claim. Meanwhile few horses have been available. Lack of Skilled Workers. Labourers formerly brought in from Italy, Slovakia and Hungary, have not come, and the Poles who have been conscripted have not proved good substitutes for the voluntary workers.; Although unskilled labour seems to be ample, hundreds of advertisements in the newspapers testify to the lack of skilled operatives. By reason partly of shortage of labour and partly of liack of raw materials the textile mills have been running at only 40 per cent of capacity. There has been a heavy increase in accidents and occupational diseases, particularly in the factories making synthetic materials, such as petrol from coal, fibre, and substitutes for fats.. Not the least important of the! economic consequences of the German invasion of Holland and Belt gium is that the raw materials of the Dutch East Indies and the Beln gian Congo are now fully available for the Allies. No longer is there any possibility of supplies getting through the blockade and the Low Countries to the enemy. Thus some compensation may be forthcoming foi the seizure by the enemy o£ goods in the territory he has overrun. The Allies now control 85 per cent of the worlds supply of rubber, the Dutch East Indies having addetj 33 per cent to the existing; proportion. (Continued foot next column).

Other Materials. To the already I,arge resources of palm kernels the Belgian Congo has added 12 per cent! and the. Netherlands Indies 5 per cent, and to those of palm oil they have added respectively 14 per cent and 39 per cent. Holland's colonies; bring also a contribution of copra equivalent to nearly one-third of the world's output. of the world's production of cobalt, which is; a constituent in magnet steels and 1 , many alloys, is derived from the Belgian Congo, and this addition places virtually the whole source of supply under the control of the XTTies. From the Belgian Congo comes over half the world's output of diamonds the industrial uses of which are important on account of their extreme hardness. Diamond powder is the most effective abrasive known. Fragments of diamonds are used in rock drills for mining and for working glass, stone and metal, including the boring of cannon, and for dressing emery wheels. The contribution of tin ore made by the Dutch East Indies (17% per cent) and the Belgian Congo '(5% f per cent) brings the total proportion of the world's supply available for the Allies to 56 per cen;t. The Congo has reserves of coppetf estimated at 10,000*000 "tons.