THE CAMELS BACK

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 05, Issue 68, 22 June 1942, Page 4

THE CAMELS BACK

WHILE it may not be considered in the best interests of the country to voice the steady state of suffocation to which the country seems to be drifting on account of more and still more being- drawn from civilian life to build up the fight" ing forces, and the undertakings classed as vital under the 'immediate war effort' heading, we feel that unless something is done to relieve the growing strain imposed upon the industry of the country, complete rupture will ensue. Quite apart from the men taken for military service, we are now expected to carry on while the pick of our young girl and womanhood are selected for permanent segregation in air force, army auxiliaries and such like. Men with specialised training are also being drawn from civilian life more or less irrespective of age or responsibilities. And all the time the ballots eat their way through age-group after age-group sapping still more of the manpower and imposing still more upon the over-loaded and groaning structure of industry and commerce. are informed it is necessary and vital that it should be so, but at the same time we wonder if our legislators have become so concerned by the immediate threat to the country that they have neglected to take stock of its foundations upon which the whole of the crushing burden is now piled. Even in Whakatane what do we find? Not one firm or commercial concern but that is forced to strain to the utmost to carry on. Young girls are being taken away from school to fill responsible posts, which the. prewar period would have been carried by two or even more Farm labour is simply unprocurable and farmers wives and children are struggling through in order to meet the demand to produce,, produce, produce. Everywhere the strain upon the individual's power to work or produce is becoming' more and more intolerable. 'A very natural and creditable war effort;' we hear some smug retort from official quarters. Quite so, but what we have to say in reply is 'taihoa' the breaking point is approaching and if we have still to look forward to new drains upon our man and woman-power, it will be reached with dramatic suddenness, and with the crash the population in uniform will probably fall the hardest . Reflect now, draw say 200,000 men (the pick) from a population of one and a half million; draw again from the: remainder a cross section of the healthiest and most capable young women and then superimpose on that again a further demand upon skilled tradesmen who are open for immediate impressment. The remaining population must be necessarily composed chiefly of elderly people and children, but the hardworked middle section, though still open, to further ballots, must carry on the commerce of the country must pay the increasing- war taxes, must meet the annual Patriotic allocation, must maintain Red Cross and other appeals and, also must train its members in the Home Guard or the E.P.S. On the other hand the growing section under direct military control ceases at once to take a ha,nd in production and becomes a disciplined organisation where it is recognised that manpower is overwhelmingly superfluous until actively engaged in field service. The camels back can stand but a certain weight and signs are ominous already!