PRAISE FOR WORKERS

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 6, Issue 49, 19 February 1943, Page 3

PRAISE FOR WORKERS

PAPER MILLS EMPLOYEES

HON. D. G. SULLIVAN'S MESSAGE Although he was unable, to ad 1 - dress the employees of the Whakatane Paper Mills, on the occasion of his visiit last Monday, the Hon. D. G. Sullivan, Minister of Industries and Commerce and Director of Production, left a special message for the men which we have great pleasure in - publishing. The message reads: "The Avar has created an aggravated: demand for strategic materials such as tinplate. used for canister making. However, canisters have llad to give way to the manufacture of munitions: and other essentials for war. It is here that your contribution, to New Zealand'swar effort plays such an important role. For example, timber is in heavy demand for building and, for the manufacture of cases for the shipment of essential supplies to the lighting fronts. This has necessitated (the substitution of fibre board for the manufacture of container.? for foodstuffs and other essential supplies in New Zealand. By your efforts here you have materially helped New Zealand and the United Nations in the great battle of supplies. The. S.O.S. of Avar is found in the Service of Supplies that are essential to 'the efficiency of the fighting services and the maintenance of necessary civilian requirements. Loyal Work Appreciated! Your mill is working 168 hours: a week to meet those, requirements and. I most sincerely congratulate you on the fact that! you have loyally worked very long hours, that you have worked hard; that you have 1 buiX up production to meet our needs. It. has been more than pleasing to me to learn that 3*oll have cheerfully carried on the Avork without Jet or hinderanee, I congratulate you on having doubled production because that was no mean feat. Production Built Up In past years, our average imports of fibre board and printers board approximated 10,000 tons. You have built up production here; to 50 per cent., above that. As? a Avar effort it i* highly commendable. As a pointer to the value of New Zealand, building up its own industry it is, a first class indicator. By your Avork here you have helped other manufacturers. You have done more than ifcliat. As I said at the outset certain strategic materials are hard to obtain. Even Avhen Uiey are procurable shipping is reciuircd to bring them here. Domestic Raw Materials Due" to the fact that you are using: raw materials of domestic origin in the first place, and eliminating the demand, for those strategic materials for some purposes in the second 1 place, you are not only meeting an essential requirements—you are conserving shipping space— andl I need! hiardly emphasise the vital importance of that phase: By offsetting the shortage of timber. by saving shipping space, by mainKxiining prcductiQn, you are doing very essential-. Avork. There is another very important task in your operations here that has a national significance. Paper is in short supply throughout the Avorld and it lias been found necessary to repulp Avaste paper. In these mills you are. refabricating 5500 tons of waste paper per year and producing from i)t! materials that arc strategically and Nationally important.. Utilisation of Waste Further than that, you are utilising Avasite and again you are contributing to our war effort because the 10,000 tons of fibre board we previously imported is now manufactured here. Your production has saved the shipping space necessary to bring it here. The work you are doing has shown our people the value of salvaging many things that previously found their Avay to rubbish dumps. , You are. an important cog in the Service of Supply. You have anSAvered the S.O.S. to the industrial front by your service of supply that isi vitally needed. Especial Thanks I thank you for all you have done and I know 'that you will continue to give the same, loyal service because I knoAv that you are all anxious to rid the world of the ghastly ogre of totalitarianism—-that you are anxious to reorient 3*olll- pro-

duction to the building of a world where freedom, peace, plenty and contentment will replace the fear, brutality, famine and destruction created by the lusts of the Axis powers. You haye helped New Zealand in its hour of trial and in the task of re-construction and rehabilitation I am confident you will play your part and itdiat the part you play will be important and telling in its significance.''