DISTRIBUTION OF UNIFORMS

Press, Volume LXXIX, Issue 23976, 17 June 1943, Page 4

DISTRIBUTION OF UNIFORMS

EXTENT CRITICISED WASTE OF MONEY AND MANPOWER ALLEGED Criticism of the waste of manpower and money entailed in the issue of uniforms to clerical workers and other non-combatant men and women in the various armed services in New Zealand was expressed yesterday by the secretary-organiser of the Canterbury Progress League (Mr P. R. Climie). Ever since the war started, he said, the league had been urging conservation of manpower, and the fact of economies now being made in the standing army in New Zealand was an indication that the league’s views had been shared by many other sections of the community also. Admittedly the league’s recent interview with the Prime Minister (the Rt. Hon. P. Fraser) on the subject had been gratifying, but if the waste he was now criticising could be eliminated it would be a forward step. Mr Climie said that cases had been quoted to him of girls prepared to undertake clerical work in the Army without the desire to be equipped with uniform and'other gear. However, be. cause they were employed in Army offices, each had been equipped with three uniforms (including a dress uniform! and an overcoat (all tailored), two or three shirts, three pairs of stockings, two pairs of shoes, two hats, a pullover, enough wool to knit a woollen jumper, and two towels (in. spite of living at home and not in camp'. The outfit was probably of a value of about £3O at least.

Military uniforms, he suggested, should be confined to those men and women in the field services. Clerical workers and other non-combatants in the three services did not need uniforms, but, if something were thought to be necessary for office hours, smocks or overalls could be issued, while inexpensive badges could be issued for attaching to ordinary street clothes. *‘l do not want anything to reflect on the girls themselves,” he said, “because those I have spoken to have expressed astonishment at the lavishness of the equipment provided. But would it be too much to suggest that at least £1,000,000 has been spent on unessentials since the war started'’ It is not only the actual cost of equipment, for more serious still is the amount of labour involved in the manufacture of the equipment. The non-essential use of manpower helps to clog the factories and create shortages of essential goods. “Surely there should be someone in the three services capable of discriminating between the essential and nonessential use of equipment,” Mr Climie said. “Yet it appears that the authorities have been simply slaves to the book of regulations. I understand that New Zealand in this respect is patterning herself on Great Britain, but our position is not comparable with Great

Britain’s. New Zealand has never been subjected to frequent bombing raids and has not been in the same continual danger, while Britain has been virtually in the firing line. “It has been suggested that the explanation for supplying such girls as those engaged on clerical work in the services in New Zealand is that the authorities wanted to make the jobs attractive. I do not agree that this is necessary, as the jobs in themselves are attractive, especially compared with factory jobs. If anything, the latter might be made more attractive, and i suggest that in any case badges might be provided for all war-time factory workers.”