WAR EFFORT OF NEW ZEALAND

Dominion, Volume 36, Issue 34, 4 November 1942, Page 6

WAR EFFORT OF NEW ZEALAND

Inferiority Complex About It? REVIEW OF WHAT IS BEING DONE Dominion Special Service. CHRISTCHURCH, November 3.. “In New Zealand we are suffering from’ an inferiority complex about our own war effort,” said Mr. C. V. Smith, president of the New Zealand Manufacturers’ Federation, in his address at the annual conference of the federation today. Mr. Smith said he was proud of New Zealand’s effort, but satisfied that more still could be done.

Admittedly there were some tilings of which they should be ashamed, he continued. Strikes, absenteeism, short hours, go slow policies and the selfishness of. some people in all walks of life were an inexcusable blot on any war effort, but a country’s effort should be judged by • what the big majority were doing and not by the actions of small sections. In New Zealand they got things out of perspective and morale suffered. They, saw indecision on the part of the Government and they despaired. They saw strikes and wondered if the country was worth fighting for. They saw stupid mistakes made by people'in authority. What they must realize was that these very things were going on in every democratic country today, they were the results of democracy yet was there anybody who would exchange the privilege of cursing the Government for the rigid discipline of a dictatorship? The truth of the matter lay in the statement that under democracy it was what the majority of people did that counted in the long run. Percentage In Services. Over 20 per cent, of the adult male population were whole-time in service, while the percentage of the male population between the. ages of 18 and 46 who were under arms was amazing. No other Allied country could compare with’these figures. What an amazing army the United Nations would have if the same percentage held good elsewhere. They had every reason to be proud of that achievement because these figures took no account of the thousands enrolled in the E.F.S., E.P.S., coast watches and so on. Sometimes they forgot that a war effort at home was just as essential as in the field. Despite the extreme shortage of farm labour and other difficulties, farm production had reached au exceptionally high level. Moreover, farmers had produced successfully products that England required that had. never been produced commercially in New Zealand before. There was the work being done by thousands of women in New Zealand today. He felt inclined to give the women pride of place in the war effort because so much of the work was being done by women with family responsibilities aud by women who were carrying a heavy mental load. Women today were literally doing a man’s job in the services, in factories, in offices, in transport, in Red Cross and St. John work, and on farms, and other women were giving a great deal of their time helping in patriotic services. They must not forget the wives of meu in eamp left behind with a family of young children and doing their part with a smile. There were those who had lost relatives on service ami. others living in constant anxiety. As New Zealand had made the biggest percentage contribution of manpower to the services, it must also have the most homes affected. Industrial Effort. They had every reason to be proud ol the work being turned out by the’New Zealand manufacturing industries. Some factories were working 24 hours a day, many working two shifts and many more, working many hours of overtime. They had kept the civilian population from realizing fully that there was a war. How much of any consequence had the civilian missed since September, 1939? What would the position have been had New Zealand industry not been capable of supplying these civilian needs? Shortages would become more and more. evident as time went on, but the position only now developing after three years of war was one that would have developed long ago had New Zealand industry failed in its job. Every article of clothing that a man iu the forces wears was made in New Zealand, and they were making thege things for other countries, too. . Every piece of equipment that he carried except his rifle ami bayonc 1 ’' was made in New Zealand. Every’article of food that he ate or drank was prepared here, with the exception of tea. In camps, the tents, huts, and all the necessary equipment were made in New Zealand, iu hospitals, only highly specialized surgical equipment and some of the drugs were nut made in New Zealand.

Though l.hoy did not produce any heavy ordnance, factories in different parts of New Zealand were producing mortars, bombs, toniniyguns, shell fuses, grenades, and small ammunition by the hundreds of thousands. Armament IToduction.

Bren gun carriers and armoured cars were coming off the assembly lines in increasing quantities every week, and the parts for these had all been made in different parts of Jfinesweepers iuid other small craft were now being turne”«ut at greater speed and were being put into service. War scarred vessels were being made fit. for sen again. All their airmen received their first dying lessons on aeroplanes, the bodies of which were built in New Zealand. All Army motor trucks were assembled in New Zealand, and the bodies built here. All ollice furniture equipment and stationery used in the services were local products. Paper and waxpaper, cardboard and carton boa rd, required today in enormous quantities for war purposes, were being produced in New Zealand factories.

The first Sten gun took Englund six months- to produce—yet it was produced by a small group of New Zealand engineering firms tn 47} days. In another sphere not usually classed as manufacturing there was the work being done by a large group ..of science graduates and industrial technicians ut)der the practical leadership of some of the Dominion’s best scientists. It was not permitted to disclose all they are doing—that would be a fascinating post-war disclosure —but they were producing drugs and scientific apparatus and eqiii]>nient vitally essential to New Zealand and in many cases producing them at la price lower limn the overseas price. No one could deny that the classes of people he had mentioned were making a real war effort.