Nelson Evening Mail. MONDAY. AUGUST 31, 1942 MOBILISING MANPOWER

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 77, 31 August 1942, Page 4

Nelson Evening Mail. MONDAY. AUGUST 31, 1942 MOBILISING MANPOWER

MR COATES’ carefully-worded statement on manpower disposes of ! some of the queries about future policy which have been „uppermost in _ the public mind. It is evident that H this question took a prominent place = in the recent session of the House. H for the broad measures Mr Coates §§ announced have received Parliamenp tary sanction. The principle on 1 which they rest is that New Zealand I is committed to a big dual responsii bility in this war: provision of man* | power (and womanpower) for the i armed forces and its use to maintain | supply. Those are complementary | duties in total war yet they could | easily become antagonistic unless a | balance were preserved between | their relative claims on the avail- ! able pool oh manpower. In addition 1 there is a minimum which must be | devoted to the maintenance of our 1 civil economy. As Minister of Armed j Forces and War Co-ordination it is | Mr Coates’ task to harmonise con- | Hiding claims on the pool and so | dovetail them that the best possible '£ war effort will result. Any plan of | that kind may not remain static for 5 long because it has to keep pace i with the progress of the war. That | is why Mr Coates pointed out that | wartime conditions demand resili- | ence and sudden alterations to a pre- | conceived picture. On the other | hand we cannot go along aimlessly | without a plan on the score that it | would be outmoded by changed cir- . cumstances.

What the Government is trying to, do is to arrange a priority list. At the top of that come requirements for the armed forces and next the : workers necessary to maintain supply. How to adjust the respective needs is one of the knottiest of problems. We have to get rid of the old idea that everyone must be in uniform to serve in a total war. A large number will need to remain • in the industrial and agricultural sections of what to-day is a mob ills- j ed ♦army of the whole nation, of; wtyich the armed forces form part. Not only have we to keep our own l men and those who may be garrisoned in this area supplied, but we have definite supply commitments to the rest of the United Nations, particularly Britain.

Consistent with these obligations: the policy announced by Mr Coates sets out to make available to the armed forces all the manpower possible. Already the demand has assumed much wider proportions than i it did in the last war. The 2nd i N.Z.E.F, has to be kept up to ’ strength; the Air Force absorbs aj large number of the youngest and! best men; the Navy has taken many;! our own defence has to be attended j to. It is in this latter field where! changes may come in the future. If the Japanese southward drive can; be contained within its present limits!, and gradually driven back it is easy' to see that Pacific strategy may de- ; mand that our land and air forces; should fight in other theatres. The|| defence of New Zealand may be best I served by going out after the enemy 1 instead of waiting passively on the j defensive. This is clearly what is in l Mr Coates’ mind when he says the : War Cabinet may be called on to j consider the undertaking of other i enterprises so as to align our effort \ with that of our Allies. j Bearing in mind the various re-11

quirements, the Government is wisely setting out to obtain a more de-l tailed census of manpower. It; wants to know precisely the com-1 j position of the pool from which per- j j sonnel can be mobilised either to! ! fight or to work in industry. One ; j piece of valuable information will , | be the number of physically fit men i there are capable of bearing arms. ! ! The National Service register al- J ready shows the numbers in the vari- ! \ ous age groups but no information is| available about the medical grading; j of those -not yet called or the per- ; ] centage of exemptions there may bej i within these groups. It is there-11 [fore proposed to go on calling up!* | men in all the groups up to 45 ! {

years. The Minister was not exI plicit on the point, but it appears ! that more time will elapse in the ! future between the calling of the men and their dispatch to camp. They will go into tiie pool with their 1 medical grading and present occupation tabulated. Thus the Govern- ; merit will know what number of lit men are at its disposal and will lie able to make arrangements accordj ingly. The method should enable rlie War Administration to assess more accurately our manpower capacity and so distribute it among the different phases of a total war effort This should help to prevent it from becoming lopsided and over-strained. The most efficient machine for co.nii bining with those of the other Unitj ed Nations in the supreme task of ! winning the war will be the one I which can exert its maximum | strength because it Is the best balanced.