GERMANY’S GAIN

Wairarapa Times-Age, 14 November 1938, Page 3

GERMANY’S GAIN

DOMINATION OF THE CZECHS. COUNTRY’S HUGE RESOURCES. An examination of the capacity of Czechoslovakia in the way of production reveals the value that occupation or domination of the country will be to Germany. As regard agriculture the average production of 1932-36 was 1.6 million tonso f wheat, 1.75 million tons of rye, one million tons of barley, 1.3 million tons of oats, 9.1 million tons of potatoes, 240,000 tons of maize, and 543,000 tons of beet sugar. In barley and oats usually and in rye sometimes the country produces a surplus for export, and as Germany frequently has to import these products the Czech production would be very valuable. Czechoslovakia also has a huge reserve of timber, one-third of her territory being covered by forests. In 192930 the yearly production was 23,800,000 cubic yards, of which more than half was exported. Timber is one of the raw materials which Germany badly needs. IMPORTANCE OF INDUSTRY. More important than the agriculture of Czechoslovakia, writes the “Economist,” is its industry. Bohemia, Moravia, and Silesia form one of the most highly industrialised parts of the Continent, over 40 per cent of the population being engaged in industry and mining. 4

The output of coal in 1936 amounted to 12,233.181 tons, and that of lignite to 155,948,767 tons. After allowing for the high heating capacity of Czechoslovakia lignite, the total output of the country is something of the' order of 16 per cent of the German. In 1936 the Czechoslovakian output of pig iron and steel was 1,140,000 tons and 1,560,000 tons respectively. Czechoslovakia, however, does not produce sufficient iron ore for her manufactures, the highest output having been 1,800,000 tons ii*-1928.

The engineering industry in Bohemia is world famous, especially in the manufacture of armaments. The Skoda works at Plzen (Pilsen) employed 40,000 workers in the 1920’5, and there are other armament factories at Brno and Bratislava. The eight automobile factories of the country have a capacity of 40,000 cars a year. As for chemicals, the Aussig works near the German frontier are the largest in Europe outside Germany.