WAR ECONOMY

Wairarapa Times-Age, 14 September 1939, Page 9

WAR ECONOMY

DECLARATION BY MINISTER OF PUBLIC WORKS PRODUCTION TO BE SPEEDED UP BEST USE OF NATIONAL RESOURCES. GOOD STANDARDS SET IN DEFENCE CAMPS. (By Telegraph—Press Association.) WELLINGTON, This Day. “When it comes to a collective effort jn the interests of national security, everything else sinks into insignificance. We are not wedded to any one of the public works jobs, and if the whole lot had to be stopped in the interests of production and the safety of this country they would be stopped,” declared the Minister of Public Works, Mr Semple, speaking in the House of Representatives last night when the Public Works estimates for the year were under consideration. He added, however, that the Government was not going to throw men out of work willynilly.

Mr J. Hargest (Opposition, Awarua) said that with a great number of young men volunteering, it seemed that some sort of national planning would be necessary to see that these men were replaced by older men. He complimented the Minister on tbe work that had been done in getting the defence camps ready. The Minister had made a noted contribution in that direction;

At the weekend he had visited a camp, Mr Hargest said, and he complimented the Minister on the accommodation hutments and ancillary ser vices being provided. The work was going on with remarkable expedition, and the men would be going into camp, under conditions that could not be excelled anywhere. The Minister said men would have to be found to replace those volunteering. If that were not done, production would go down. “We have to speed up production in New Zealand as it was never speeded up before,” Mr Semple said. “It is not only bullets and bpmbs that are going to win the war; it is the food supplies that go into the Old Land to feed the people. If we have to use everybody ih this country for that purpose, then we are out to do it. We must have increased production.” So far as the defence camps were concerned, Mr Semple said, the department was working three shifts, night and day. The Government was not going to send the men into camps where they would contract disease. Proper drainage systems, water supply, and other necessary facilities were being provided. “We are going to see that they go into camps w’here they/ are protected and their health safeguarded,” he said.