MIGHTY EFFORT

Wairarapa Times-Age, 5 March 1940, Page 9

MIGHTY EFFORT

CANADA'S WAR ACTIVITIES BIG PRODUCTION PLANS. THE SECOND FRONT LINE. OTTAWA. War orders placed by the Canadian Government through the War Supply Board already represent the productive effort of 45,000 men working a full year and many factories in the Dominion are now working day and night on war requirements. The Hon C. D. Howe. Canadian Minister of Transport, in a recent informative talk on Canada’s war efforts over a national radio network, dealt at length on Canada’s industrial production which he called “The Second Front Line.” The sum of money represented in the orders now placed for war supplies, he said, “amounts to about 65.000,000 dollars and in addition the board has expended 25,000,000 dollars for the purchase of railway locomotives and cars, for rental to our railroads, as an insurance that Canadian merchandise, munitions, and men, can be kept rolling to our seaports, on their way toward the first front line.”

Illustrative of the rapid acceleration of Canada’s industrial productive powers to meet war time requirements, Mr Howe pointed out that the weekly production of jackets of the sweater type had been increased to 10,000, blankets to 20,000, boots to 13,000 pairs, gloves to 13,000 dozen pairs, uniforms to 7,000. sox to 12,000 pairs, underwear to 19,000 suits, and great coats to 3,500. As an indication of how production had been increased, he pointed out that the output of gloves had expanded tenfold, that of blankets more than threefold and other articles at a corresponding' rate. All the men of Canada’s First Division departed for overseas completely equipped with full complement of uniforms, greatcoats, underwear, caps, sox and boots, and personal equipment of all kinds, from ground sheet to razor blades. Members of the Canadian Navy are likewise completely equipped and the forces still in Canada are now receiving the balance of their equipment.

Not only does the War Supply Board attend to the purchasing of equipment for the Canadian forces, he said, but it likewise purchases the large quantities of food required for the daily rations of the troops and “every precaution is being taken to maintain a high quality of food for the men, and to distribute the food supplies in an efficient manner.”

Apart from these purchasing problems, involved in meeting the personal requirements of Canada's troops, Mr Howe stated that “there is the larger question of purchasing machines and munitions of war. These include such articles as motor vehicles, aeroplanes, machine guns, artillery of all types, tanks, shells and ammunition. Mechanised warfare of the present day requires mechanical supplies in quantities unknown in earlier wars. ’ The Minister stated that a number of orders have been placed by the War Supply Board for the British Government for munitions and mechanical war equipment. These orders, he said, have been largely of the educational type, to enable our industries to equip for the future full scale production. Great Britain has had a large and distinguished group of purchasing experts in Canada since the outbreak of war, who have been studying the Dominion’s productive capacity and who are prepared to place orders when the time of need comes. Mr Howe stated that Canada has already been organised as a second source of supply for British munitions, and there is little doubt that our full productive capacity will be needed before the struggle ends." In conclusion, Mr Howe stated that he and all those associated with him in the activities of the War Supply Board will spare neither personal effort nor any resources at their command, to see to it “that the armed forces of the Dominion are the best fed, the best clothed and the best equipped in the world.”