Wairarapa Times-Age TUESDAY, JULY 30, 1940. PRODUCTION OF MUNITIONS.

Wairarapa Times-Age, 30 July 1940, Page 4

Wairarapa Times-Age TUESDAY, JULY 30, 1940. PRODUCTION OF MUNITIONS.

AN emphatic statement ami one that will be welcomed by all who wish to see the Dominion turning its industrial resources fully to account in furtherance of its war effort has been made by the- Prime Minister: — It is the intention of the Government (Mr Fraser said) to utilise the full workshop and factory resources of the Dominion for the making of munitions to the limits set by the number skilled workers available at present, or who can be trained in a reasonable period, and the materials in the Dominion or procurable from abroad. The assurance here given is comprehensive and at the same time implies clearly that all possible expedition will be used in. bringing into play the full range of available resources indicated by the Prime Minister. Mr Fraser’s statement was made in reply to criticism by an engineering representative (Mr R. Burns) who contended that it was open to the Government to set the production ot munitions in motion simply by issuing orders 1o firms prepared to carry out the work entailed. This statement has been called nonsense, however, both by the Minister of Supply (Air Sullivan) and by another engineering representative (Mr J. Cable) who was a member of the New Zealand delegation which recently visited Australia to investigate the manufacture ot munitions. ’ It is in fact well known in these days to any reasonably well-informed layman that the quantity production of virtually all munitions of necessity is based on the elaborate preparation of special gauges, tools and materials and that there is no short cut to results. The position taken up by the Government is that it intends to make full use of all available resources in expediting the production of munitions. The Minister of Supply has stated, for instance, that: — We will use whatever establishment, private or public, is most suitable for the job. We are not on this issue one little bit concerned about any question of private or public enterprise. There is one job to be done—that is to produce munitions as speedily and efficiently as possible—and again I say that whoever can give the best service will get the job. ... I honour and admire Australia for the great job she is now doing. We will to the limit of our resources try to emulate her and I am grateful to all her public men, her great industrialists and the heads of her great State departments for all the assistance they are prepared to give New Zealand in supplying plans, drawings, specifications, materials and in some degree fabricated parts. Grounds for criticism will appear only if it can be demonstrated at some later stage- that the Government is failing to carry out the programme thus outlined. The essential demand now raised evidently is that all who are capable of taking a helpful part in the enterprise of producing the munitions that are needed so urgently should pool their efforts harmoniously to that end. The promise of Australian aid is the more to be welcomed and valued since the Commonwealth as matters stand is giving this.country a most impressive lead in armament industry. Mr Cable has said that in Australia the New Zealand delegation was told repeatedly that this country’s effort was ahead of that of Australia in terms of the siz'e of the country and its capabilities. However that.may be, Australia already has some remarkable achievements in armament production to her credit. Apart from the manufacture of aeroplanes on a considerablescale, guns of several calibres are now being produced in Commonwealth factories. It was reported the other day, for example, that the 3.7 inch anti-aircraft gun, the largest gun ever made in Australia, is now being supplied regularly to the Army from the workshops of the Commonwealth Ordnance Factory at Melbourne. Of this weapon, a special reporter of the “Sydney Morning Herald” wrote recently:— It is the most modern and most deadly anti-aircraft gun in the world, capable of firing high-explosive shells to a height of 40,000 feet, or approximately seven and a half miles. Not only does Australia now manufacture these extremely powerful weapons, which form the backbone of Great Britain’s anti-aircraft ground defences, but she is turning out, by mass-production methods, the shells to feed them. The component parts of the shells are being produced in large quantities in several Melbourne factories. Thousands of turners, fitters, moulders and operatives are now engaged in this work, most of them organised into three shifts a day. The Federal Prime Minister (Mr Menzies) announced not longago that 16,000 workers are now employed on munitions production in Australia compared with fewer than 3,000 in the last war, and that he expects that 150,000 will be engaged, directly or indirectly, in producing munitions by the middle of next year. Twenty munitions annexes are now in production in three States and the work is being extended into additional States. It has been said that: “The munitions drive in the Commonwealth is at last displaying an enterprise, imagination and speed which promise to make Australia not only vastly stronger in her own defence, but a highly valuable partner in the Empire’s campaign to defeat and overthrow Hitlerism.” In this, as well as in the obviously imperative demands of the total war situation, there is much to inspire resolute and sustained effort in New Zealand. The production of munitions is a task that must be approached and carried out methodically. It is useless to demand instant results to order, but, making the most of our own resources and of the co-operation offered by Australia, it is certainly open to this country to aspire to the achievement within a reasonable time of results that will be splendidly worth while. THE DUTY OF PARLIAMENT. its meeting today and on the remaining days of this week Parliament will be concerned with items of business that are important but are not likely to become in existing circumstances highly controversial—-notably the Supplementary Estimates, and legislation dealing with war pensions and some further details of financial adjustment. Possibl.v at the end ol this week an adjournment will be taken and it is proposed that thereafter Parliament should meet periodically at comparatively brie! intervals. Provided Parliament rises to its responsibilities in a manner worthy of the immensely critical times through which we are-passing, fairly frequent meetings, even though there may be little detail business to transact, should be well worth while. In war time or in peace time, the delegation of unfettered responsibility to the Executive is capable of being overdone. "Where the participation of the Dominion in the war is concerned, Parliament has or should have an essential part to play in maintaining contact and understanding between the Government and the people. At a minimum it is the duty ol: Parliament to satisfy itself from time to time, if need be by calling for information at a secret session, that the Government is doing all that the people of the country expect it to do in any and every department of the national war effort. Much as the present Government of the United Kingdom is trusted, it has been shown on a number of occasions ol late that Parliament is able Io play a very valuable part in quickening and at times in amending policy. If, even in what might be regarded as the routine conduct of the war and alter the main business of a session had been disposed of, our own Parliament allowed itself to fade info the background, it would demonstrate, not a lack of opportunity to render useful service, but rather its own incapacity to render service that is vitally needed.