MAKING MUNITIONS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 11 December 1940, Page 6

MAKING MUNITIONS

WAR EFFORT IN WORKSHOPS WELLINGTON TRAINING SCHEME. PREMIER SEES GOOD PROGRESS. (By Telegraph—Press Association.) WELLINGTON. This Day. “This war will be won just as much in the workshops as on the battlefields.’’ said the Prime Minister, Mr. Fraser, after inspecting the work which is being done under the auspices of the Wellington Emergency Training Committee at the Wellington Technical College yesterday. Some six weeks ago the Government set up the committee to train volunteers for munition-making in as short a time as possible. Today there are 40 men employed in the fitting and turning rooms, and 15 men in the weldingroom. They are paid £4 13s. 4d. i week. Mr. Fraser, after a party consisting of several Cabinet Ministers and representatives of employers and workers had inspected the work being done, congratulated all who had been associated with the class: They had. he said, come to see for themselves how things were going. They had found that the members of (he class were keenly interested in their work, and that the progress they had made in such a short time was remarkable.

The Government had set up the committee, Mr. Fraser said, because munition-making was essential. This war was essentially a war of the civil population, who would have to do their part just as much as the soldiers in the field, the men of the Navy, and the airmen. The Government had arranged a few weeks back with employers and workers that classes should be held to train volunteers in munitionmaking. The Wellington classes had been successfully started, and Mr. A. W. Nisbet 1 , chairman of the Wellington Emergency Training Committee, would leave that night for Christchurch, to start a similar training scheme there, and the scheme would be extended to Auckland next week. Back of fhe invincible Air Force, said the Prime Minister, were the workshops, and New Zealand had to plav its part. The training the New Zealand Air Force received was as good as was given anywhere in the British Empire, as was proved by the fact that Australia had copied the New Zealand scheme.

“We intend to manufacture a good deal of the equipment required by our troops." Mr. Fraser continued. “We need munitions; we need Bren gun carriers, and we had to consider the problem of how men could be trained in the shortest possible time. The Government had decided to give those with an aptitude for mechanics an opportunity to play their part. We need hundreds and thousands of munition workers, and we are making a start here to supply them.” Mr. Fraser said he was greatly pleased that the experiment had been such a success. The men were putting their hearts and minds into their work; and would encourage others to follow their inspiring example.