ARMED FORCES

Wairarapa Times-Age, 30 May 1941, Page 3

ARMED FORCES

SUPPLY COUNCIL ESTABLISHED IMPORTANT PROBLEMS TO BE SOLVED. NAMES OF MEMBERS ANNOUNCED (By Telegraph—Press Association.) WELLINGTON, This Day. The establishment of a Supplj Council was announced yesterday by the Minister of Supply and Munitions, Mr Sullivan. He'said that the functions of the council had been drafted to include the centralising of all orders for the requirements of the armed forces, the control of commodities needed for defence purposes, the responsibility of deciding priorities in regard to defence supplies, and in regard to shipping. The council was also authorised, to deal with possible economies and substitution in present consumption and with the reclamation and utilisation of waste. The matter of requisitioning or commandeering supplies required for defence purposes would also be a function of the council. Mr Sullivan said the War Cabinet had authorised him to establish immediately a Supply Council. “In certain directions it already appears that some reduction or substitution in our own consumption will be necessary if we are to give of our best to the greatest possible extent to assist the Empire’s war effort,” said the Minister. “The armed forces are today calling on local manufacturers more and more in an endeavour to satisfy the demand for essential supplies which either canriot be obtained overseas or for which only delayed deliveries can be promised.” It is the intention of the Minister to utilise the Supply Council in the solution of these problems and in the coordination of all activities affecting the requirements of the three armed services. One of the main functions of the council will be to plan ahead so that production can be initiated or orders placed overseas at an early date for - supplies which will be needed next year. The Minister said that these important and responsible functions had been placed upon a very small body, of which he himself was to be chairman. Members of the council are:— Mr B. C. Ashwin, Secretary to the Treasury. Mr D. A. Ewen, managing director of Sargood Son and Ewen, Wellington. Mr G. Jackson, managing director of the Ford Motor Company, Lower Hutt. Mr F. G. Young, president of the Auckland Trades Council, and a member of the Executive of the New Zealand Federation of Labour. When the council is considering matters of shipping priority, Mr J. N. Greenland, general manager of the Union Steam Ship Company of New Zealand, Limited, will be a full member of the council. Mr Sullivan stated that the inaugural meeting of the council had already been held and that he was satisfied from his contacts with the members that they had already grasped the significance and scope of their responsibility and had expressed themselves as prepared to give of their utmost to effect an efficient discharge of their functions. He was very hopeful that the operation of this council would prove of the utmost value to the. Dominion’s war effort in the co-ordinat-ing and planning ahead of the arrangements for the supply of commodities essential for the war effort.