AT HIGHEST LEVEL

Wairarapa Times-Age, 20 November 1943, Page 4

AT HIGHEST LEVEL

BRITISH OUTPUT OF SHIPS & PLANES AND MUNITIONS OF ALL KINDS MR OLIVER STANLEY’S SURVEY. TIME FOR SUPREME EFFORT. (British Official Wireless.) (Received This Day, 10.10 a.m.) RUGBY, November 19. “The output of aircraft in Britain in October was the highest ever recorded, and in that month twice as many heavy bombers were produced as in December, 1942,” said Mr Oliver Lyttelton (Minister of Production) today, when he visited war factories in Northern Ireland. “The munitions output is now at about the highest level it has ever reached—so per cent above that of the first quarter of 1942.” the Minister added. “Naval shipbuilding is still expanding. In 1943 the completion of major vessels, from battleships to corvettes, has totalled 170. Over 2,000 naval vessels of all types will be completed. “We are devoting a large part of our time to intensive study of the specialised forms of equipment and transport necessary to bring a maximum impact to bear on the Japanese empire. We have grasped the initiative and must hold it. Now is the time to get after the Germans and overwhelm them by sheer weight of material. Our plan is to hound and harass the German Army, already dangerously weakened by its disasters in Russia. I say to the workers of the United Kingdom that the moment for a supreme effort has come.” The Minister declared that Northern Ireland had proved a sure shield against U-boat attack. “This grim warfare,” he said, “is well in hand and that is due in a very large measure to Northern Ireland. The production you are giving over a wide field of our industries has proved one of the greatest features of the present war.”