NEW ZEALAND AT WORK

New Zealand Listener, Volume 5, Issue 114, 29 August 1941, Page 8

NEW ZEALAND AT WORK

The Story of Our Industrial War Effort From all New Zealand tadio stations a series of five-minute talks is now being broadcast covering aspects of the country’s industrial effort. The accompanying article gives some idea of the scope of these talks, which are heard at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday each week

J ‘HE annalist of the future will treat New Zealand’s war achievement as one of the amazing pages in its history. He will note that this country of a million and a half people had, in the second year of the conflict, 73,000 men who were either overseas or had received military training; that 30,000 voluntary enlistments had been recorded for the Air Force; that 4,000 New Zealanders were serving in the Navy; that altogether within two years, 200,000 men were actively engaged. He would see that one alone of the numerous voluntary organisations of women had 10,000 spare-time workers who were methodically busy at such grimy tasks as"the breakdown and assembly of motor-car engines, and physically hard labour such as vegetable growing, largescale laundry and canteen work doneon holidays and in evenings. He would see that 118 decorations had been won by our airmen, including a Victoria Cross. He would emphasise

the fact that the high-hearted gallantry of our soldiers was leavened with a sense of discipline, the self-same sense of orderliness which made our workers cheerfully _ accept conscription. The probe of historical method would reveal other matters; the brilliant conception of pre-entry air training pioneered here and subsequently adopted by the

k i Empire; the bulldozer would come into the picture as one of the factors responsible for the high state of efficiency and the number and size of our aerodromes at the outbreak of war; and there might be a mention of the wearing qualities of our New Zealand-made boots in the rocky defiles of Crete. Perhaps he would note also the habit of self depreciation in certain matters which leads us to exalt the wrong elements for national pride, that small town disposition to sniff when any

fellow-countryman or institution of ours gets recognition for greatness in the larger world. But he would probably have no data at all on which to appraise the miracle of New Zealand’s industrial achievement in the war, for little has been said in its honour. New Zealand at Work, the series of talks now being heard from all radio stations has been devised for the sole purpose of enlightening New Zealanders on the extraordinary achievement of New Zealand factories, on the triumph, when put to the stern test of wet, of our secondary industries. Pre-War Expansion It is little known that New Zealand’s ability to answer the call so well was due to a few years of rapid development of secondary industries. New Zealand faced the opening of the conflict with factories in a fine state of efficiency; the very newness of many of them meant that plants and equipment were the last word in modernity; the inveterate travelling habits of New Zealand executives and factory-owners brought to us the latest industrial methods.

Figures perhaps give the clearest and quickest picture of the expansion. In the five’ year period ended 193940: Over 1,000 NEW ‘factories. were opened. : £13,000,000 additional capital was put into buildings, plant and machines. . 30,000 people found NEW jobs in industrial work, £11,000,000 more. was paid out in tactory salaries and wages. £17,000,000 was the increase in values, and £50,000,000 the increase in the value of output. The outbreak of war accelerated the rate of expansion, and to-day all these statistics are in the discard, replaced by figures that reach what are for New Zealand astronomical numbers. The character of the output has of course changed in many directions. Once we could be proud of the fact that if you went into the leading sports goods establishment in Bombay, Los Angeles, or Durban, the salesman might produce, as the best in the shop, a tennis racquet made in Auckland. To-day we are proud to be turning out tens of thousands of cartridge clips, hand grénades, and what not. "Tooling Up" This astonishing expansion had one salutary effect from the war production point of view. Everyone who reads or hears the war news is familiar with discussions of the problem of toolmaking. This takes in both the tools themselves, and the machines for making the tools. The recent growth of factories in New Zealand had brought about a phenomenal increase in precision engineering, the basis of all mechanical pro duction. Every new. factory ,of the thousand and more established in the

last few years needed the help of the precision engineer. The Standard Inch is the dictator, correct’ to the 10,000 fraction, and his henchman is the gauge. Munitions-making demands absolute precision. The percussion fuse of one type of bomb we make is tested 38 times by 38 different gauges; this goes on endlessly throughout the whole complex series of processes. New Zealand craftsmen, making these delicate instruments, have been working 12 hours a day without a murmur; they realise the . vital contribution they are making to New Zealand’s war effort. Types of War Production In the intricate nature of modern society, production for war is by no means confined to the making of war machines and general munitions. A vast range of articles enters into the dovetailed processes; from biscuits to wooden boxes; linen flax fibre to boots; from coal to battle-dress. New Zealand’s secondary production is in the front line new, marching smoothly and forging ahead.

Here are some industries of the many where substantial variations have been made, and where ceaseless effort, ungrudgingly given, proceeds from all hands: Woollen manufacturing, building of military roads and camps, shearers and shed hands, tinsmiths, cheese-workers, muni-tions-workers, tanners, sawmillers, sail and tent making, clothing manufacturers. He would be a_ reckless man who suggested that long hard hours of day and night work

are not general throughout the war work factories of New Zealand. Munitions-Making It is exciting that munitions-making in New Zealand has reached the pitch of large-scale production. We are making huge mechanisms like Bren Gun carriers and Universal carriers, and 3inch trench mortars. This would have been impossible without our equipment of large-scale works of modern type. Expansion has been made at great velocity, although with the utmost smoothness. The Government has for instance doubled one great ammunition factory where .303 ammunition is pouring out in hundreds of thousands of rounds. Light tanks with a high rate of speed are also in mass production, and there is a host of smaller articles such as mess tins, cartridge clips, high explosive bombs, hand grenades and innumerable other items. Other Industries Our men overseas are clothed and .shod by the New Zealand product of

New Zealand factories. There is no need to enlarge on the excellence of our foot-wear, but how many people know that ALL the socks, underwear, battledress and other uniforms are made here? We also make the hot-water bottle for army use. Another interesting item is an enormous contract for biscuits running into thousands of tons, New Zealand biscuit factories are ultra-modern, and of course no country can surpass us for ingredients. New Zealand at Work will tell you of this and many similar achievements. What is difficult to convey is the extraordinary nature of the preliminary planning required; the avoidance of "bottle necks." Perhaps however, when the full story comes to be written, the change over to cheese and the establishment of the linen flax industry will be our chief

cause for pride. This was our very own, a combination of primary and secondary industries. More than 6,000 farmers went from butter to cheese, a splendid gesture, entailing for most of them longer hours, more frequent deliveries, and more work. But canister factories had to work round the clock to make the thousands of cans needed for the double deliveries; old factories had to be swiftly re-

modelled; the Government had to muster all cheese-workers; the Public Works Department had to erect dwellings. In this connection, there was a pleasant evidence of co-operation when the factories arranged to light the dwellings from their own electrical supply. Romance of Linen Flax The linen flax story is a real romance, The Motherland’s need was acute; New Zealand answered the call at once. In-' vestigation as to linen flax growing had been started in 1936, so the field was not entirely new. Farmers responded promptly, and it is expected that no less than 25,000 acres will be cropped this year. The Government erected factories one after the other; the Railway Department manufactured and installed the necessary machinery-turbine scutchers, breakers and towshakers, de-seeders, flax carts; and one engineering firm assisted with the making of 100 flax pullers. The subject is almost endless. These talks will be inspiring, illuminating. Thanks to a sound preliminary training, New Zealand’s secondary industries are in the front line of the.war effort. They will stay there owing to the enthusiasm of factory owners and executives, and the devotion of the workers of New Zealand.