HIGHLIGHTS from THE CABLES

Auckland Star, Volume LXXI, Issue 11, 13 January 1940, Page 9

HIGHLIGHTS from THE CABLES

EMPIRE SUPPLIES MEET NEEDS OF WAR.

THE enormous increases in Empire production of metals and other classes of war materials in the past 25 years arc the most striking of the .economic changes ...that have come about sincc the last war. Nor is the limit of the expansion yet reached, for the resources of the Empire arc so vast that production is only a matter of industrial capacity, man power and transport. In copper the output has been multiplied seven times over, to reach the huge total of 000,000 tons annually. Lead production has risen from 130,000 to OIIO,OOO> tons, nickel from 20,000 to 95,000 tons, and aluminium, from 14,000 to SB.OOO tons. In these ancl many other essentials of war the Empire is"to-day virtually self-supporting, a position which may be contrasted with the dependence of Germany on outside sources, some of which are now completely cut olf, while others have failed to come anywhere near expec-1 tations. The British Commonwealth is to all intents and purposes a world-encircling economic unit, organised for war on a scale unparalleled in history, and where

SOLDIERS AND SAILORS FIRS

THE warning by the Prime Minister that goods purchasable by the British public must get less as the war goes on will bring home to New Zealanders •the wholc-liearted way in which the authorities in the Mother Country are preparing to carry on the struggle, but it is impossible for us to appreciate fully wliafc that warning means. New Zealand has had some experience during the past year of shortages in certain linss, but there has been no important reduction in food suppliers, and they arc the most important of all. In Britain, on the other hand, ration cards aro now necessary to obtain certain of the most essential articles of diet, and Mr. Chamberlain left no one in doubt that the Government will extend the rationing system if it considers that shortages of other foods are threatened. France, too, has made a new move, decreeing three meatless days each week. Until last week, when rationing oilieiallv came into force, the war to the great bulk of the people of Britain bad merely meant the discomfort of' nightly, blackouts. A few had seen iI.A.F. 'planes rac-

the Empire is short of some portion of the necessary supplies it lias access to anv market from which it wishes to buy. Within Knipire boundaries, the supremo war purchasing authority is the British Ministry of Supply, which his entered into contracts involving hundreds of millions of pounds annually. I*or the Australian wool clip alone, which it ha? bought outright, it is likely to pay up In £'75.000,000, and to this must be added Australian wheat and other • foodstuffs and raw materials. New has sold the bulk of Jior exports to Britain for tlie duration of the war, and similar arrangements have been made in a number of other quarters. Among the advantages of this centralized marketing, oiie of the most important is the co-ordination of shipping which it makes possible, permitting of the most oflicicnt and safe use of the available ships and convoy protection. Another advantage, is the financial one, which enables sterling funds > bo conserved to a. maximum and any surplus to be mobilised for purchases from foreign countries.

ing overhead to repel Nazi reconnaissance machines, and some had heard gunfire. Many were now working in munitions plants, and perhaps they, had brothers or friends who had gone with the Expeditionary Force, biFt to the great majority the real effects of wartime economy had not been felt. Now that food is rationed they have daily rcmin ders that, although there is nothing doing on the Western Front, and the Nazi raiders drop 110 bombs, all arc sharing in the national effort. The experience of the last struggle convinced the authorities that if rationing should ever again bo necessary it must apply to-all. and reports from Britain indicate that it is doing so. While it is to be hoped that the war does not make it nccessarx for Britain to go to the length of adopting the standardised clothing patterns now being issued in neutral Italy—uniforms make for enough dress' standard isatioii without , that—we , should remember when taking our usual helping of butter, and cutting a generous portion, off the Sunday leg of lamb, that it i? soldiers and sailors first in Britain and in France, and is likely to bccoine more so as time goes 011.