£5 A SECOND.

Auckland Star, Volume LXXI, Issue 228, 25 September 1940, Page 13

£5 A SECOND.

WAR EXPENDITURE.

AUSTRALIA'S BIG EFFORT.

SYDNEY, September 19.

A year after the outbreak of war Australia is planning to spend at the rate of £177,000,000 to £200,000,000 a year on defence. Since Germany attacked Poland, a year ago, Australia has more than trebled her defence expenditure. The figures mean that more than £5 a second is being spent on the war. Even talking in* terme of nearly £200,000,000 a year, the Federal Treasurer (Mr. Spender) says that no limit can be set to our commitments. Ten years ago the Scullin Government, harassed by depression, brought the defence vote down to less than £4,000,000 a year. The Lyons Government rapidly stepped it up to £11,000,000 or so until the war clouds began to gather. Then Mr. Lyone, in a national broadcast, startled Australia by announcing a three-year programme of £43,000,000. At Munich time (September, 1938), Australia was planning to spend £60,000,000 a year on preparedness. How small these figures seem to-day! But figures tell only part of the story. Since September 3 last Australia has Sent an expaditionary force oyerseas; Enlisted many more than 157,000 men for the fighting services, including about 119,000 for the A.1.F., approximately 8000 for the Navy, and more than 30,000 for the R.A.A.F., counting also the personnel for the Empire Air Training scheme; r °

leid the foundations of a munitions supply system .which will rapidly make her by far the greatest arsenal in the Southern Hemisphere; Enormously expanded the local manufacture of aircraft; Begun a shipbuilding programme which will soon yield an output of two naval ships a month;

Patrolled the Pacific and Mediterranean, and inflicted severe naval losses on Italy.

Munitions Growth. ' ~ The first stage of the munitions programme calls for an outlay of £50,000,000 and already some 20,000 workers are engaged in munitions work against a maximum 2737 at any time during the last war. Before the end of next year 150,000 will be engaged in munitions production in Australia. The man-power programme now in operation calls for the training of 200,000 men, including A.I.F. enlistments and compulsory training drafts. In the last 14 months the naval personnel has been increased by nearly 300 per cent. By laet June five ships had been armed as merchant cruisers and about 30 as auxiliary war vessels. All told, nearly 200 merchant ships had been defensively armed. The Royal Australian Navy has been ceaselessly on active service, convoying ehips and patrolling the Mediterranean and other waters.

The Navy controls a coast-watching organisation comprising more than 700 civilian volunteers.

More than militia men have had from one to - four months' training and the permanent military forces havl been increased from under 4000 in April, a f 9 i *° f* 0 " 1 20 ' 000 - More than 20 A.I.F. and about 40 militia camps have been established in Australia. . The land force of 250,000 men now wing provided includes the A class reserve established by the Returned Soldiers' League, the A.I.F. unite in training in A*tralia and the universal trainee* drafts numbering 80,000 to 90,000 men.

The R.A.A.P. strength is. about five times stronger to-day in terms of personnel than in April of last year. The supply of military aircraft has been doubled. ■ r . Australia is one of th* four partners of the Empire Air Training Scheme, regarded generally as the factor which will bring about the downfall of Nazifern. Australia is to provide about 50,000 men for this vast reservoir of offensive strength. To date, air crews totalling 2014 are in training, in addition to 6663 on the waiting list. Ground personnel in training comprises 17,402 men, with a waiting list of 6199, making a total of more than 32,000 enlisted under the scheme.

In the hjst , 13. mohtbg the rate of production-i>l email-arms munitions has increased by nearly 500 per cent. Australia is now producing munitions orders for Britain and other parts of the.' Empire. - High-grade anti-aircraft guns' are -in production; factories ■ for a 25-pound field gun and a two-pounder anti-tank gun are nearing completion; and after long delays mass production of the famous Bren gun will soon be a fact. In the last. 12 months more than £14,000,000 has been voted for new munition* factories. An important development ie the decentralisation policy under which munitions on a large scale are to be manufactured in. Queensland, South Australia and West Australia. Hitherto production has been confined to New South Wales and Victoria. This decentralisation policy is now in operation. It provides.for the manufacture of fuses, shells and grenades in Queensland; shells, bombs and primers in West Australia; primers and shells in Tasmania, and explosives in South Australia. Next year, 1500 men will be employed in this work in Queensland, 10,000 in South Australia, 1500 in West Australia and 1000 in Tasmania out of a total of 64,000 directly engaged in munitions production.

Aircraft Production. War supplies ordered from America since .the outbreak of war amount to about £10,000,000. Acceleration of the production of aircraft in Australia is one of the most impressive phases of. Australia's war effort. The manufacture of Wirraways began from nothing three years ago to a production at the rate of some hundreds a year to-day. To. date, 811 have been ordered, by the Commonwealth Government, representing an outlay of £8,000,000. The production of Beaufort bomber* in Australia has been hampered by adjustments and adaptations caused by supply difficulties connected with the intensified attack on Britain,* but an immense organisation capable of producing this advanced? type of war 'plane has 5 been set up, snA production of the redesigned 'plane to begin next year. |P£ .