WARMING UP

Auckland Star, Volume LXXII, Issue 165, 15 July 1941, Page 5

WARMING UP

EMPIRE MACHINE f —_____ ( l CO-ORDINATED EFFORT j FULL USE OF WAR ENERGY' (New Zealand Official War Service.) ': LONDON, July 13.1 From all parts of the British''! i-mpire comes news of efforts on a', scale unimagined by Nazis and unprecedented in the Empire's history. jt is the task of the Empire's organisers to co-ordinate this effort to ensure that every ounce of energy generated in each part of the Empire and the Mother Country shall be Used to speed the Commonwealth war machine to its maximum velocity. Here arc some of the steps they', «''e taking in order to do so. Onej 01 the most spectacular of the! arrangements so far envisaged Is) mat whereby Australia and New -ealand produce will be shipped to! western Canada in order that East-! n Canada may release correspond-! "g ai ™unts for Britain. The saving! n vai uab i e time and shipping space! This is one of the results! ™ the Foodstuffs Agreements which' iqJn v USt been con eluded (June, ;„" ° etw een the United Kingdom. Australia and New Zealand, and wnicn are similar to earlier arrangements whereby the United Kingdom government agreed to buy the whole lia v SUl 'P lus wool clips of Austrafnr ii Zealand and South Africa; yea,- foils luratio » of the war and a! win n-° w, , njr - rhe n agreements food^tnn ? ! dp , lnr vn?t imports of: aWin /ho "V ho Mnil^V ' ■ country »nd Muses i.r ih c . tW(J Ltuiuiniunjj. The!

United States Government is anxious, to help in this scheme, which will fit[ in with the wider policy (to include' other parts of the Empire and South 1 America) for building reserves to fill 1 the empty larders of. Europe after! the war. ] The United States will, among! other undertakings, send war sup-j plies to India under the terms of the! Indian Purchasing Mission which ihas just been created. It will supply! New Zealand with milk-drying plant to enable New Zealand farmers to dry milk for export, and it will help !with the scheme for economising shipping by taking Australian projduce on its West Coast in order to ! release to East Coasts goods for the j British Isles. I Similar co-ordination of efforts is 'being operated in the Eastern Hemisiphere. The Eastern Group Supply Council, to which India. Burma, New Zealand, South Africa and East Africa and Malaya belong, held its first conference in Delhi in October. 11940. Now it meets regularly to larrange the proper co-ordination of i war supplies for the armies of Suez. (India, as the centre of the group, is now supplying sandbags to Egypt, textiles to Hong Kong. Malaya, Australia, New Zealand, Tanganyika. Colombo and Burma: yarn for well equipment and khaki material to !Australia and engineering stores to ithe Middle East. ■I The Empire's growing industrial 'strength is turning out increasing .jnumbers of ships, aeroplanes, guns jand armoured vehicles. In May not I less than ]G. 500,000 dollars' worth of >!Canadian-made trucks, automobiles .'and similar equipment were sent all iover the world to strategic points I where they could be used to best 'advanage. During the first five •'months of this year 50.000.000 dollars' worth of such vehicles were ex]ported, an increase of 38.000,000 dolilars over the same period of the previous year. Ail" Training Scheme I The Empire air training scheme is • an outstanding example of this growing co-operative effort. Canada, /■Australia and New Zealand have (joined with Britain in training 50.000 ■jairmen yearly. The main organisation is in Canada, but work is also I 1 carried on in Australia and New •'Zealand. South Africa and Southern 'ißhodesia, under their own. scheme. larc training men from the United ■ Kingdom. Australia and other parts •!of Africa. Latest news of the pro-

I i ;,gress of the scheme comes this week: ; with the arrival in the United King-; ildom of a large group of "cat-eyed" i Australian and New Zea-! rland airmen, specially trained in ■'Canada for night fighting. j. I The sterling bloc to which all the 1 - ;iEmpire (except Canada. Newfound-: .(land and Hongkong) belongs facili?|tates not. only "the exchange of war i materials but also the acquisition of •dollars for the purchase of war sup-: t plies from the United States. South; >\ African gold and Malayan rubber )Jand tin are Empire commodities {■■which are needed in the United < -IStates and which are providing dol-ji )|lar exchange for the purchase of air-i, j craft. Canada is making Canadian 1 |dollars available to the United King-' - dom to the amount of our purchases' .in Canada, which are estimated at ; ( j 1.500,000.000 dollars. This rapidly-j. j gathering force is plying backwards; (•and forwards across the five oceans' , with ever increasing speed. It will! jenable us to strike and strike again j final victory is achieved. The. jipace at which its strength is mountjing is epitomised in the feat of a [ Jbomber ferry pilot who this week!; broke all records by crossing the twice in 21 hours. ' i '