NOT FORGOTTEN

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIII, Issue 193, 17 August 1942, Page 4

NOT FORGOTTEN

DEFENCE SUPPLIES

U.K. TO THE DOMINION

"Britain has not forgotten New Zealand and will never forget New Zealand," declared Sir Harry Batterbee, High Commissioner for Great Britain in New Zealand, when addressing •members of the Rotary Club this afternoon on the question of the distribution of the defence equipment produced in Britain to the various'theatres of war.

"Despite the heavy claims of the theatres of active operations, the efforts made — unfortunately, to no purpose — to send considerable quantities of munitions to the Far Kast. and Burma, and the necessity to strengthen the defences of India, the I nited Kingdom Government has, since war came to the Pacific, answered the call of New Zealand for the supplies necessary for her defence. This has involved sending to New Zealand considerable quantities of equipment previously earmarked for other theatres. A flow of munitions of war has been directed towards the Dominion from British factories."

Dealing with the general question. Sir Harry declared: "The guiding rule has been to send munitions and equipment wherever they are most wanted for active operations to the absolute maximum. The suggestion which has sometimes been made that military resources have been unnecessarily pgnt up in Britain has no foundation.

Transport Limitations

"The fact is that the United Kingdom, despite substantial imports from America, is a big net exporter of weapons. In 1941 we sent out 0781 aircraft as against 2134 brought in. We sent out 3000 tanks as against 200 brought in. In October, 1941, alone we sent overseas 2300 army vehicles, 1300 aircraft, 400,000 tons of military and air stores, and some hundreds of locomotives.

"The limiting factor in sending resources overseas has been transport. As Mr. Churchill said in January, every scrap of shipping we could draw away from our vital supply routes has been used to the utmost capacity to carry troops, tanks and munitions from the United Kingdom and overseas. More than half the ships which used to bring food to Britain have been diverted to supplying and maintaining armies throughout the world.

"It was announced in March that for months past not less than 80 per cont of our total military production and every soldier for whom shipping space was available had been sent overseas. Despite great economies of shipping (through reduction in time of ships' turn-round a saving of nearly one million and a half tons has been effected), the ships available do not nearly suffice for our needs.

Supplies for Russia

"In 1941 200 ships were continuously employed round the Cape to the Middle East, conveying more than 1,000,000 tons of goods and 30,000 vehicles in convoys. At the same time Herculean efforts have been made to get supplies to Russia in the face of serious attacks on convoys, and well over 90 per cent of all cargoes sent by the northern route have been safely delivered.

"Over 2000 tanks were sent to Russia in July. In January, 1942, twice as much material was carried over the Persian route as in November, 1941, and it was hoped to double the figures again in May. Amongst the goods being sent to Russia are tanks, aircraft, aluminium, rubber, copper, lead, oil, jute, steel, machine tools, sugar and boots. For boots alone (3,000,000 pairs) 40,000 tons of shipping space have been necessary. "Large numbers of British tanks took part in the Russian winter advance, specially manufactured to operate at temperatures of 50 degrees below zero, and complete with spare parts."