ITALY'S OIL LACK

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIII, Issue 194, 18 August 1942, Page 3

ITALY'S OIL LACK

WARSHIPS TIED UP

ECONOMIC DEPENDENCE

Lack of oil—with supplies believed cut to lo per cent of pre-war volume —is keeping Italy's warships tied

Germany has sent hundreds of experts into Italy to speed up industry and make it more efficient, hut short a? ■ of many essential materials besides oil. including coal, magnesium, topper, tin. wool and cotton, are'crippling their efforts. Most of the petroleum which now enters Italy comes from Rumania. As the Italian Hich Command seems to he making every effort to keep aeroplanes supplied with fuel, the Italian Navy has had to do without crude oil.

Italy has sizable deposits of bauxite, from which aluminium is extracted, but completely lacks magnesium. which is indispensable for combining with aluminium to make duralumin for aeroplanes.

The fundamental cornerstone of German economic support of Italy is the German agreement to ship ].000.000 tons of coal monthly. Without it. Italian factories could not function. Experts assured me before 1 was interned that these shipments were maintained until the end of December. Germany sends Italy a lot of semifinished steel products, including half-finished armaments. to be finished in Italian factories.—Reynolds Packard, correspondent for United Press.