N.Z. WAR EFFORT

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIV, Issue 304, 23 December 1943, Page 4

N.Z. WAR EFFORT

"STRAINED TO LIMIT" SIR W. LAYTON'S COMMENT Economist of London, said he had been very deeply impressed by the uemendous war effort oeing made by both Australia and New Zealand. Sar purposes of manpower in Australia has reached a high level It il so acute a problem in both Austrafia anC New Zealand that it a'ppeared to me that they will have to take men out of the fiS ntl "f foVes and put them to work developing Ind maintaining bases of supply for the Pacific phases of the war. Sir Walter said this first-hand observation of two of Britain s outposts of Empire had occupied -two months of his time and he had covered 40,000 miles, five weeks being spent in Australia. Neither Australians nor New Zealanders like the prospect of withdrawing from the fighting fronts, Sir Walter explained He mentioned that their battle records were among the most magnificent of the whole war, but he said they probably would have to make their future contributions m terms of construction and supply, in explanation, he said: "Australian and New Zealand manpower in the armed services or in direct war work is approximately the same as the ratio in Great Britain. They are up against their limit. Their participation in the fighting forces is as high as any country can stand. The great problem with them is what to do now. Both Countries Pressed "Both countries are being pressed; by Britain, as they prefer to. call England, and' by the United States, and those two countries must be the bases for supplies. The necessity of maintaining communications has forced conscription for construction work. The projects are being handled along military lines. There must be a switch over and Australia and New Zealand will have to take men out of the fighting forces. To some extent, they already are squeezing out people for these special services having to do with supplies." . To a question as to whether it would be feasible to augment the labour supply, he said: "It would not be e?sy. It is a home job." He simplified this by citing the lack of industrialisation as Americans know it and pointed an example of vast stretches of open land so broad that at one landing-place where their aeroplane stopped was on a 38,000 square miles cattle ranch. Asked as to his impressions on New Zealand, Sir Walter spoke in very high praise of the remarkable patriotism of the Dominion, and said he found everyone working hard for a victoriotis outcome of the war. "The New Zealanders have strained themselves to the limit in their efforts to contribute their utmost to the war effort. I was extremely impressed by their great endeavours." He said both New Zealand and Australia had long passed the point where they feared these British outposts would become a battleground against the Japanese. Questioned as to how Australians regarded the relative merits of the Pacific and the European war zones, Sir Walter said they accepted the judgment of the Chiefs-of-Staff of the High Command that Hitler would have to be beaten first before the full might of the British Empire could be focused against the Nipponese. There was no restlessness on the subject because of the degree of the issue of the Pacific. The manpower situation of wartime will carry on into the post-war years, Sir Walter predicted. "All agreed that Australia must have more population, both as a matter of defence and for the development of natural resources," he declared.