CLAIM BY MR SULLIVAN

Bay of Plenty Times, Volume LXXI, Issue 13056, 26 January 1943, Page 8

CLAIM BY MR SULLIVAN

WAR PRODUCTION "Amazing Increases" Industry Not Starved Christchurch, Jan. 23. fib ' Replying to critical references made by various anti-Government candidates and a general charge that the Government had made too heavy military commitments to the detriment of production, the Minister of Supply and Munitions, Mr Sullivan, said that the amazing increases in war production that had taken place during the war years was an adequate answer to people so anxious to score any kind of a point against the Government.

"In any case, the Government's critics would have been much more critical, and with justification, had we not given priority to the armed forces of the country in the hour of crisis, when the Japanese were sweeping all before them in the Pacific and when no man could say when they might be attempting an invasion of this country," continued Mr Sullivan. "The Government's first duty was to give the armed forces all the support possible so that they would have a fighting chance to defend the country. Any argument to the contrary is nonsense. "But conceding the point that a national balance should be maintained between the army and industry, even in a crisis, the increase in production is evidence of the fact that the Goverment did not starve industry of manpower, even although the manpower problem was an acute one." After quoting figures to show the increase in the production of munitions, coal, timber, military clothing and foodstuffs, Mr Sullivan also referred to the development in shipbuilding and other industries during the war period. The Minister said the Dominion's war production had reached levels undreamed of in the past. It should be obvious to even the most prejudiced among the Government's critics, as well as to the fair-minded public, that the manufacturers and workers, who were worthy ,of all credit for the manner in which they had faced the gigantic task given them by the Government, could not have accomplished this task had industry been starved of manpower.