The Press SATURDAY, MARCH 14, 1942. Defence Priorities

Press, Volume LXXVIII, Issue 23587, 14 March 1942, Page 6

The Press SATURDAY, MARCH 14, 1942. Defence Priorities

In order to ensure priority for defence works and co-ordinate the activity of departments engaged on them, the Government has set up a Defence Construction Council. Mr James Fletcher, as Commissioner of Defence Production, will act as its executive officer, with wide powers, and as vice-chairman. The Prime Minister (chairman), the Ministers for Defence and Public Works, and officers of the Public Works Department, the Housing Department, and the Treasury are the other members. Mr Fletcher’s duty, defined by the Prime Minister, will be to urge forward the defence construction programme, for which purpose he may (i) determine the order of works, (ii) stop any other works begun by the State, local authorities, or other agency, (hi) order contracts to be let, with the approval of the Minister for Public Works, and (iv) after consulting the council direct men, materials, and plant to be made available at given places and times. Mr Fletcher is authorised to instruct all public servants whose help he needs, and can be over-ruled only by the Prime Minister. This is a , bold move. Those who have believed that the progress of New Zealand’s defence preparations has been impeded by failure to imagine and plan for total war, by second-rate planning on an inadequate scale, and by second-rate administration of plans, will find confirmation of their belief in the Prime Minister’s statement. It is late to be discovering, as the Government seems to have discovered, that non-essential works are obstructing essential ones; that there are inter-departmental tangles to be straightened and bottle-necks cleared; and that the schedule of defence works is not efficiently arranged. A move to overcome these difficulties must be bold; the powers to press and sustain the movement, must be almost unlimited. It is, probably, the most encouraging single fact about it that they are entrusted to Mr Fletcher, who in special knowledge in this field, energy, and organising ability has no near rival. If anybody can rapidly solve the problems which have been passed to him, he can; but it should be realised that they are very difficult and that the conditions in which he is required to work may create fresh ones. He does not begin, as for example Mr Donald Nelson recently began to direct war production in the United States, with a staff body which had already been trained and equipped to aid him. Mr Fletcher has no staff, but may improvise one by calling on such departmental officers and aid, from time to time, as he requires. The difference is a handicap, part of which arises in the fact that any officer whose services he calls for will be in a position of divided responsibility. Second, Mr Fletcher’s own position is in some respects one of dangerous, up,certaijity. He is responsible for his direction ,of the war construction programme, not to the War Cabinet, whose policy and decisions are fulfilled in it, but to a new council of seven, of whom only the Prime Minister and the Minister for Defence are members of the War Cabinet. His power to order contracts to be let for defence works is subject to the approval of the Minister for Public Works, who is not a member of the War Cabinet. After consulting his council, he is authorised to mobilise labour, materials, and plant where and when he wants them. But he will not give many such orders, or orders of any large effect, without extending them into the field of the Minister for National Service, the Minister for Labour, and the Minister for Supply, This does not mean that Mr Fletcher will be overwhelmed by difficulties, foreseen or unforeseen. It does mean, however, that it will be rash to expect him to move far and fast unless Ministers as well as public servants are swift to cooperate and to cut knots and cut corners to do it.