N.Z. MUNITIONS WORK

Press, Volume LXXIX, Issue 23914, 5 April 1943, Page 4

N.Z. MUNITIONS WORK

Praise By English Experts

DIFFICULT PROBLEMS SOLVED (P.A.) AUCKLAND, April 3. • Satisfaction with the development of the New Zealand munitions programme was expressed by two English authorities who have been on a tour of inspection in the Dominion, Mr L. Cairns, chairman of the Eastern Group Requirements Commission, London, and Mr H. J. Hewlett, officer in charge of machine tools allocation of the Eastern Group Requirements Commission, London. “We feel confident the munitions programme of the country will continue to flow smoothly, provided the necessary labour can be obtained,” they said in a joint statement. “New Zealand will then continue to make, as she has already made, an everincreasing contribution to the common war effort of the United Nations. During our short stay we had some opportunity of seeing the progress that has been made during the last two years in the production of munitions. We have seen the successful development of certain parts of the New Zealand programme that were not even in the planning stage two years ago. “Much of the production has of necessity had to be by means of broken-down contracts. This is always difficult, requiring very careful planning and preparing, and we have been delighted to see how successfully this has been done. “One particular project calls for engineering technique virtually nonexistent in New Zealand and employs automatic machinery of a very complicated nature. Modern mass production methods were necessary. None the less, this project is now in production only two and a half months after all the machinery was installed. In the United Kingdom production of this particular store has always presented many difficulties in the early stages and the solution of the problem in New Zealand in so short a time is an excellent effort.”