MUTUAL SUPPORT ASSURED

Dominion, Volume 34, Issue 135, 4 March 1941, Page 8

MUTUAL SUPPORT ASSURED

Australia And Dominion

Dominion Special Service. CHRISTCHURCH, March 3.

"It is becoming more and more evident that the circumstances of war and the' necessities of defence are throwing our countries eloser together than ever before, and should trouble arise in the Pacific each can be depended upon to offer the utmost possible Assistance to the other,” the Assistant-Minister for Commerce and Finance in the Australian Government, Mr. II L. Anthony, said in an interview.

In the Empire’s war effort, the very closest co-operation existed between the Governments of Australia and New Zealand, the Minister said. Australia was becoming the “arsenal of the Pacific’ for a number of important munition items and amazing progress had been made in the last 12 months. “And as every month passes we have thousands of additional men and women taking their places at the benches and lathes in the workshops. By the end of June we will have approximately 80,000 persons directly engaged in munitions making, from destroyers down to tin pannikins. And in that respect we are also working wholeheartedly to supply the requirements of New Zealand.” The development of a munitions effort took time, because the initial steps meant the erection of factories and the provision of machines, lathes, etc., and equipment. “This has been a long, hard row for us in Australia,” commented Mr. Anthony, “but by prodigious efforts we have succeeded in overcoming one obstacle after another, and the flow of munitions is now beginning to be manifest in an increasingly broad stream.” The greatest cordiality and desire for co-operation on both sides had been shown in the discussions which be had had with the New Zealand Government, Mr. Anthony remarked when discussing the assistance which would be given if trouble arose in the Pacific. The “all-in” war effort of the Commonwealth was indicated by Mr. Anthony. The war budget for Australia for the year ending June 30 next, was £186,000,000, as compared with £55,000,000 for the previous year, Mr. Anthony said. “That figure is exclusive of the civil expenditure, and it indicates the extent to which the resources of the Commonwealth are being applied in an ‘all-in’ war effort.” he said.