WAR EFFORT

Dominion, Volume 34, Issue 136, 5 March 1941, Page 8

WAR EFFORT

Survey Of Dominion’s Contribution HOME AND OVERSEAS Situation Reviewed By Prime Minister (By Telegraph—Press Association.) AUCKLAND, March 4. A survey of the war situation and New Zealand’s war effort was given by the Prime Minister, Mr. Fraser, in an address to the Municipal Conference in which he took delegates into his confidence and explained the position as seen by the Government. Mr. Fraser dealt with the situation affecting Great Britain in the Balkans and Middle East, with particular reference to the possibility and implications of a German march through Bulgaria to Greece. He pointed out that it was necessary that toe way should be barred to Nazi penetration into Greece, otherwise the odds with which the Greeks had to deal might become too great for them. The Prime Minister also referred to the progress of the campaign on various fronts and summed up the situation in numerous war zones.

Speaking of the Pacific situation and its possibilities as affecting New Zealand, he gave information of the extent of the Dominion’s war activities up to the present time. He gave details of the Expeditionary Force and of the numbers of men overseas in the Army, Navy, and Air Force, stating that in the three Services there were now well over 30,000 men who had left New Zealand Shores to fight in various spheres of action.

Speaking of home defence, Mr. Fraser said that when the Permanent Force, the New Zealand Expeditionary Force in training, the Territorial Force, the National Military Reserve, and the Home Guard (when it was suitably trained and adequately armed) were included, there would be available considerably more than 100,000 men who could be called into action, to defend the Dominion’s Shores in a national emergency. The Home Guard would be incorporated as part of the defence forces. Even at present, when operational exercises were undertaken, certain units of the Home Guard would be for a period under the directional control of the defence authorities. They would resume their place in the Home Guard on the termination of such' exercises. Large Proportion Engaged. “If we take into account all those giving service in one form or another for military and defence purposes, including men and women enrolled in the E.P.S. organization and comprising ambulance and fire-fighting services and the Women’s War Service Auxiliary, already a very large proportion of the adult population of New Zealand is actively engaged in national war service,” said the Prime Minister.

At the start of the war there were .1000 New Zealanders serving in the Navy, continued Mr. Fraser. Today the number was more than 3000, apart from British personnel serving in the New Zealand Naval Forces, and members of the R.N.V.R. serving in British waters, a number of whom were in command of escort vessels and minesweepers. The increased responsibilities of the Navy and New Zealand’s obligations necessarily called for a considerable inflow of recruits. A total of 600 new ratings would be required annually at the new training station known as H.M.S. Tamaki, in Auckland. Munitions Production. Mr. Fraser explained the progress made in munitions production, and said railways workshops and many pri-vately-owned shops and factories were well suited for the manufacture of certain forme of arms and munitions, and that staffs were highly-skilled for the work. Fo r a considerable time now these resources had been utilized by the Government, and output had been rapi'diy expanding. This expansion would continue till the full resources ot jcLit and manpower were utilized. ’.Liforms and boots manufactured in New Zealand were reputed to be as good as, if not superior to, those made elsewhere in the Empire, concluded Mr. Fraser.